Deborah D. Godwin* Few dimensions of family life are as important, yet as difficult, as the management of family financial resources. The difficulties increasingly faced by families are evidenced by higher debt loads, mortgage foreclosure rates, and bankruptcy filings. By December, 1988, consumer installment credit had grown in real terms by over 40% since 1980, outstripping the 30% increase in real disposable income during the same period (Household Credit Data Book, 1989). In 1987, families owed $685.5 billion in consumer credit and the aggregate ratio of consumer credit outstanding to disposable personal income was 21.5, an alarming statistic when a debt load of .20 is considered dangerous (Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1989, Table 814, p. 499). Higher proportions of families' monthly income go to repay credit card debt (Household Credit Data Book, 1989). The foreclosure rate on home mortgages almost trebled between 1980 and 1987 (Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1989, Table 812, p. 498). In short, despite a growing national economy and increases in real family income during much of the 1980s, available evidence suggests that more families are experiencing problems managing their finances. Of course, family financial difficulties and relationship problems are often interrelated. Financial matters have long been one of the most widely reported causes of family discord (Hogan & Bauer, 1988). Almost 80% of young couples who divorce by age 30 report that financial problems were a primary cause of their divorce (Burkett, 1989). Schaninger and Buss (1986), in a 10-year panel study of couples who stayed happily married versus divorced, reported that there were substantial differences in the patterns of f inance handl ing in the early stage of marriage that predict divorce status 10 years later. Couples who remained happily married had wives who were more involved in handling various areas of family finance than did divorced couples. But the causality is not so straightforward as to suggest that lack of effective money management causes relationship problems. Disagreement about money occurs in families at all income levels (Williams & Berry, 1984), and financial problems may be only a symptom or a result of other family problems that existed long before a financial crisis (Aldous & Tuttle, 1988; Ulrichson & Hira, 1985). Increasingly, families are seeking help from professionals with the management of their money. Dozens of Cooperative Extension programs in financial management enroll over half a million participants in 41 states (National Impact Study, 1988). From 1985 to 1987, the number of families using nonprofit credit counseling services to help them repay debts increased by 45% (New York Times, 1988). Scores of family finance textbooks are on the market, hundreds of college and high school courses enroll thousands of students, and an increasing number of private financial planners counsel