Battle of the sexes

There are plenty of stereotypes about the spending habits of men and women. Some of them are true

I wear the “Dusty Wallet” title proudly, but would I be called something else if I was woman? Is my cheapness a male virtue? There are some general stereotypes out there about the way men and women spend money, but are there really any distinctions between the two sexes? Turns out, there are. “There are big differences in how women and men make decisions,” says Marti Barletta, a Chicago-based expert on female spending and author of Marketing to Women.

Barletta says it’s an oversimplification to a degree, but men decide on purchases upfront while female economic decisions are often something that evolves. It’s ironic that on items such as consumer electronics, men have the so-called knowledge, but women are doing most of the purchases, she says, citing a Best Buy poll.

“Women tend not to keep up on the information on a big ticket item — like a computer — but end up doing the research when it’s time to buy something.” Barletta says it’s the women who make the call when it’s time to actually pull the trigger on a purchase, because females control the budget in most households, adding that women pay the bills in 83% of U.S. households.

It’s probably a good thing that women control the shots, because men tend to spend more on impulse buys. A Bank of Montreal study in 2012 found that men were spending an annual average of $414 each on what the bank called wants or things they didn’t really need, while the average woman spent just $207. On the investing side, a 2013 BMO study found 21% of men said they made impulsive decisions as opposed to 13% of women. Another 30% of men said they were aggressive investors compared to 16% of women.

Do men ever come out on top? Barletta says they do when it comes time to negotiate. “Women on average pay more for the same cars. That suggests men are better at negotiating.” The reason, she says, is because negotiating for men is not about getting the best price, but about winning. Personally, I’ll take the best price.

There might also be a difference between frugality and cheapness. I define the latter as getting a good deal and the former as just refusing to spend money in the first place. “I really think frugal is you don’t spend any money that you don’t have to,” Barletta says. “There’s not much indulgence and there’s not much buying because ‘I like it’ or ‘I want to enjoy it.’”

If that’s frugal, I’m happy to be a cheap negotiator.

NEGOTIATING FOR MEN IS NOT ABOUT GETTING THE BEST PRICE, BUT ABOUT WINNING. PERSONALLY, I’LL TAKE THE BEST PRICE