Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt and today we're asking the question should women and
Speaker 1: men handle money differently? Oh dude, I can't believe we
Speaker 1: actually went through with this topic. I'd like to ask
Speaker 1: questions that could potentially get me in trouble that we're
Speaker 1: actually going to do an episode on this, But we
Speaker 1: you know, after discussion, you and I thought that there,
Speaker 1: you know, there were definitely some insights that we can
Speaker 1: glean from talking about how it is that men and
Speaker 1: women might be handling their money differently. And then there's
Speaker 1: just so many studies to that inform us about how
Speaker 1: men and women have handled money differently in the past.
Speaker 1: But I think, too, um, there's a way forward after
Speaker 1: we see that that information, and I think, yeah, you
Speaker 1: and I are gonna have some some good advice, hopefully
Speaker 1: to share for men and women based on the stats
Speaker 1: that we've seen and the studies that are out there.
Speaker 1: And we're gonna also do our very best to not
Speaker 1: completely step in it, because that's what I feel like
Speaker 1: right now, is that we're about to step in it. Well,
Speaker 1: I promise we're not going to come at this from
Speaker 1: like a madman perspective. Okay, even though we do like
Speaker 1: a nice beverage during our work day as well. Before
Speaker 1: we get into that, though, you want to talk about
Speaker 1: this fence issue that you've got going on and my
Speaker 1: hyping it up. Maybe it's not an issue. Actually, well
Speaker 1: it remains we seen whether it's an issue or not yet.
Speaker 1: So at one of my rental properties, um my my
Speaker 1: next door neighbor who actually have never met I we
Speaker 1: used to live in that home. My next door neighbor
Speaker 1: rent out his home and and so even when we
Speaker 1: lived in that house, I never met him, but he
Speaker 1: left a note on the door saying, hey, please call me.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about some stuff. My tenant really
Speaker 1: that on over to me, and it turns out he
Speaker 1: wants to replace the fence that goes in between both
Speaker 1: of our yards. And I will say, the fence not
Speaker 1: attractive and in sections it actually, uh looks pretty rough.
Speaker 1: It's a chain link fence that's just yeah, has not
Speaker 1: held up well over the years. But chain link fenstance
Speaker 1: have definitely fallen out of favor. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie. They're pretty hideous, Like we've got one on
Speaker 1: the back back side of I mean from a utility standpoint,
Speaker 1: they're pretty great. I mean it's like they will probably
Speaker 1: be there for another hundred years if you let it.
Speaker 1: You know, well, this one definitely will not really know,
Speaker 1: it's already kind of fallen apart in some spots, and
Speaker 1: so yeah, he wants to to replace it together. And
Speaker 1: so we're in the midst of getting a quote to
Speaker 1: kind of see how much it costs and if it's inexpensive.
Speaker 1: UM willing to jump in on this especially. It's just
Speaker 1: like it's I feel like it's the right neighborly thing
Speaker 1: to do. But I will say too, man, if the
Speaker 1: quote comes back and it's too high, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be down for it because it is something that's
Speaker 1: just not a high priority on my list. I've never
Speaker 1: had a tenant complain about the fact that the fence
Speaker 1: isn't in perfect shape. And so yeah, it's kind of
Speaker 1: one of those like TBD as to whether or not, UM,
Speaker 1: you know, willing to go half and half on this fence,
Speaker 1: But my gut is telling me probably not. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Is that frugal or cheap of me? Ah? Man, This
Speaker 1: is such a hard one because so on one hand,
Speaker 1: with it being a rental. Like, in my mind, that's
Speaker 1: one of the benefits, you know, of having a backyard
Speaker 1: here in the city is the ability to have a pet.
Speaker 1: And so for runners thinking, hey, I've got a pet,
Speaker 1: I would like for them to be able to run
Speaker 1: in the backyard. To me, like, that's a selling point
Speaker 1: to having, you know, having a fenced in kind of
Speaker 1: closed in backyard. Well, and they do actually, so interestingly enough,
Speaker 1: this fence is kind of up slightly raised on a hill,
Speaker 1: and and so many of my tenants have had animals.
Speaker 1: None of those animals have ever gotten out through the fence.
Speaker 1: So it's it's still does this job, okay, animals and
Speaker 1: still climb hills though, right, no they can, but it's
Speaker 1: just it's it's not possible really to get through or
Speaker 1: over the fence, even with like the disrepair that it
Speaker 1: might be in. So I mean, okay, So the reason
Speaker 1: I say that because we found ourselves in a similar
Speaker 1: situation years ago at our old house. Before we moved out,
Speaker 1: we knew that we were going to keep that house
Speaker 1: as a rental, and the fence between us and our
Speaker 1: neighbor was in complete disrepair. I mean it was like
Speaker 1: literally there are sections of it that had fallen over.
Speaker 1: It was an old wooden fence. It had completely rotted
Speaker 1: out over decades of being exposed to the elements, right,
Speaker 1: And so in my mind, I was like, you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm willing to pay because in this case, this is
Speaker 1: going to be a selling point I guess for future pendants.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean the fact is is it sounds
Speaker 1: like the fence that you've got there currently it still works, uh,
Speaker 1: And so I would have a tough time agreeing to
Speaker 1: replacing something that still is kind of getting the job done. Um.
