Olivia Melan Women

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Olivia Mellan presents the relationship of money to men and women and the relationship of money and couples in “Men, Women, and Money.” Couples really struggle with money and sometimes people have no problem with their individual money, but the problem occurs after they are in a relationship. Mellan shows that typically a money hoarder marries a spender. In America’s market economy we are taught to spend, but if we are not spending we are taught to be worrying about money and hoarding it. If a couple consists of two spenders, then they will fight to see who is the “super spender” turning, the other into a worrier and hoarder. This example shows Mellan’s idea known as Mellan’s Law, that if opposites do not attract then the couple will create …show more content…

Someone would have to set limits in the relationship. The worrier and the avoider is another polarity in relationships. Two partners can’t both be avoiders because one needs to worry and one needs to be able to spend money. Hoarders are normally worriers and spenders are avoiders. When couples have been together for a long time, they become set in their routines of polarized roles. Often times they argue about their differences, not realizing that their differences actually benefit them. Mellan describes that there are certain times when money becomes a couple’s issue such as tax time, starting a family, and buying a house. There are big money differences between men and women. One important example Mellan gives is that men believe that money equals power but women always desire to consult their partner in decision making. Mellan believes that the only way it works is if a couple makes decisions together on money. She also thinks that it is not wise for couples to rush in and merge their money together right away. Many couples do not talk about money before they get married so they do not know if they are getting involved in a spender or a hoarder. Mellan, herself, has always kept some money out because she knows she is an over spender and did not want to mess up her family’s

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