Who is the CFO of your family?

When I started brainstorming for this article, my primary purpose was to discuss “who manages the finances in your family?”  Upon, further review, many people have discussed this topic at great length, and have also included the role of CFO to include finances, family, parenting, cooking, fulfillment, etc.  Some have referred to it as the Chief Family Officer, not the Chief Financial Officer.

There are also many books on the topic, such as, “The Family CFO: The Couple’s Business Plan for Love and Money” by Mary Claire Allvine and Christine Larson.

Alpha Advisors from Richmond Virginia markets its services as becoming Your Family CFO.

Get Rich Slowly has previously discussed “How to Be the Family CFO” at his blog.  He primarily used information from a book that he read, “How to Be the Family CFO” by Kim Snider.  In his post, he cites the following four steps to financial success for your family,

1.     Plan Prudently

2.     Save Prodigiously

3.     Invest Wisely

4.     Manage Risk

This is all great information, and I encourage you to read all of the above, including more on this topic.  However, my thoughts were more basic.  I want to know a couple things about your family:

1.     Who pays the bills

2.     Who’s name are your accounts under (checking, savings, investing, etc)

3.     Who’s name are your assets under (house, car, etc)

4.     Who creates the budget

5.     Who analyzes the budget-to-actual results

6.     Who makes big purchase buying decisions (house, car, furniture, etc)

7.     Who makes day-to-day buying decisions (lunch, dinner, groceries, clothes, etc)

8.     Who knows the usernames and passwords to your accounts online (banking, investing, loans, etc)

I think the answers to each of these questions would shine a bright light on your family’s finances.  I encourage each one of our readers to ask themselves the aforementioned questions, and to include your spouse/roommate/etc on the conversation.  Your next conversation may revolve around “cross-training,” or ensuring both husband and wife are in control of your family’s financial situation, as a team.  If any of our readers would like to share the results of their discussion, we would be glad to converse in the comments section of this article.