Men vs. Women on Dollars and Cents

This is a guest post from our friends at BillShrink, an online site that helps you to save money on wireless plans, credit cards, and gas expenses. 

Men take the prize

Are men truly better financial planners than women? We recently looked into the results of Financial Finesse 2009, a survey showing that men are generally better prepared for retirement, more willing to put money into savings accounts, pay off credit card balances in full, are more educated about investing, AND are more prepared for unemployment.

Really? 

Men taking the prize for financial savvy in all categories got us a firestorm of responses from our BillShrink blog readers. Many of the comments speculated that men taking the survey were just more likely to exaggerate to ensure that they do not sound inexperienced.

We drilled deeper into the apparent gender gap when it comes to finances and found that the subject defies attempts to produce neat conclusions. As CNNMoney.com points out, the results of Financial Finesse 2009 are to be taken with a grain of salt, as women are traditionally less confident when it comes to assessing their own financial skills. In a 2006 Harris Poll for Charles Schwab, 48% of women agreed with the statement "investing is scary for me." Only half the number of men agreed with the same statement.

Yet when we move beyond the self-analysis and into hard reality, we find that women tend to make better investment decisions than men. As women put safety before the lure of bigger returns, their risk-averse portfolios often outperform their male counterparts', leading The Wall Street Journal to suggest in May 2009, "For Mother's Day, Give Her Reins to the Portfolio."

Women handle the household budget

And while every couple has their own financial management system, in most American households, it is the fairer sex that handles day-to-day bills. According to a 2005 Oppenheimer Funds report, within a household, women are more likely to be paying the bills (60%), balancing the checkbook (67%), and maintaining the family budget (54%).

And according to a recent 2009 survey by FindLaw.com, young married women are more likely to manage household finances completely solo. The study found 37% of married women between the ages of 18 and 34 manage the couple's finances, as compared to only about 30% of young married men. The remaining percentage chose to manage their finances jointly.

So if men are truly the better financial planners, why aren't they the ones controlling the household bills?