I’ve talked to a lot of couples where the man handles everything financial, and the woman doesn’t participate much in the family’s financial management. There’s always one person in a relationship who is more “numbers oriented”, and it is often the man. Whoever the nerdy, numbers person is, the other still needs to know what’s going on. Both parties should also participate in the big financial decisions. Here are some reasons why women need to learn about money:

7 Important Reasons Why Women Need to Learn About Money

1. Joint Finances Should Be a JOINT Affair

If your finances are combined, then all decisions should also be made together. It’s fine if one person is doing all the number-crunching. Both just need to be part of the decision-making process. Your finances are not really joint if you’re both not fully involved.

2. The Man Might Not Be the Best Number-Cruncher

There are plenty of women who are great at math! I’m sure this comes as no surprise to nerdy ladies like myself. Unfortunately, there are plenty of women who still believe that men are just always better at numbers. The truth is that many women are great with math and with money. If you’re the kind of woman who has never learned about money, you might be surprised to discover that you have a talent or a passion for it.

3. Women Often Do the Majority of the Spending

Don’t worry, I’m not calling all women irresponsible spenders! Women are just often responsible for the majority of the household spending. They’re usually the ones who do the grocery shopping, household purchasing, clothes shopping, and often even car purchasing. If they’re doing most of the spending, they should probably be very involved in the financial planning!

4. A Good Offense Is Useless Without A Good Defense

In sports, the offense scores the points while the defense prevents the other team from scoring points. In finances, the offense is the hard work put into bringing money home. The defense is the work put into preventing that money from going back out again. If women often do the majority of the spending, guess who needs to play defense? The women! Financial defense can be strategically shopping sales, clipping coupons, buying used, or just spending less.

5. Divorce Is Unfortunately Common

None of us want to believe that our marriage could fall apart, but unfortunately it happens. While I don’t advocate living in fear, remaining ignorant is not the answer either. Women should be active participants in their family’s finances so they’re not blind-sided if they have to manage it on their own someday.

6. Death is Even More Common

The divorce rate is somewhere around 25-50%, depending on which statistic you believe… but last I checked, death happens to 100% of people. Statistics also show that 80% of wives outlive their husbands. Therefore, odds are very high that women will eventually be managing their finances on their own, even if they never divorce.

7. Finances Need a Female Perspective

The biggest reason that women need to learn about finances is because every family’s finances benefit from a female perspective. Men and women are not the same and we look at the world differently. Have you wanted to become a stay-at-home mom? Maybe it’s possible with the right changes to your finances. Do you value financial security more than your husband does? Do you put a higher value on family vacations? Whatever your values are, they’re important to the family financial discussion.

Who handles the finances in your household? Please comment below!