Couples Take On CFO, COO Roles to Handle Household Tasks
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Here's your money briefing for Tuesday, August 22nd. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. Last month, we discussed how some couples set spending limits to keep their household budgets in line. Today, we're taking a look at how some couples take a corporate approach to running the entire household, dividing duties between a CFO and a COO.
The reality of day-to-day living is just chaos. There's a lot to do, especially if people have kids, have other caregiving responsibilities, both people are working busy jobs. There's just not enough time in the day to make a new list every day and divide a new set of chores every day.
We'll talk to WSJ personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter after the break.
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What is the episode about and why are couples adopting corporate roles at home?
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Tackling a list of household chores can be overwhelming. So some couples are dividing up the to-do list, assuming the roles of CFO and COO to get everything done. Wall Street Journal personal finance reporter Julia Carpenter joins me. So Julia, why are couples taking this formal step to divide up the tasks? Shouldn't it just be as simple as making a list of who does what?
Simple sounds nice, but as one expert I spoke to said, for a lot of couples, the reality of day-to-day living is just chaos. There's a lot to do, especially if people have kids, have other caregiving responsibilities, both people are working busy jobs. There's just not enough time in the day to make a new list every day and divide a new set of chores every day.
So couples you spoke with have a CFO, a chief financial officer, and a COO, a chief operating officer. So let's start with the COO. What are their household duties?
This is the person who's in charge of the day-to-day running of the household. I like to say this is the person who's making sure that the trains run on time. They're booking the appointments. They're managing the calendar. They're keeping their eye on what needs to happen next. It's a very crucial role to keep things moving.
And the CFO handles the money?
The CFO handles the money, but it's also just not as simple as like they're the one who pays the bills. They're the one who's doing the budgeting. They're the one who's managing the investments. They're the one who's price comparison shopping or making sure that, you know, that next big purchase is actually within reach.
So what is it that makes this dual job arrangement work?
So when I've spoken with couples who do this, they say that it works because they each have their own sphere of control. So a lot of where conflict arises in a relationship around money is when both people don't really agree about what to do or don't agree about how to do something. So when you go ahead and agree you're in charge of operations, you're in charge of finances, that gives each of you your own sense of autonomy. It preserves that autonomy that we really kind of sacrifice when we combine finances and decide to combine financial futures.
And it sounds like they're just playing into each other's strengths.
Yes. Ideally, the person who is the COO is the most organized person. They're the one who maybe just naturally wakes up a little bit earlier. They're the one who likes booking things and knowing what's happening and managing the calendar. And the CFO is naturally somebody who listens to personal finance.
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