Speaker 1: And honestly, dude, from a personal standpoint too, like I
Speaker 1: know that's like, if any of my neighbors here like
Speaker 1: next to us wanted to kind of go in on
Speaker 1: a fence, I'm not sure if I would say yes,
Speaker 1: because I partly feel that fences are a little overrated.
Speaker 1: Sounds specifically thinking of our next door neighbors. They don't
Speaker 1: have any pets. We don't have any pets. Uh, They've got,
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of young kids. And if that
Speaker 1: fence were to fall over or start to rot and
Speaker 1: we wanted to get rid of it, like I would
Speaker 1: be totally okay if it was just one big open backyard,
Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't even mind if their kids kind of,
Speaker 1: you know, played in our back yard a little bit.
Speaker 1: And so I feel like this is like one of
Speaker 1: those expenses that it's found its way into our culture
Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, you've got to have a fence,
Speaker 1: or if there was in every yard, or if there
Speaker 1: was the fence there, you have to replace it, right
Speaker 1: Whereas I want to ask the question of like, well
Speaker 1: do you actually need to replace it, like is that
Speaker 1: something that that you could do without, because it's not
Speaker 1: like I gain a lot of joy from the back
Speaker 1: that there's a fence between us. And so I think
Speaker 1: in my mind it kind of depends if it's Yeah,
Speaker 1: if it's an investment, property or rental, I would lean
Speaker 1: more towards making sure that there is a functional structure
Speaker 1: there between homes. But if it's me personally, as long
Speaker 1: as they don't have a dog, like I don't want
Speaker 1: a dog running over pooping in the yard, that would suck.
Speaker 1: But otherwise fences might be overrated. All right, I think
Speaker 1: I'm with you, And yeah, well I'll wait and see
Speaker 1: what the what the quote comes back out, Yeah, if
Speaker 1: it's a pretty low estimate. If it's reasonable, then I
Speaker 1: might um jump in on this, But my natural tendency
Speaker 1: is to say, now, the kind of crumby fence is
Speaker 1: mostly doing its job, still gets it done, so let's
Speaker 1: just leave good enough alone. I actually still want to
Speaker 1: see how that fence is falling apart, because in my mind,
Speaker 1: channeling fences, they don't fall apart like I mean, they're
Speaker 1: made a metal. All right, I'll show you some pictures. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, let's not mentioned the beer that we're having
Speaker 1: on the show today. This one's called on Cassette. It's
Speaker 1: my new Anthem. This is a brewery out of North Carolina.
Speaker 1: They make excellent beer. So looking forward to sharing this
Speaker 1: one on this episode with you today, Matt. But let's
Speaker 1: get onto the subject at hand. We're asking the questions
Speaker 1: should women and men handle money differently? And Matt, I
Speaker 1: think part of the reason that we decided to tackle
Speaker 1: this kind of sensitive topic this week is because Valentine's
Speaker 1: Day is coming up this weekend. We figured we'd create
Speaker 1: an episode that discusses the differences between how men and
Speaker 1: women handle money. There will, of course be some generalizations
Speaker 1: in this episode. We want to get that out of
Speaker 1: the way upfront. Many women buck the trend and handle
Speaker 1: their money very differently than how studies show, And we're
Speaker 1: gonna be quoting a lot of studies in this episode
Speaker 1: Brace Yourself, Yeah, and vice versa two. Right, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of men who handle money a whole lot different
Speaker 1: than studies show as well. I think there's a general
Speaker 1: belief that men shoot from the hip when it comes
Speaker 1: to money, and some of the surveys bear that out.
Speaker 1: But that's obviously not the case for all dudes either.
Speaker 1: But I think there are things that we can learn
Speaker 1: from the data about the tendencies of each sex and
Speaker 1: their views and actions in the realm of personal finance. Matt,
Speaker 1: we want to have an open combo today essentially about
Speaker 1: the pros and cons of how men and women stereotypically
Speaker 1: handle money, so that we can find some common ground
Speaker 1: and then all start to make better financial decisions based
Speaker 1: on the information that's set in front of us. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right. And and you know you mentioned the research,
Speaker 1: and I'm glad you did, because I mean, that is
Speaker 1: what we're gonna be looking at. We're gonna be looking
Speaker 1: at surveys, reports, research, um. And even though these studies
Speaker 1: are focusing on individuals tweets, maybe some tweets, maybe no tweets. Uh, Like,
Speaker 1: I wanted to mention that we're we're not necessarily downplaying
Speaker 1: the fact that there are like structural issues within like
Speaker 1: our society and within employers, right like specific companies that
Speaker 1: lead to some of these some of these differences between
Speaker 1: how men and women are treated or how they handle
Speaker 1: their money. Right, Like, there are certainly changes that need
Speaker 1: to be made in different steps that companies and you know,
Speaker 1: our society as a whole need to take to make
Speaker 1: sure there is more parity. But I mean, this is
Speaker 1: how the money and so what we talked about, or
Speaker 1: like personal changes we can make in our own lives.
