Going on to money. Who manages the money suggests different degrees of power by one partner over the other. The manager very often has more say in how it’s spent, more input in financial decision making, and feels a greater sense of independence.
There’s a difference as to whether husbands or wives control the money. That’s because money can have very different meanings to men and women. When women manage the money, they treat it like just another household chore. They don’t feel a greater sense of ownership of the pot.
For men, money is more than an economic asset — it is a source of power and status. They’re prone to have their identities and sense of self-worth defined by their bank account. They believe they’re more entitled to spend it and personally own all the money earned by the couple. So, they prefer to merge money into a single pool, because that gives them more control in deciding how it’s spent.
Wives understand that, and so they like to have at least some money kept separately if she is not the manager. In that way she can take some of her husband’s control away from him.
