Money Lessons For Moms

The 5 things you need to know to protect your family's finances

by Teri Cettina

1. Money has to be a couple thing

Why: If you or your partner gets sick, loses a job, or you divorce, you both need to know where your money is. More immediately: "Two heads are always better than one when it comes to money, even if one of you is less experienced," says Janet Bodnar, deputy editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and author of Money Smart Women.

You've probably already agreed that one of you is responsible for the daily money management (paying bills, keeping your bank account balanced). If you're the designated family bookkeeper, you're not alone: Sixty-two percent of moms balance the family checkbook and 54 percent are responsible for paying household bills, according to a 2007 survey by Oppenheimer Funds, a New York-based asset-management company. This is fine -- either of you can take the lead on money tasks -- as long as you keep each other up-to-date on your financial picture.

What to do: It can take as little as 15 minutes a week to talk about how much you're spending and where. If nothing else, hand over the checkbook or print out a copy of your monthly budget (and how much you've spent) so you can each see where the money is going and make suggestions for change.

Julie Miller, a mom of three in Portland, Oregon, recently started having twice-a-month financial sit-downs with her husband, Dave. "We realized I was doing the majority of the household spending but my husband was managing the overall budget. I wasn't seeing the monthly bank statements or paying the bills, so I would just spend until the debit card was declined," she says. Now he lets her know when their budget is heading into the red and she fills him in on what she needs to buy.