Speaker 1: We're not necessarily looking at policy. We're not looking at
Speaker 1: some some of these larger issues that are a part
Speaker 1: of the equation. Yeah, but it is important to acknowledge
Speaker 1: that they exist and say that's, you know, part of
Speaker 1: the deal here. We are gonna and some of the
Speaker 1: stats that we're going to convey in this episode are
Speaker 1: in part related to some of the structural problems that
Speaker 1: exist in our society. Yeah, man, you know, it's also
Speaker 1: important to note that COVID man it has had an
Speaker 1: even greater impact on women than it has on men. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, we talked about the swords the end of
Speaker 1: last year, but an overwhelming number of women have left
Speaker 1: the workplace since spring of last year, in large part
Speaker 1: due to the child care needs of their families. Women
Speaker 1: are leaving their jobs at a rate four times the
Speaker 1: rate of men, which is crazy. And a recent Fidelity
Speaker 1: study found that thirty nine percent of women who haven't
Speaker 1: you know, made a change yet are considering a change
Speaker 1: to their work situation, you know, either leaving their job
Speaker 1: or you know, maybe reducing hours due to COVID. And
Speaker 1: the same study estimates that taking a short career hiatus
Speaker 1: could cost upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 1: in future wealth. Yeah, and so it's just some wanting
Speaker 1: to note that these decisions have implications beyond just money.
Speaker 1: Uh you know, but it's you know, worth noting that
Speaker 1: many women find themselves in an even more precarious financial
Speaker 1: position right now. Yeah, man, I think too. As we'll
Speaker 1: see in this episode. Part of the problem isn't that
Speaker 1: women are worse with money than men. That is, I
Speaker 1: think sometimes there prevailing narrative, but that's not actually true,
Speaker 1: and I think actually, when we dig into it, we'll
Speaker 1: find in many of the scenarios we're gonna talk about,
Speaker 1: women actually have a better concept of how to handle
Speaker 1: their money, and they actually handle money better in practice too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they do a better job. Yeah, ultimately that that's that's
Speaker 1: certainly part of the takeaway today. And but one of
Speaker 1: the issues that women do struggle with more than men
Speaker 1: is the level of confidence that they have when making
Speaker 1: money decisions. There was a study of small business owners
Speaker 1: from the University of Cambridge, and they found that fewer
Speaker 1: women admitted to their business prospering compared to their male counterparts,
Speaker 1: even though their businesses were experiencing a greater level of profitability.
Speaker 1: So women their businesses were doing better, doing great, but
Speaker 1: they just couldn't admit it. They couldn't they didn't have
Speaker 1: the confidence to say that that was the case. And
Speaker 1: maybe some of it was, um the the opposite, a
Speaker 1: little too much bravado in the case of the mails
Speaker 1: in that survey, right. But I think one of the
Speaker 1: things that we want to talk about today on this
Speaker 1: show is you know, you and I both want to
Speaker 1: see men and women exude confidence in their money choices,
Speaker 1: and confidence is tied to knowing what you're doing. You
Speaker 1: can be confident when you know how the game is
Speaker 1: played and you know the next steps to take, which
Speaker 1: is Matt just such a big part of the reason
Speaker 1: you and I started How to Money. So we want
Speaker 1: people to have confidence to make the right moves with
Speaker 1: their money. And I feel like the feedback we get
Speaker 1: from so many of our listeners is that that's the
Speaker 1: impact that the show has had. People who didn't otherwise
Speaker 1: know what to do. They now have a playbook and
Speaker 1: that breeds confidence. Um, and that allows them to go
Speaker 1: out there and start kicking but with their personal finances, absolutely, dude. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and and so one of the reasons too that
Speaker 1: we're talking about this today, uh, and why we feel
Speaker 1: this is so important is that hopefully this gives us
Speaker 1: maybe a little bit of insight into the inner workings
Speaker 1: of our spouse or our partner, you know, a little
Speaker 1: window into how their brain functions. I think that better
Speaker 1: understanding of why our significant other thinks the way they
Speaker 1: do about money can be helpful in future money discussions
Speaker 1: and decisions. And plus two, you know, hopefully it has
Speaker 1: further reaching implications as well. You know, the more known
Speaker 1: and understood someone feels like that's gonna lead to them
Speaker 1: feeling more cared for, more loved, which is only going
Speaker 1: to result in a stronger relationship. Yeah, knowing our partner's
Speaker 1: tendencies is super helpful in how we approach them with
Speaker 1: discussions in particular about money. Maybe we'll be less combative
Speaker 1: when we're bringing up the topic in general because we
Speaker 1: better understand, like where they're coming from. Also, Matt, I
Speaker 1: think knowing the money tendencies that each sex is prone
Speaker 1: to it can actually help us teach our kids to
Speaker 1: handle their money better versus using outdated methods of instruction
Speaker 1: that may be led to some of the disparities that
Speaker 1: we see in financial outcomes for men and women. Currently,
Speaker 1: families look different in one than they looked thirty years
Speaker 1: ago or even just a decade. Stats show that we're
Speaker 1: seeing far more stay at home dads and more women
Speaker 1: bringing home the bacon. And that's awesome. So let's make
Speaker 1: sure that our sons and daughters received the identical lessons
Speaker 1: when it comes to money. And I think, Matt, sometimes
Speaker 1: in the past, um that that wasn't the case that
Speaker 1: young girls and young boys were taught differently about how
Speaker 1: to think about money and personal finances. And I think
Speaker 1: in today's day and age, they need the same lessons
