general public

[krantcents]

This does not surprise me! One of my wife's friends did not even know how much her husband earned. A lot is said about taking care of the spouse (usually the wife) financially and yet they do not have a clue about the financial aspect of the partnership.

As a former CFO, I always handled the finances, but I involved my wife in every major decision.

[ua_guy]

I think it really depends on the couple and who has what strenghts when it comes to finances. I know couples that manage their money together very well, and others where the finances are probably one-sided. I don't ask, and I don't offer help, just smile and nod when people talk about that stuff.

In my own life, I've been partnered but unmarried for 12 years and our finances are separated by name, but the numbers are transparent. We've set common goals that we track to, and we go through things on a monthly basis when we settle the mortgage payment and everything else. Any spending outside our normal common budget is discussed in advance. We share common retirement goals and strategy.

On that note, we've decided we'll probably get married this year. At least we know we're financially compatible and have been for a good chunk of time.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Interesting that I've found that many couples both have no idea. A woman has said "oh my partner takes care of it." To we're being audited or the tax guy said we owe big and something happened. Which leads me to wonder wow...neither person is really aware or on top of it.

[bigdaddybus]

My wife took care of the finances for first 10 years of our marriage when I was active duty military and then when I went to college and worked full time.
My wife asked me to take over the finances about 10 years ago (after we started having kids).

I would say my wife had a much more difficult time trying to maximize a very slim budget for a couple newlyweds. I have it pretty easy as we have stayed accustom to living a "somewhat" conservative lifestyle as our income has grown in our marriage.

Similar to what Disney Steve said, we have informal meetings to discuss our finances and make sure we are on track with our goals and in agreement. We have no financial secrets.

[StocksToBuyHub]

A relationship is at risk if both people are not in sync on important topics such as finances. I can't imagine not caring to have my spouse involved in something that important. If she was uninterested or otherwise disengaged, I probably would not have married her.

I definitely agree with you, Joe!