The Role of Housewives in the Management of Household Finances

Abstract

The aim of study focuses on evaluating the role of the housewives, regarding the terms such as: financial management, knowledge and use of financial products, financial planning, forecasting and savings as well, level of debt. Female workers from the “Duxom” Corporate participated in the study, which are located in the different headquarters in the State of Mexico, Progreso, Tabasco, Sinaloa, Sonora, Guadalajara, Veracruz, and Baja California. Of the total number of employees, a non-probabilistic sample was applied by self-determination, in order to obtain the greatest number of cases in the time established for the field study, which was two months. To obtain the data we used a scale, which integrates questions from the participants' profile, and 27 items related to financial management (9 items); knowledge and use of financial products (4 items); financial planning at home (4 items), foresight and savings (3 items), debt level (7 items). With the results, a four-factor model is validated, where we can see that women like to have items to impress people, and it gives them pleasure to buy luxury items. They agree to be guarantors for other people, they make extreme decisions in investments and something very risky, they make purchases even when they cannot pay them, since they prefer to have debts than to let their children go without gifts on important dates. They like to buy online because the internet makes everything easier for them. They recognize the importance of families setting financial goals to identify priorities. Finally, they consider that having a written financial plan is essential for successful financial management of income, savings and expenses, which translates into family success.