Speaker 1: because they're both just as likely to go out in
Speaker 1: the workforce, they're both just as likely to own their
Speaker 1: own business, to be saving for things for the future,
Speaker 1: and to be investing for their retirement, and so they
Speaker 1: need all of the same personal finance knowledge poured into
Speaker 1: their lives as youngsters. Yeah, I mean, the reason that
Speaker 1: they're just as likely as also too, because they're just
Speaker 1: as capable, right, and so you know, another I guess
Speaker 1: reason too that we feel this is important is because
Speaker 1: we you know, we hope that listeners will be able
Speaker 1: to handle their money better by being able to recognize
Speaker 1: certain patterns and tendencies, you know, regardless of their gender. Uh,
Speaker 1: you might realize that you don't fit the gender stereotypes
Speaker 1: as we discuss them in that's totally okay. And in fact,
Speaker 1: you know, like you said, you like this might be
Speaker 1: a good thing. And if you, you know, if you
Speaker 1: do find yourself nodding your head, you know, when we
Speaker 1: talk about how your gender does typically handle their money
Speaker 1: at least in some of these studies, well, then this
Speaker 1: episode will be eye opening. Uh As, we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about some important instructions as to how you can move forward,
Speaker 1: and so we'll get to some of the specific ways
Speaker 1: that you know, men and women might handle their money
Speaker 1: a little bit differently, but then specifically what you can
Speaker 1: do about that, and we'll get to all of that
Speaker 1: right after this break. All right, we're back from the break.
Speaker 1: We're asking the question today, should women and men handle
Speaker 1: money differently? Matt? The answer to that question is gonna
Speaker 1: mean now. But there there's so much information that we
Speaker 1: came across creating this episode that we feel is important
Speaker 1: to share, and I think it sheds a lot of
Speaker 1: light in how men and women have historically handle their
Speaker 1: money differently. And then I think, you know, you and
Speaker 1: I have a way forward for all of us together
Speaker 1: that we want to get to. There was a book,
Speaker 1: Matt that I never read, but I remember it was
Speaker 1: so popular a couple of decades ago called Men Are
Speaker 1: from Mars, Women or from Venus, And that just sounds
Speaker 1: like a book from a bygone era. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's still sold in books are, so I'm sure
Speaker 1: you can find it like he use bookstore or something
Speaker 1: like that. That also makes me think of like t
Speaker 1: G I F on Friday is like going home watching
Speaker 1: the four shows? Which one was your favorite? Hanging Mr
Speaker 1: Cooper or boy Meath world Sabrina to the Teenage which,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, that was a classic to a big fan
Speaker 1: of that one. Um. I obviously never read by the
Speaker 1: way men are from Mars women or from Venus. I
Speaker 1: wasn't really because you're like ten probably came out exactly,
Speaker 1: but you could tell by the title that the author
Speaker 1: was highlighting gender differences. And while men and women do
Speaker 1: have far more in common than the author probably would
Speaker 1: like to admit who wrote that book, there are some
Speaker 1: really important divergences that are worthy of our consideration. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: first of all, let's talk about how you get money
Speaker 1: in the first place, and that is you earn it
Speaker 1: right uh. And according to the Pew Research Center, women
Speaker 1: earned of what men earned in eighteen Uh. That pay
Speaker 1: gap is shrinking, particularly for younger workers, which is a
Speaker 1: positive trend, but that is still a meaningful hurdle to overcome.
Speaker 1: The pay gap is partly due to to work history,
Speaker 1: you know, like having kids as great you know, but
Speaker 1: as we mentioned with the Fidelity study earlier, taking time
Speaker 1: off to have kiddos like it often leads to fewer
Speaker 1: job offers and worse income prospects. Not to mention that
Speaker 1: the years of not generating in any income, which often
Speaker 1: reflects years of not investing in a workplace retirement account,
Speaker 1: in particular if there's a match there, right, And those
Speaker 1: are some big disadvantages to overcome. Yeah, like you said
Speaker 1: at the beginning, Matt, that stat also reflects some structural
Speaker 1: issues when it comes to male and female pay. But
Speaker 1: here's another thing to Matt. When we're talking about pay,
Speaker 1: women are actually often averse to asking for more money
Speaker 1: than their male counterparts. There was a survey from ron
Speaker 1: Stop last year. They found that sixty percent of women
Speaker 1: have never negotiated with an employer over pay. Women are
Speaker 1: also more likely to stay at a lower wage job
Speaker 1: to according to the personal finance website The Balance. And
Speaker 1: that's not good, right, because even just a small bump
Speaker 1: in pay with a new employer or in a job
Speaker 1: that you've been in for years, can have just a
Speaker 1: massive impact on your ability to earn more throughout the
Speaker 1: years and then also save more for retirement. So I
Speaker 1: think of all of the things in this episode where
Speaker 1: we see maybe you know women as a sex falling
Speaker 1: short it is in the ability to ask for more
Speaker 1: knowing what they're worth. Yeah. Again, this is another instance
Speaker 1: where you might be listening and you're thinking, I've never
Speaker 1: had a problem negotiating a race, right, Like I've never
Speaker 1: had a problem asking for more money. And so again
Speaker 1: it's important to keep in mind that though the research
Speaker 1: shows us, like we know anecdotally that this doesn't apply
Speaker 1: to everyone. I'm specifically thinking of two. We had a
Speaker 1: conversation with Kirsten and Julian Saunders, the couple behind Rich
Speaker 1: and Regular. Uh. That was episode eighties X, and Julian
Speaker 1: was just bragging about how great Kirston is at negotiating,
Speaker 1: Like evidently she's just like the Queen of negotiating more pay. Uh.
