I have found that is fairly common among our clients, especially the older ones, for the husband to take care of all the financial matters and not talk to his wife about any of it. Generally this is because he doesn't want her to have to worry about the finances.
There is a HUGE problem with this way of thinking; the husband generally dies years before his wife. When that happens the wife now has to take care of all the things that she's been sheltered from for years, maybe even her entire life. In cases like this the wife is left with all this responsibility and no idea whatsoever about how to discharge the duties.
I can't count the number of elderly women (well, I could, but I'm too lazy) that we've had come in to our office scared out of their minds because they're so confused. Today I got a call from a client and had to spend 10-15 minutes explaining to her what an income tax refund was, where it came from, and how the refund was determined. Her husband isn't dead, but if he dies before her I'd imagine she'd be completely lost.
The gist of all this is that married couples should always work on their finances together, no matter how much one of them dislikes it or the other wants to protect them from it. Don't cripple your spouse! Make sure your spouse understands what money and investments you have, where the life insurance policies are, and what bills are required to be paid.
Please!
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