Ladies: Do you earn more than your hubby?

[rainydayplay]

Feel free to completely discredit my opinion because I'm not married.

I make more than either of my parents. They still let me live at home.

I'd have to say that in relationships, I've met some real "winners" who have been perfectly content with me doing all the working and them doing nothing. However, they were perfectly unhappy about my intelligence/education/etc. I will admit, I have a higher than average IQ (please don't consider me to be bragging...I will admit that I must have gone through the book smarts line more than my fair share...but all that time made me have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for common sense...) I think those I've dated have felt threatened from my book sense, because they have done their best to put me down and find every opportunity to justify calling me stupid. (No, I haven't dated in 6 years, thank you. Yes, I know there are good ones out there. I just lack the ability to find and/or pick them. Que sera sera.)

 

[Squirlz]

My wife had her own business since before we got together 2 years ago. I work for her now and I don't get paid. We just share the profits of the business. Quite a change for me having someone else make the financial decisions. I don't mind a bit. I consider myself very lucky!

 

[cdrn1]

Hey! OP here! Now, all the responses just kind of confirmed what I was thinking when I looked at the article...not a big deal if she earns more than he...just fodder for a magazine article.

 

[mrodgers]

I like how folks who obviously make a ton of money, post the amount they or spouse makes over them. I don't even make those extra figures, let alone over the spouse.

I wish my wife made more than me. At least someone in the household would be making a decent wage. We need to move away from this depressed area because I'm at the top of my non-management wage and it isn't that much above freakin retail work (nothing against retail work, that's what Wifey does just to make clear....) I just said to Wifey tonight, I should tell them at work how pathetic it is that I am where I am because of a college degree, at the top of my pay scale for the position, the position is the top of the scale before moving to management, and people loading customer cars at home improvement stores make what I make after 15 years of watching the company I work for start from an empty warehouse to what it is today. It's ridiculous. Haven't seen a decent pay raise since about 2003.

Wifey makes about half in hourly wages, but she only works part time in the evenings because we have kids. She could surpass me pretty easily if she would move to a store further away where her old boss became store manager. She wouldn't be able to get there early enough though to make it worth while.

 

[MomRN]

Yes I do, but then again it's not hard to beat $0.

I'm resentful, but I don't want to turn this into a therapy session. Let's just say he has one more year of school, and if he doesn't get a job after that, it's bye-bye baby.

(Chances are if/when he gets a job I will still make 2X as much, and I'm okay with that. I'm just not okay with him not working by no mutual decision.)

 

[tvguy]

20 of the 28 years DW and I have been married she earned more, including a period of time when I was her boss....(the power of being union instead of being a manager.
All goes into the same pot, so doesn't matter.

 

[Planogirl]

I wish! DH makes about three times what I do and it does frustrate me but only because I'm so badly paid. The job market has not been kind to me over the years.

 

[kydisneyfans]

My wife's base salary is about 3K higher than mine, she carries the family health insurance. I qualify for bonuses, so the year end income is about the same. The money is pooled anyway, so it doesn't matter.

I'm thrilled that my wife put the effort into schooling and worked her hind end off to earn more money. She did that on her own and I couldn't be prouder of her.

 

[Robinrs]

I make about 3X more thn my boyfriend, which is okay because he has a MUCH more important job than I have!

He is a special ed teacher. He loves his job and feels so important because his "babies" love him!

His profession is just a low paying one. I've been doing my job for 30 years.

When we met I was making what HE makes and he had moved back in with his parents to get his Masters degree. We were both essentially broke.When he got his job I got another job in my industry, still broke. When I was offered the job I have now I had been with him long enough to know he'd be proud of me and not resent it. He did.

 

[polkadotsuitcase]

Nope, but he would prefer it if I did!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Right now DH makes more, and it certainly doesn't bother me. There was also a time (in a different set of jobs for both of us) when I made more, and I don't think it bothered him, either. As long the total of the two is "enough", it's all good.

 

[DVC-Don]

Not a lady, but my wife earns 4x my income. We've been married 30 years. She owns her own business and I now work for her where she pays me a salary that covers our mortgage and property taxes. I was a stay at home dad for 7 years a while back.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

For years I made less and so therefore in his opinion things needed to go his way because he was the one who carried the household(I was only home for 4 years when the kids were little). You know the golden rule, he who has the money makes the rules.
I went back got my masters and now make double what he makes. BTW when I got my masters I still ran the household and took care of the kids. I paid for my masters out of the money I made at my job but I was able go back because he paid the bills so to speak.

NOW I make double what he makes, and carry the health insurance because he left a very lucrative job to start his own business. There is this little part of me that keeps asking, how come the golden rule does not apply now?

 

[indimom]

DH and I are probably pretty close to break even, I'm sure there were years when I made a little more and years where he made a little more. But both our jobs have benefits important to our family. He carries our insurance and has the ability to take paid personal days to run our children to appointments, etc. I work from home so I'm available to our kids whenever they are sick or are home from school, but I get no paid vacation or personal days.
I don't think DH or I ever really thought about who made more, but he has often joked about me building up my business to the point that he could work for me full time (he already assists when he is home from work) so I don't think he would care in the least. It will never happen though because the insurance would kill us. Guess we'll just keep doing what we're doing.

My father was the primary breadwinner when I was growing up, but my mom still held the purse strings in our family.
DH parents were both divorced and had several children. They kept their incomes seperate and donated equally to the household/children. This worked out fine for them.
I don't think it's about the $$ as much as the personality of the people involved.

 

[powellrj]

While my DH brings in more money than I do, he works 3x's the hours to do it. He works 6 days a week 14-16 hours a day to bring home about $10,000 more than I do.

The money isn't the issue at our house, its the time. I would gladly give up the money to have him home more.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I make more than DH, but he recently switched jobs and is now a lot closer to my salary than he was (once you factor in that he's now carrying our insurance as well). Is it a problem? Not at all, but I might feel uncomfortable if he made more than me! I saw the way my dad thought he could treat my mom, just because he had a better salary, and I swore I'd never be dependent on any man for money.

 

[disneyfans95]

I don't think the issue is ever the salary between spouses..

It is the the fact if the other person actually wants to and puts in their hours at a job.

We could care less who makes more in our marriage. However, if my wife or myself just decided they wanted to sit at home and not put the effort into working and earning a living, that would be the issue.

After my wife was a SAHM for 6 years, she went back to work F/T. Never was a question if she would or not. Once the kids are in school you need to get back to work. (this goes for either gender that is helping the kids in the early years).

I don't get the spouses that sit on their butts claiming they are raising the kids when the kids are in full time school. Go get a job and help your family.

 

[Tiger926]

.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

I make about $30,000 more than my husband. That does not include my yearly bonuses which for the last two years have been very large. It does not bother my husband at all.

We both work hard.

 

[NC State]

We don't care who makes more. We just care that we are on the same page financially and we are.

I agree. I do make about $15,000 more than my husband but he had always made more than me until two years ago. He's more happy and doesn't have the pressure anymore plus he's home more. Our marriage is so much better!