Speaker 1: So if you have to listen to that episode, go
Speaker 1: back and listen to that one. Is it regardless of
Speaker 1: your gender, earning more, It's just so important, right, and
Speaker 1: all of us could stand to up our abilities on
Speaker 1: that front. Uh. And We've had lots of different conversations
Speaker 1: on the show that specifically cover, you know, not just
Speaker 1: stories of individuals negotiating, but just how to go about
Speaker 1: doing that. I'm thinking of Remiet Sadie, And that was
Speaker 1: back in the episode one ten and he outlined a
Speaker 1: great process, a great method. Uh, you know when it
Speaker 1: comes to wanting to up your salary, you know, like
Speaker 1: what steps you need to take in order to negotiate
Speaker 1: a solid raise. Yeah, I'm thinking to you, Matt. When
Speaker 1: we had far New Sharabi on the show. She is
Speaker 1: just awesome personal finance expert. Um. And at the same time,
Speaker 1: she is someone who has made a killing as a
Speaker 1: small business owner. She knows her worth, she knows how
Speaker 1: to negotiate. Yes, So, like you said, there are many
Speaker 1: women out there who are crushing it, who don't have
Speaker 1: a problem in asking for what they're worth, who don't
Speaker 1: have a problem asking for a raise. Um, it's just
Speaker 1: when you read those statistics, there are obviously a number
Speaker 1: of women who do, though, and I want to see
Speaker 1: that number changed for the benefit of women as a whole. Right,
Speaker 1: let's talk about spending. To do women spend more? That's
Speaker 1: an interesting question. My wife, personally, Matt hates to shop.
Speaker 1: I feel like she just defies the stereotypes. And I actually,
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't mind shopping a little bit more.
Speaker 1: Rolls are a little bit reversed. Yeah, exactly. But there
Speaker 1: was a study by the Wharton School of Business that
Speaker 1: found that women are more likely to view shopping as
Speaker 1: a recreational activity. My mom definitely fits that bill. But
Speaker 1: most men want to leave the store with their purchases
Speaker 1: quickly as possible. But even though women enjoy shopping more,
Speaker 1: it turns out men still spend more than women in
Speaker 1: a typical year. So while men might not enjoy the
Speaker 1: process of shopping as much, they still like shopping just
Speaker 1: from a utilitarian standpoint. Sure, yeah, well, so that increased
Speaker 1: spending that actually dies with the stats as well. There's
Speaker 1: there's a survey from wallet earlier this year, and they
Speaker 1: show that men are more likely to max out a
Speaker 1: credit card. Women are apparently seven percent less likely than
Speaker 1: men to have maxed out a credit card at least once.
Speaker 1: And so while women, you know, they might enjoy the
Speaker 1: shopping experience more than men do, a lot of different
Speaker 1: stats show that women are more cost conscious, you know.
Speaker 1: They they're more likely to shop at outlet stores, more
Speaker 1: likely to wait till something they want is actually on sale. Uh,
Speaker 1: they dig store brands more than men, and so you know,
Speaker 1: when it comes to spending. This is kind of this.
Speaker 1: This is definitely a win in this category for sure.
Speaker 1: Uh and so I kind of see this as a
Speaker 1: call two men to stop spending so much dang money,
Speaker 1: especially on name brand items. Fan. Yeah, I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm totally guilty of this. I totally fall into the study.
