Attitude to Money in the UK
Research conducted in Great Britain by Vogler and Pahl (1999:133) identified five basic systems of financial management in marriages:
1. The whole wage system, whereby either the man hands over his wage and the wife is responsible for all the finances of the household or the husband has sole responsibility for managing all household finances.
2. The allowance system, whereby the man gives the wife a housekeeping allowance and pays other bills himself.
3. The shared management (a common pool), whereby both have access to income and expenditure comes from a shared pool (although the pool may be managed jointly or by one of the partners).
4. The shared management (a partial pool), whereby personal spending money comes from funds retained by each partner.
5. The independent management system, whereby each partner has separate responsibilities and neither partner has access to all funds.
The first and second systems are characteristics of male-breadwinner family patterns and are less represented in Britain. Women typically managed the money in low-income households and this situation was seen as a chore by women, rather than a source of power. In households with higher incomes or in families where women were economically inactive, husbands were likely to control finances; typically, wives were given a housekeeping allowance. The higher the income levels, the greater the equality of sharing, state Vogler and Pahl (1999:131). According to Bacs Consumer Payments Survey 2008, Britons are wealthier in terms of income levels then ever before. However, they are becoming more cautious about how they spend their money (Bacs Consumer Payments Survey 2008). Three quarters of respondents said they pride themselves on being careful with money. An almost equal number – 72% – said they did not agree that they often found themselves over-committed financially. And more than nine out of ten respondents said that they liked to know where they stood financially, while 87% agreed they usually knew how much they had in their current account (Bacs Consumer Payments Survey 2006 – 2007).
Younger couples from the UK in Vogler and Pahl’s research, operated on mixed financial systems which often involved a number of different accounts. One-fifth of those interviewed were operating on a joint pool system. Most couples, though, proved to have separate bank accounts and paying each for particular household expenses (Lewis 2001:165).
