London - Their menfolk may accuse them of occasionally overspending on expensive clothes and beauty treatments. But it seems women are increasingly taking charge of the family finances, a report has revealed.
It found they now control the purse strings in the majority of households where couples are under the age of 45.
And it predicts that across all age groups, females will be making the most important long-term financial decisions, such as choosing a mortgage, within the next eight years.
The Lloyds TSB Family Savings Report also found that in homes where women took control of money, nine out of ten had savings compared with 82 percent of families where men had greater responsibility.
Among couples aged under 45, women are already behind more than half (52 percent) of long-term financial planning as well as 54 percent of bill payments.
But among couples aged over 45, men still hold sway in financial matters, albeit narrowly, researchers found, a position they expect to have shifted in the opposite direction in eight years' time.
Greg Coughlan, of Lloyds TSB, said: “Younger women have taken a firm grip on the purse strings, moving from managing their day-to-day spending, to planning and selecting where money is kept.
“This rise of a money matriarchy may have more positive impacts for the economy.”
The recession has led families to keep a tighter grip on their budgets, with seven in 10 people surveyed saying they carefully plan their finances each month, compared with 56 percent who said this when a similar study was carried out before the recession, the report said.
More than nine in 10 (94 percent) UK households were found to have at least one member of the family taking control of the family's financial planning.
The report also compared financial habits in the UK with those in Germany and China to see how families in the two similar European economies differed from those in a rising power.
It found that around almost six in 10 younger German women were controlling financial activity among younger couples.
But the results were more mixed in China, with no clear trend towards rising female financial power. On some measures men were more powerful among younger couples than older couples in China.
People in the UK tended to be more pro-active than Germans when it came to switching banks to get a better interest rate. Almost two thirds of people in the UK said they have done this, compared with just over half (54 percent) of people surveyed in Germany.
Those surveyed in China were found to be the most pro-active at switching, with four out of five (82 percent) people saying they had switched providers to get a better rate.
Some 750 people were interviewed in China and Germany, resulting in a total of 3,000 people surveyed for the report. - Daily Mail