He tends to be much more conservative than I am, and definitely more reactionary. I tend to curb my risk to appease his need for security, but the fact that I really don’t monkey with the money too much is the real benefit to me doing it. I tend to invest in a well-diversified array of index funds (domestic, international, small cap, large cap, bond funds, etc.), and then just sit on them. I rarely move money from one fund to another unless it’s the annual rebalancing.

I don’t think it’s overconfidence on his part that would have him moving money more, I think its insecurity. He tends to run from negative returns.

Now that the children are grown the income our investments throw off are some years greater than my husband’s income.(I am not employed outside the home.) When this becomes the norm he will retire- but I am beginning to wonder if I will ever truely retire from managing the portfolio. Actually I have a plan – my children are good students and someday they can manage ours – the way I am still guiding telling the youngest newly graduated child in her investments .

By the way, I once thought my husband had totally tuned out what I was doing – he has no intrest in finance. I signed us up for a seminar on investing about 5 years ago. It became aparent from the coments he made during it that he had been listening and knew what to do – that he just trusted me to do it.

Men I know tend to be more competative in investing – they want to beat the market . As I age I appreceate Index funds more and more. And symplicity.Woefully, most women my age know virtually nothing about finance- but often like to hear some rules of thumb and then want to learn more- often finally realizing that eventually their standard of living and ability to retire depends on a grasp of the situation. I have been told I should teach a class but I do not have true credentals…..

And it provides her with enough knowledge that if something happened to me, she would not be completely in the dark (we’ve seen and heard about this happening to couples one too many times). I also like the fact that if we make these decisions jointly, there can be no ill feelings or finger-pointing in the future if something goes bad. This way we’re both accountable for the decision.

Lastly, working with a planner also makes it easier since we review this stuff at least once a year, sometimes more frequently.