If you’re a career gal and you’ve had nothing to pay for but your own lifestyle, you are probably coming into your marriage with more than your husband. So on top of feeling the stress and strain that stepfamily dynamics put on money talks, you’ve also got a situation that reverses gender stereotypes.
Gretchen is the vice president of operations for a large marketing company. She remembers that she and her husband, Brad, both struggled coming to terms with the fact that she was making more money than he was.
“I am the primary of lifestyle do you want to live? What are you willing to contribute to raising those kids? Can you say no if buying an expensive toy or a new car for them makes you uncomfortable? How do your current financial arrangements affect your marriage?wage earner. We had to get over the fact that my role was to be more ‘male,’” Gretchen says.
“Part of his wages went to his ex-wife. We both had to work through it and get over it. I am going to have to pay for more because I make more money.” Still, even though she was prepared to enter into a partnership with a man who had kids, Gretchen had no idea when she married Brad that she would end up paying so much to support her stepchildren.
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