Household financial decision making: Qualitative research with couples

12
Attitudes to financial decision making
‘[I feel] terrible [about our finances]. It could be better obviously because my husband is not 
working … It’s difficult. Food seems to have increased and everything seems to be going up, and 
I only work a part-time job. They can’t offer me a full-time job where I am [at a primary school].’
(Charlotte, 30s, North West)
2.2 
How couples go about decision making 
Overall, couples agreed that financial decision making was a collaborative process, and that there 
was a ‘usual’ way for them to go about it. A typical pattern emerged across all 24 couples in the way 
that the partners interacted to make a financial decision, and in what instigated the decision making 
initially: a trigger set off the decision-making process, the couple usually discussed the decision 
several times, and eventually decided on an outcome. 
2.2.1 
Triggers to decision making 
Identifying the need for a financial decision was typically in response to something specific that one 
or both partners witnessed or experienced: a trigger.
One type of trigger, mentioned relatively frequently, was a significant life event, such as a birth, 
death or illnesses. These reminded people of their fallibility and mortality, and were relatively 
powerful triggers: individuals who had experienced them had often taken financial decisions as a 
direct consequence. As Section 2.1 discussed, becoming parents tended to bring a significant sense 
of financial responsibility. Some new parents expressed intentions to buy life insurance, for example. 
The financial aspects of these decisions – the cost of a financial product or the change to household 
income, for example – were often a secondary focus. The experience of birth, death or illness, 
either personally or by someone close, was the primary issue, tending to evoke a response that was 
emotional in nature. 
‘My brother died last August. Luckily, he had had a policy that he had kept running so that paid 
for his funeral. That made me think, “If I left this lot and I didn’t have insurance, it wouldn’t be
a nice thing to leave people, to have to bury myself.”’
(Darren, 40s, North West)
 
‘We made the decision for me to reduce my working hours when Pete had his stroke. Our income 
reduced by £300 each month. […] I’m the breadwinner now, so I have got to be able to work 
and […] when I come home I have got to cope with Pete.’
(Siobhan, 50s, North West)
Purely financial triggers were mentioned less frequently. These involved changes to couples’ financial 
circumstances, resulting in their having more or less money available to spend. Financial triggers 
tended to evoke a less emotional reaction than life triggers, and decision making in response to 
them was generally described in more matter-of-fact terms than those made in response to life 
triggers. Examples of financial triggers included inheritance, maturing investments, and new working 
arrangements that resulted in palpable increases or decreases to individuals’ salaries. 
‘Ralph had an endowment policy mature, and it was a case of what to do with the money.
That was when we decided to get a buy-to-let property.’
(Hannah, 40s, Midlands)

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