Speaker 1: I don't like to go looking for the best deal
Speaker 1: like I do because I know I'm spending less, but
Speaker 1: like I'll look at maybe two or three different sites
Speaker 1: and then I just purchase right. Whereas for you, like,
Speaker 1: I feel like you are so good at like hunting
Speaker 1: and making sure you're keeping your eyes on the best
Speaker 1: deals out there, making sure that you're spending the least
Speaker 1: amount of money possible. And I feel that's something that
Speaker 1: we all need to sure that we're doing right. And so,
Speaker 1: you know, regardless of who you are, we should all
Speaker 1: work to just become a little more conscious and how
Speaker 1: it is that we spend our money. Yeah, and I
Speaker 1: gotta say, Matt's I don't care whether you're a man
Speaker 1: or a woman, but store brands should be high up
Speaker 1: on your list because they're gonna save a ton of
Speaker 1: a ton of money. It's just like built in savings
Speaker 1: when you go for the store brand under the name
Speaker 1: brand equivalent, unless it's your craft beer equivalent, and you're
Speaker 1: wanting to spend a little bit more on something because
Speaker 1: it makes you feel nice. Yea, you just can't name
Speaker 1: brand everything, though, I think I think sometimes that's a
Speaker 1: tendency here, maybe that men have, uh, that men just
Speaker 1: gravitate towards the name brand no matter what it is,
Speaker 1: without thinking about it. And and that's where we need
Speaker 1: to shake things up, right, we we we need to
Speaker 1: consider store brands more frequently. Um. And also too, I
Speaker 1: think we've talked about this, that the quality of store
Speaker 1: brand items has gone up a whole lot in recent years.
Speaker 1: Here it comes a Kirkland signature brag. There's other ones too,
Speaker 1: man like Target has um some great uh store brands
Speaker 1: that are better than their name brand equivalent sometimes. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not just Costco, but yeah, Costco rocks too. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's let's talk about saving as well. There's more good
Speaker 1: news here. It turns out that the savings rate for
Speaker 1: women is actually higher than their male counterparts. They save
Speaker 1: a higher percentage of their pay uh. They spend less
Speaker 1: of what they bring in, and much of that is
Speaker 1: due to the more frugal tendencies that we just highlighted
Speaker 1: when we talked about spending differences. But even though women
Speaker 1: are saving a higher percentage of their income on average,
Speaker 1: they've actually got less than of what men have in
Speaker 1: savings accounts according to data from the Federal Reserve from
Speaker 1: a few years ago. That is likely due to the
Speaker 1: fact that overall, they're still making less like we discussed earlier,
Speaker 1: which means a smaller amount of money uh saved overall. Yeah.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons women have a higher savings rate
Speaker 1: as well, um is that, according to a survey by
Speaker 1: US Bank, women of all ages value financial security more
Speaker 1: than men do. But here's the thing, man, that focus
Speaker 1: on financial security can often backfire if you keep more
Speaker 1: of your overall assets in savings and CDs instead of
Speaker 1: invested in the stock market. Right, Like, savings for saving
Speaker 1: for long term goals is really important, but so is
Speaker 1: investing for the really long term. And so that's actually
Speaker 1: what we're gonna talk about next. We're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: investing right after this break, a break still tackling the
Speaker 1: tenuous subject of men, women and money, how they handle
Speaker 1: money differently, but then also how we can all think
Speaker 1: about money in a similar way, because we're really all
Speaker 1: in the same boat when it comes down to it.
Speaker 1: And let's talk specifically about investing for a minute. There
Speaker 1: was a study from black Rock that found that women
Speaker 1: find less joy in managing their investments. I found that
Speaker 1: interesting that that just like women care less, they're less interested,
Speaker 1: less intrigued by investing. And honestly, I think that's okay,
Speaker 1: and and interestingly enough, I think that can even pay
Speaker 1: off for women. I think a lack of interest can
Speaker 1: have a positive benefit. So we'll talk about that in
Speaker 1: a second. I hope everyone listening to this podcast, regardless
Speaker 1: of their gender, starts to gain an interest in all
Speaker 1: things money and finds joy not just in saving their money,
Speaker 1: but investing and growing that nest egg. But let's talk
Speaker 1: about how a tampered down enthusiasm can actually be more
Speaker 1: beneficial to your investing success in the long run. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So you're talking about joy, right, And so this is
Speaker 1: like where where men might have a little more enthusiasm,
Speaker 1: a little more a little bit more joy when it
Speaker 1: comes to managing their portfolios could actually lead to maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit more misery the stock market in general,
Speaker 1: and frequent trading specifically have historically been more of an
Speaker 1: obsession for men. Kiplinger has reported that men trade stocks
Speaker 1: much more frequently than women, and the more frequently UH
Speaker 1: we trade, the worst our investments are going to perform. Uh.
Speaker 1: Men are are getting a little too into investing by
Speaker 1: by getting into individual stocks. You know, it's important for
Speaker 1: us to take calculated risks like these are things that
Speaker 1: we need to do in order to see growth when
Speaker 1: its specifically when it comes to our portfolios. But when
Speaker 1: you take too much risk and when you're too involved
Speaker 1: in the stock market and specifically when you're not exactly
Speaker 1: even sure what you're doing, that is going to lead
Speaker 1: to worse performance. Yeah, we've talked about that before. Maat
Speaker 1: the more frequently people trade, you might trigger tax consequences.
Speaker 1: You are in all likelihood going to be paying a
Speaker 1: fee when you're trading stocks or ETFs as well. There's
Speaker 1: just so many things to consider, and the more movement
Speaker 1: you make in your portfolio, in all likelihood, the worst
Speaker 1: you're going to perform. Another thing too, when we're talking
Speaker 1: about investing and how women and men respond, well, an
Speaker 1: important thing to consider is that women live longer than men.
