Young Women’s Financial Satisfaction: The Roles of Financial Decision-Making Power, Spousal Relative Resources, and Personal Financial Characteristics

This study examines the relationships of financial decision-making power, spousal relative resources, and personal financial characteristics with financial satisfaction. Using a sample of young American women with lower income who were married or cohabiting (N = 303), we found that women with higher financial decision-making power in savings and investments as well as in managing regular bills than their spouses were more likely to have higher financial satisfaction compared to women with spouses having higher financial decision-making power. These associations were derived from married women, rather than cohabiting women. Interestingly, women with higher incomes than their spouses reported a lower level of financial satisfaction compared to women with spouses having a higher income. The same pattern was observed for spousal relative education. Subjective financial knowledge had a positive association with financial satisfaction. We also examined potential moderating roles of education, which suggests that women with higher education had a more pronounced association between financial decision-making power in savings and investments and higher financial satisfaction. Our findings provide implications for policymakers, financial service providers, and family life practitioners to potentially reduce gender inequality in intrahousehold financial decision-making, which ultimately benefits financially vulnerable women’s financial satisfaction.