You think your wife is a spendthrift? Trouble awaits you

Dear husbands, if your wives spend way too much money than you think they should, you may have to communicate about finances, especially early in marriage to avoid financial and marriage conflicts, warns a new study.

According to researchers, when a husband thinks his wife spends too much money, whether it is a reality or perception, financial and marriage problems follow. The researchers suggest if finances are causing problems in a marriage, help is possible. “The fact that spouses’ perceptions of each other’s spending behaviours were so predictive of financial conflict suggests that when it comes to the impact of finances on relationships, perceptions may be just as important, if not more important, than reality,” said co-author of the study, Ashley LeBaron from Brigham Young University.

The study found that for husbands, having a wife who they saw as a spender was a big contributor to financial conflict. And for wives, having a husband who viewed them as a spender led to financial conflict. This was seen for couples with high incomes and low incomes as well as with couples who spent a lot and those who did not spend much at all. The views were relative to perception.

“Couples need to communicate about finances early in marriage,” said Sonya Britt-Lutter from Kansas State University in Manhattan. Circumstances weren’t the issue here, perception was, and perception doesn’t always change when circumstances do.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers analysed nearly 700 families from two locations. The findings indicated that 90% of women and 85% of men reported that they experienced some kind of financial worries.