Speaker 1: About five years longer on average, according to stats from
Speaker 1: the CDC. So that means that they need to plan
Speaker 1: to invest for a longer time horizon. That includes a
Speaker 1: greater willingness to invest more heavily in stocks and if possible,
Speaker 1: putting aside even more in retirement funds. And I know
Speaker 1: that that's actually hard, Matt, considering that. You know, we
Speaker 1: just talked about how women earn less on average than
Speaker 1: man and yet they're going to live longer and they
Speaker 1: need to save and invest more of their money. But
Speaker 1: it's so important in particular for women to be aware
Speaker 1: of this. I'm thinking about my the mall who's ninety
Speaker 1: and she's having to make decisions about her financial future
Speaker 1: and she might still have ten, twelve, fifteen more years
Speaker 1: left to live, and planning for a longer lifespan means
Speaker 1: investing early and often is just even that much more important. Exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so regardless of your gender, having savings is great, right,
Speaker 1: in fact, it's crucial. But remember that inflation is the
Speaker 1: enemy of your savings account, Like, that's the real enemy here.
Speaker 1: Over the past few decades, we've seen inflation right at
Speaker 1: two and a half percent, and regularly investing more of
Speaker 1: your income that's gonna give you important options for your future.
Speaker 1: You're not going to be able to preserve that money
Speaker 1: if you have it sitting in a savings account that's
Speaker 1: not earning that inflation rate. On both ends of the
Speaker 1: spectrum are sort of these extremes that we want to avoid.
Speaker 1: We can't completely avoid investing, but we also don't want
Speaker 1: to become, you know, so preoccupied by it that we
Speaker 1: end up shooting ourselves in the foot because we're jumping
Speaker 1: in and out of the market. We're trying to time
Speaker 1: it where you know, we're dabbling in single stock investing
Speaker 1: when we don't know what we're doing. Again, it's hard
Speaker 1: to find that balance. But that's what we're trying to
Speaker 1: do here on how the money. Yeah, I think in particular,
Speaker 1: investing is a place where men and women can both
Speaker 1: learn from each other. We can all stand to have
Speaker 1: some enthusiasm when it comes to investing, but not too
Speaker 1: much that causes us to go too complex with our
Speaker 1: investments or too disinterested where we don't invest at all. Right,
Speaker 1: I think there's a healthy approach to investing that both
Speaker 1: men and women should be taking that looks pretty similar,
Speaker 1: and I think to Matt, like knowledge breeds confidence. It
Speaker 1: doesn't matter who you are. The more you know, the
Speaker 1: more likely you are to make the right decisions for
Speaker 1: your own financial good and for your financial future, and
Speaker 1: especially if you're in a relationship. Right both individuals need
Speaker 1: the confidence that more money knowledge provides. Too, smart and
Speaker 1: savvy partners coming to the table to tackle their money
Speaker 1: goals together is going to have a really important impact.
Speaker 1: Trying to be the lone ranger managing your family's finances
Speaker 1: with a completely disinterested partner is going to lead to
Speaker 1: some unhealth I think in the relationship. And I don't
Speaker 1: think it's that you both have to be just as
Speaker 1: interested or just as committed. It's okay if you're spouse
Speaker 1: is more fascinated by the realm of personal finance than
Speaker 1: you are. But at the same time, I think it's
Speaker 1: really important for both members of of that couple to
Speaker 1: be able to sit down together and talk about money,
Speaker 1: and both of you to have a say in where
Speaker 1: that money is going. I think some of these statistics, Matt,
Speaker 1: that you and I have been relaying in this episode
Speaker 1: actually reflects a level of unhealthiness that has taken place
Speaker 1: when it comes to gender differences in how we approach
Speaker 1: personal finance. And I would love it if in our lifetime,
Speaker 1: if in the coming decades, we start to see men
Speaker 1: and women, both sexes, handling money better, each of them
Speaker 1: having a seat at the table playing more of a
Speaker 1: role in family finances, because I think, as we see,
Speaker 1: there's like a balance that's needed when it comes to
Speaker 1: gender dynamics and personal finance. Yeah, and we're looking for
Speaker 1: balance suit not just between couples, but just even within ourselves, right,
Speaker 1: you know, like ultimately men and women, like they don't
Speaker 1: have as opposite of an approach as the headlines might
Speaker 1: make it seem. Uh, it's not like one gender is
Speaker 1: better than the other, you know, when it comes to
Speaker 1: how they handle their money. Men and women, they might
Speaker 1: have some different psychological and historical societal norms to overcome
Speaker 1: when it comes to achieving their financial goals, but the
Speaker 1: actual path that we, you know, take his individuals should
Speaker 1: look more similar than dissimilar. It's important for everyone to
Speaker 1: have the right financial education and the tools necessary so
Speaker 1: that we're able to make the right decisions for our future.
Speaker 1: When you look at the numbers, we could all do
Speaker 1: a much better job when it comes to our personal finances.
