It is not a problem with us. I am usually the originator of an idea to make any financial change --like how to arrange retirement savings, when to buy a house, whether to stop funding one plan and switch to another, whether to apply for a certain credit card, whether to buy furniture, increase a regular a donation or make a new one-time-only one, meet with an adviser, get a new roof, refinance the house, get a better furnace, and so on. Not all the time am I the originator, but usually. Husband and I will talk about it and look into options, verify whether the option really is timely or advantageous, kind of re-rank our priorities if necessary, and look to the impact on future needs, wants, and obligations. We are slow to act, I have to say. But that is okay because we never paint ourselves into a corner where we have no good options. Plus, we have just been blessed to have pretty good luck, not too many unforeseeable, unimaginable expenses to disrupt our finances.
Husband is usually the one to pull off the nitty-gritty of big financial changes. Uh, sometimes that just means he is the one to go do the actual paperwork, negotiate on a contract, or even just make the phone calls. Thank goodness, because the tedium of that kind of thing wears me out. I am so, so, so glad he usually does it.
We are both practiced at choosing to delay gratification and that helps a lot. We've been trying to get our savings up a bit over the last 16 months since we had to buy a car when we were not expecting it (Internal combustion became external combustion! Nobody hurt). We both just buckled down more. Soon those savings will be restored.
Count us among those couples who have never argued about money. Our values are very close and to some degree our "styles" of thinking are as well so conflicting money issues just don't occur.
The main difference between us is that I have general fear for the future when it comes to money and he is fairly confident about it. So he reassures me that we are doing very well in planning for the future, while I inspire him to do even better for the future by moderating spending in the present.
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