Why do you suppose women stress about money, or just things in general, more than men?

I’ll probably get slapped and tarred as a sexist for saying this, but some women thrive on – even live for – stress. They even invent stressors so that they can be drama queens and survive their way through it.

So I believe the article. Women stress more in general, and more about money as well.

What the article does not cover is how many of these stresses are externally created and how many of these are self-chosen stresses.

My husband and I had the following conversation the other day. I had $300 in my checking account and he had about $800 in his, and we had an entire month to get through until pay day. The mortgage payment is $1000, plus a boat ton of other bills to pay.

Me, “I’m freaking out. As of the 10th the house is going into foreclosure.”
Rick shrugs and casually says, “Pay the house payment.”
He’s not worried. Not a bit. Just pay the bill. With MONEY WE DON’T HAVE. He’s always done that to me.

He was supposed to get commissions on his check last month, but didn’t. As of today he still hasn’t found out what happened. I would have found out with in 15 minutes of not getting them.

And I agree. Some women bring unnecessary stress into their lives. I’m not one of them, though. I’m happy camper right now. That $3500 we got for the bug was a huge relief.

Since it’s necessarily a sexist question, I’ll give a strictly sexist answer:
Traditionally, in a mammalian sense, it was the female’s place to stay in the den while bearing offspring and protecting them from harm. She was vulnerable much of the time and her existence was dependent upon a good bit of over-caution.
The male’s role was to provide food for his dependents and to protect them – more of a do-or-die, non-introspective proposition.

“Men are from Mars…”

It’s in the hard wiring.

Good Answer, @ibstubro, however, I don’t feel it is a sexist question.

Well, I don’t actually feel like your question is sexist or my answer, @Dutchess_III.

I was trying to pre-empt the “sexist” argument by pointing out that if my answer is perceived as sexist, the question can be viewed as equally so.

I’m sure someone will come in and start throwing a hissy fit over it!

A lot of it, gender biology aside, is also about personality style and temperament.
Sensor /Judger ( SJ ) types like everything planned out acccordingly, are less flexible, more about rules, regulations and ‘just the facts” maam.” haha
Intuitive perceivers ( NP ) types are more theoretical, abstract and free spirited, don’t sweat the small stuff and more likely to live in the moment types.
Kinda the “ant & grasshopper” theory, judgers want to save for a rainy day and worry about lack and deprivation, perceivers are about rallying at the last minute and figure things will work out, one way or another, in the moment. haha

Frugal vs. “what the hell, lets have a good time NOW.”
Cautious vs. carefree
Ridged vs. flexible
Worrywart vs. ” Meh….it’ll all work out.”

Of course it’s also about balance, and often in relationships, personality style aside, one person carries the finances more than the other so they don’t stress as much because they aren’t the ones crunching the numbers and figure things will work out, because they always have. lol
I have friends like this, she is more frugal and he is a total spendthrift, live in the moment because you might be dead tomorrow type.
She is planning on living to be 900 and tends towards hoarding everything while he is Mr. expendable. lol

Since I had to retire 13 years ago my wife has been the primary wage earner and prime worrier of our family. I still receive 60% of my old salary as disability, Medicare and health benefits from the State. I still pay all the bills and there always seems to be just enough to pay everybody. It doesn’t seem to matter if we were making my full salary or when she was part-time looking for full time and I was very ill, there was still about the same amount left over after bills were paid. I can’t explain how it happened. Now that I have paid off my son’s undergrad tuitions, it seems there will be smoother seas ahead. Still Mommy stresses over each expense. One miracle; we have never quarreled over money matters in 27 years of marriage.
I believe she has always stressed over her nest and that’s how she is wired.

Fortunately, I’m in a position where I don’t stress about money ever. A friend was just teasing me before about how I don’t even know when it’s payday. I am very lucky.

Fortunately my husband allows me to control the money, ,mostly without comment.

Well for one thing there is still a significant gender pay gap. Add deadbeat dads to the equation and that would probably go a long way towards explaining the statistical gender discrepancies. Also women (on average) do tend to be more responsible then men (I’m pretty sure that’s fact, but I don’t have a source to back it up). Being concerned with finances is being responsible, ignoring problems until it’s a major crisis is irresponsible.

Relates to wild animals, males of the species do little else but eat, sleep & fuck.
Females are concerned with raising a family, gathering food & keeping under budget :D

Men are simpler creatures.

When we owned the shop, it was the most stressful time of my life. I was so afraid of losing everything. I finally had to tell myself, “Hey whatever they take, they can’t take my life.”

Everything is paid for, so we only have to stress about the monthly utility bills and we always pay them as they come in.
We opted out of cable TV so that saves us $45 a month, we watch TV through the internet.

Bullshit. Men worry just as much. It’s probably 50–50 along gender lines IMO. The women in my life who seem to throw caution into the wind waay more than the men do for whatever reason. I handle all the money in my household and it kinda sucks because I’m the one who has to say “no” This extends out to friends and coworkers also. It could be that they type of work I do attracts people who are generally more cautious and detail-oriented though.

I don’t think it’s a gender thing—everybody worries about something(s)—some just show it more or handle it better.

Because women are more materialistic than men. It’s that old bling thing, man!

Not in my case. My husband is FAR more materialistic than I am @kritiper.

It’s a personalty style thing, I’m tellin’ ya. Crosses all gender lines.

Generally speaking, @Dutchess_III . Generally speaking.

Christ, it’s so nice to not have to put up with what someone else “feels” when shit hits the fan. It just exacerbates the situation to no end. There is no upside to it. Being free of it is worth any of the perceived drawbacks one may feel about living alone and independently.

I think women stress differently than men. Men stress like hell, but, for us, being vocal about it does not help at all. It is preferable to do something. And, if there is nothing one can do at the moment, then the best thing to do is relax and don’t stress until the opportunity arrives when you can do something. But sitting around talking about one’s problems when one feels they need to be out there doing something stresses this man into crazy.

Oh, I so agree @Espiritus_Corvus. I have to be actively doing something about it if I can, to stop from going crazy.

When my daughter ran away from home at 13, I must have made 1000 phone calls over the next three days, until I tracked her down. My husband did nothing.