Husbands and wives increasingly are switching the traditional roles of breadwinner and household manager. But many of them haven't followed through with an appropriate financial tune-up.
In recent decades, women have outpaced men in education and earnings growth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, some 29% of wives in dual-earner couples brought home more pay than their husbands in 2009, the most recent data available. That's almost double the 16% figure in 1988, when many of today's 40-year-olds were finishing high school.
With that shift in income, financial planners say they see more husbands supervising the home front. It's part of a long-term trend that appears to have been hastened by the recession. Although there is less social stigma than there once was—with "daddy play groups" proliferating—it is triggering money problems for some couples.
Given that employers in recent years have shifted management of most benefits—from retirement savings to health insurance—onto workers' shoulders, it is critical that couples recognize areas where adjustments might be needed. Among the most important:
• Life insurance. Even in families where the husband is no longer the top earner, or where both spouses have similar incomes, the husband often carries more life insurance. The wife probably needs just as much.
• Retirement savings. A husband without a regular paycheck may be tempted to tap his retirement account early in order to continue to contribute to the household kitty. Try to avoid the temptation, even if it means swallowing your pride.
• Child care. As obvious as it may seem, some families with out-of-work or underemployed fathers need to reassess their child-care needs and scale back.
If a mother quits work or shifts to a part-time job, the family typically sheds whatever child-care costs it can. But if a father is home, even if he isn't working, the family tends to keep some—or all—of its child care in place. The same goes for housekeepers and other domestic help.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2011
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i hear you. however a woman must uadnrstned that in the rules of courtship, she doesn't owe the man anything. you repay in the sense that he's allowed your time and company ... and a slow rationing of physical affections. the modern woman needs to learn how to receive. giving back immediately kills the pursuit for the man.
Posted by: Telracs | 08/14/2012 at 11:11 PM