Rationality vs. Risk Taking?

We all do crazy, reckless things when we are young and single. Settling into a married life means facing new economic circumstances and requires an increase in one’s sense of responsibility. As a rule wives manage to accomplish it faster and more effectively: they become very frugal and practical to ensure the well-being of their family. Men do so more reluctantly, they occasionally deviate from rigorous budget planning to make pricey and unnecessary purchases. So when rationalism clashes with risk-taking, which one will come out a winner?

Rationalism is a typical wifely feature. It takes roots in the maternal instinct: a mother always puts feeding her babies ahead of everything else; besides, not only she wants to make sure hers kids have food today, but also tomorrow, a week, a year from now. She is planning far into the future, denying herself little (and not so little) pleasures if necessary. A husband knows that he needs to provide for the family, however as long as he puts the food on the table today, he considers his mission pretty much accomplished, since tomorrow is another day. And if something goes wrong he is convinced he will have time to figure something out.

A conflict will often arise when a couple plans to make a big purchase, such as a new car, a large screen TV or a swimming pool. A woman will go for functionality and safety features, it’s also important for her to buy a product that is convenient for use and affordable. A husband is more interested in all the extra new features (not because he’ll use them, but because it’s cool to have them); his ego will require a most recent release, a most popular (highly advertised) model. He won’t be scared away by the above-his-budget price, just the opposite – men find more satisfaction in buying expensive products, rather than on-sale or clearance items. And as always they will think about paying if off later on…

Does it mean that a wife should have more say when there’s a big decision to be made? Not necessarily. It’s more about a healthy mix, learning to coordinate and cooperate in the decision-making process. A wife will come up with logical well-thought options that are in the family’s best interests. A husband’s ideas can be more spontaneous and less rational, however by raising a level of risk tolerance, he will often manage to get things from the “dream world”, achieve daring victories, expose his family to new experiences.

Shoot for the stars when you can, stay on the ground when it’s necessary.