Mom rules the roost, PC Financial survey finds

You already know the answer to this question: who's running the show in the typical Canadian household? If you think it's your father, then you're on the opposite side of the findings in a recent PC Financial 'Mother's Day survey'.

Conducted online by Leger Marketing on behalf of the bank, the survey shows women, by and large, are the chief financial officer (CFO) in most families, bank officials say.

Findings reveal that while a majority of Canadians (56 per cent) identify a male figure as "head of the household," 41 per cent say that it is a woman who is responsible for managing day-to-day household expenses and bills. That compares with only 33 per cent of respondents who cite a man and 22 per cent who say family-finance duties are evenly split.

"We went out to talk to mothers in this particular study because we did find most families do claim the chief financial officer within the family is the mother … we also identified that moms are the primary shopper that's spending the most amount of time in our stores," remarks Barry Columb, president of PC Financial in Toronto.

Many respondents say when they were growing up their mother took responsibility for managing the household expenses and bills (42.8 per cent), as opposed to their father (29.3 per cent) or an equal split between the two (24.2 per cent). And what your mother told you growing up tends to ring true in adulthood evidently.

When parents were asked if their kids were more likely to go to the "other parent" when they want money, men were more likely to say that was the case (31 per cent), while women were more likely to disagree (66 per cent); and 53.1 per cent of parents said that they do give their children an allowance.

Why the shift in gender dynamics? More families are dual income and more women than ever before are becoming the top breadwinner in the family.

Annually, women control nearly one-third of all wealth in North America, according to a new survey from Bank of Montreal. Their survey found a whopping 82 per cent of women are either solely responsible for the financial decisions in their households or jointly responsible.

This research validates that women and mothers, in addition to their day-to-day responsibilities, continue to play a key role when it comes to keeping the family finances on track, Columb continues. He says the Mother's Day survey is the first of many to come over the course of the year to gauge what matters most to Canuck families.

"This is the first study in a series of studies that we're going to undertake over the next several months. We're conducting these studies to better understand the needs of today's Canadian families in order that we can better serve them in terms of our product offerings," he says. "We'll be exploring financial attitudes, behaviours, what the goals are of Canadian families as it relates to their finances."

The President's Choice Financial Mother's Day survey was completed online from April 23 to April 25, 2012, using Leger Marketing's online panel, Leger Web, with a representative sample of 1,502 Canadians. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of ± 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.