How does your family compare in decision making?

Gone is the 1950’s ideal of a husband going off to work, while his wife stays home, vacuuming in pearls and heels a la Donna Reed. Affluent households today are more likely to see both spouses working, either both full-time or one full-time and one part-time. Today’s households believe they handle their finances very differently than did their parents, and unlike past generations, over half of affluent households have both spouses working full-time. This has changed the way affluent households make financial decisions, and also how affluent households interact with banks, advisors and other financial service institutions.    

Spectrem data shows, unsurprisingly, that some generational differences exist in financial decision making. Over half (52%) of affluent households have both spouses working and only 21% have only one partner working outside the home and the other identifying as a homemaker. Less than a quarter (18%) of those younger than 45 years old have one spouse working as a homemaker.

Another generational difference is that couples over 65 are more likely to have the husband making financial decisions, whereas younger households involve both spouses in the decision making process more often. Indeed, those under 45 years of age are much more likely to make joint financial decisions than those over 66. There are many economic and societal reasons for this change. Clearly the changing role of women and the opportunities available to them has changed dramatically in the last twenty years. In fact, the dual career household is one reason the number of affluent households has grown in recent years.

Affluent households are likely to pool their assets and over half of them do (61%) while another quarter pool their assets but leave separate accounts as well, for each spouse to manage and use individually. But, among the affluent, it is less likely that stress results from financial decisions than the non-affluent, diminishing the “our money, my money” conundrum that can haunt marriages. The older the affluent household, the less stress exists when making financial decisions. Younger affluent households bear the most stress when it comes to making financial decisions, due to impending financial situations such as education, retirement, continued earnings and rate of return.

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