Women Are Careful With Money Because They Had to Be

Scott Galloway was still a boy when his father moved to Ohio with a new spouse and kept climbing toward the upper middle class, while he and his mother sank to what Galloway calls the upper lower middle class.

Both parents had quit school after eighth grade. His father, whom Galloway described as handsome and Scottish, could walk into sales and earn a comfortable income. His mother was limited to secretarial or travel-agency work, and little else, because she lacked the credential to teach.

His mother felt very vulnerable, Galloway said, and those years were the most anxious of his own childhood. He watched how narrow her choices were after one parent left, and how wide his father's remained.

That memory shapes how he talks about marriage and money. He said "women in general are more conservative with money," and he linked it to two things at once. He said there are very real differences between men and women rooted in biology, and he also said women have long been economically disadvantaged and more vulnerable, in part because they are more likely to stay loyal to a child when a father leaves.

He said he understands that caution. He cited a figure that just over seven in ten adults say it is, in his words, “very important for a man to be able to support a family financially to be a good husband and partner.”

His own answer for couples is shared money and shared expectations. Galloway said he believes in comingling funds, that he has never held separate accounts, and that there is no single right way, only what works for a couple. What matters most, he said, is alignment on lifestyle, earning, spending, and tradeoffs, reviewed openly so there are no surprises.