Speaker 1: You know, when it comes to our money, I feel
Speaker 1: I feel like we need a sort of our renaissance
Speaker 1: of personal finance, interest and education in our country in
Speaker 1: order to raise the tide for everyone. And I think
Speaker 1: we could all be doing a better job when it
Speaker 1: comes to our money. Yeah, I think you're right, man.
Speaker 1: I think ultimately the answer to the question should men
Speaker 1: and women handle money differently, I think the answer is no.
Speaker 1: We should all be working to earn more money and
Speaker 1: know it or worth. When it comes to our jobs.
Speaker 1: We should all be looking to spend more cautiously with
Speaker 1: the money that we have. We shall be saving more diligently,
Speaker 1: and we should actually be investing and get interested enough
Speaker 1: in it to do it well, uh, and to do
Speaker 1: it consistently, but not so interested. They were like Yosemite, Sam,
Speaker 1: when it comes to you pulling the trigger on you know,
Speaker 1: random investment sales and stuff like that. But hopefully this
Speaker 1: episode provided some perspective when it comes to maybe some
Speaker 1: of the tendencies that you experience in your own life
Speaker 1: with how you handle money and some of the ways
Speaker 1: to to move forward in a positive way. Most definitely, man,
Speaker 1: all right, let's shift gears. Let's get back to the
Speaker 1: beer that we enjoyed on this episode. This one was
Speaker 1: called on Cassette and this is a beer by a
Speaker 1: new anthem and they are out of Wilmington's, North Carolina.
Speaker 1: What were your thoughts on this beer? Dude? Man? This
Speaker 1: was a delicious I p A. A little velvety some
Speaker 1: night like peach fuzz actually going on. And I was
Speaker 1: like soft in my mouth like that. I get that
Speaker 1: it was slightly sweet, but it also had enough hot
Speaker 1: bitterness that I just really appreciated. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the new I p s can be overly sweet,
Speaker 1: but this one still retained some bitter hot character that
Speaker 1: I really like having in a beer. But it offered
Speaker 1: that inside the package of something that was more juicy
Speaker 1: and sweet. And so yeah, I like the combo going
Speaker 1: onto the time. Yeah, that's right. So this was a
Speaker 1: double I p A. And you know, it's it's not
Speaker 1: like this is a bitter, like a West Coast bitter
Speaker 1: I p A, you know, And so like for that reason,
Speaker 1: I like, I like to describe it less as bitter
Speaker 1: and more as like sharp, you know. And so I
Speaker 1: feel like the hot flavors are really sharp and pungent.
Speaker 1: It was like so pungent, like it's almost smoky, like
Speaker 1: the because of the hot presence that was there. I've
Speaker 1: mentioned this previously on the show before, but like it
Speaker 1: truly does remind me of like that pungency that you
Speaker 1: get with like a blue cheese, where you put it
Speaker 1: in your mouth and you feel like it's kind of
Speaker 1: fuming a little bit, Like you can kind of feel
Speaker 1: it in your sinuses a little bit. And I feel
Speaker 1: that's one of the characteristics of these New England I
Speaker 1: p a s U I can. I feel like I
Speaker 1: got hops in my sinuses, which is would also probably
Speaker 1: be a pretty good name of a beer. Somebody will
Speaker 1: probably do it at some point. But but yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed this one. Glad you and I got
Speaker 1: to shared on the episode. Uh and yeah, New Anthem
Speaker 1: they're just always making some really good beers up there.
Speaker 1: And I realized too, this is the actual first New
Speaker 1: Anthem beer I think that we've had on the show.
Speaker 1: I looked in our little beer catalog expecting to see
Speaker 1: maybe this one, making sure that we hadn't had it before,
Speaker 1: and I didn't see that we have had a single
Speaker 1: New Anthem beer, which is really confusing, Like maybe we've
Speaker 1: had a collaboration before with them. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think a listeners send us a beer from North Carolina
Speaker 1: one time and it was a collaboration beer and I
Speaker 1: think New Anthem was the other brewer in that or
Speaker 1: like they showed up and helped out Yeah, yeah, putting
Speaker 1: it out. It's been a minute though, so I don't remember.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, it was a good beer. Glad we
Speaker 1: find we got to have a legit New Anthem beer
Speaker 1: on the show. Um, and that's gonna do it for
Speaker 1: this episode, Matt. So, for our listeners who want the
Speaker 1: show notes for this episode, some of the links to
Speaker 1: some of the studies that we mentioned, you can go
Speaker 1: to our website at how to money dot com. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's right up there on the website. We have a
Speaker 1: lot of different resources and also on the website if
Speaker 1: you go to how do money dot com, forward slash
Speaker 1: do better. If you want to leave us some feedback,
Speaker 1: if you have some thoughts to share in particular on
Speaker 1: a topic like we discussed today, If you have whether
Speaker 1: it's a personal story or or an anecdote, or just
Speaker 1: anything else you would like to put in front of us,
Speaker 1: We would love to hear from you. We're always interested
Speaker 1: in hearing what our listeners have to say. Just drop
Speaker 1: us a line and then again that you r L
Speaker 1: is how do money dot com Ford slash do better? Alright, buddy,
Speaker 1: let's gonna do it for this episode until next time.
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,