Ramsey County

Making $ense of Dollars and Cents

March 2, 2009

Who Manages Money Better?

           An international market research firm, Synovate, recently polled some 4,500 women and 4,500 men in 12 countries about money matters. Some of the results may surprise you.

                    The survey showed that just over half respondents of both genders said women are more responsible with money than men, with the highest level of agreement found in Mexico, where 72 percent of people believed women were better at handling finances.

          And although more than 40 percent of women use part of their monthly income to pay off credit cards, some 70 percent of female respondents also said that having more than one credit card could lead to financial debt, revealing women's higher awareness.

          "It's obviously not the card itself that causes anyone to use it. So the statement is really about control and temptation," said Synovate's senior vice president of Financial Services in the United States.

          The Synovate representative also said, "The ability to spend more, that you don't have in the first place, can certainly lead to debt. It means people have to control themselves and their spouses’

          More women believed in their financial ability than men, with 61 percent saying they were more responsible, while only 40 percent of men agreed.

          But nearly half the women surveyed also conceded that they were bigger spenders than their male counterparts, with nearly 60 percent of men agreeing.

          The survey was conducted in December in Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Britain, and the United States.

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