Maybe normally thinking are that men are better with money, unless the contest is spending it. When you look at the research on the ways each gender earns, saves, and invests, women often come out ahead of men. Do we have insight to thank, or just intuition? Doesn't matter what we call it, as long as we exploit it.
1. Women keep a close eye on household finances. Substantially more wives than husbands handle the bill paying — which means that nobody knows better than you how much cash flow you need and where the budget can be nipped and tucked.
Save even more: Take more responsibility for deciding which big-ticket items the family can buy — and which purchases will cut into having anything left to put away. As your savings grow, so will your in-house reputation.
2. Women sweat the details. Female investors spend 40 percent more time researching stocks than males do. They also pay more attention to the general operations of the companies that they're putting their money into. The result: Women-only investment clubs earn close to 7 percent more a year than all-male groups do.
Save even more: In these uncertain times, you may be tempted to abandon research in favor of derring-do. Don't. Careful research is still the best route to market success.
3. Women aren't afflicted with remote control disease. Once a gal buys a stock, she doesn't let go of it on a whim. So, she ends up earning more in the market, on average, than a 
guy does — 1.4 percent more a year, to be precise. Why? Women don't eat into their earnings with numerous stock-switching transaction fees or hefty capital gains taxes.
Save even more: Steadiness is a virtue, but sometimes it may pay to change programs. How to know? Obviously, if your mutual fund or stock suffers big losses. But according to Morningstar, a mutual fund rating service, you might want to also consider selling if your fund suddenly spikes (that may mean it's buying stocks that are riskier than you're comfortable with).
4. Men want to get rich. Women want to send their kids to college. For guys, money is a personal report card; for most women, it's a means of achieving life goals. That's why men generally start investing in their 20s and 30s, while for women it takes a major personal event — a baby, a divorce, or the death of a spouse — for them to start doing "something more" with their money.
Save even more: Don't wait for somebody to die — or even to be born — to start investing. While men may get into the market for ego reasons, they do get in earlier — a trait we would be wiser (and richer) to emulate.
5. Women are steady workers. If you're like most wives and mothers, your desire for security will .jpg)
lead you to put up with more aggravation at work than your husband does. Maybe that's because women are more likely to report "being happy" at home — and their greater satisfaction on the domestic front balances the annoyances of office life.
Save even more: Endurance is a valuable trait in an economy when the prospects for finding a new position are dreary at best. But in flusher times, it's not the best way to improve your financial condition. For now, figure out your worth on the job market — something most men regularly track. When the economy warms up, you'll be prepared to ask for an appropriate raise or make a move — or to feel confident that you are indeed in the right job, at the right salary.
6. Women take the long view. We may not invest enough, but when we do, we're most likely to put our funds in retirement plans. Three out of four female investors set money aside only for the far-off future.
Save even more: No one would knock security. But think of having a savings goal for the short term, too — a family-room redo? A Caribbean vacation? People are more likely to stick with long-term saving if they give themselves occasional rewards along the way.
