Anonymous
11/12/2013 01:59
Subject: Working Married Couples
Thank God, my DH is a chauvinist. He will not touch my money. My money was my money and his money was our money.
Anonymous
11/05/2013 10:31
Subject: Re:Working Married Couples
Anonymous wrote:We keep nothing jointly, and it has helped our marriage. I'm the primary breadwinner, so it keeps me sane to know what I have to cover every month and exactly how much money I have to cover it with. I have absolutely no clue how much money my husband has in his savings, and he has no clue about mine. We each pay for what we pay for and don't discuss it further.
So what happens when you get to retirement? Are you confident that he's saving adequately there? What about college, or if you need a new roof or something?
Anonymous
11/05/2013 10:15
Subject: Working Married Couples
Nothing in life is going to be equal, especially in a marriage. People get raises or laid off, some do more cooking or more housework.
I think you should just do joint checking. It works out great for us and we are able to feel like a joint team with joint goals like saving and paying bills.
I think you should just do joint checking. It works out great for us and we are able to feel like a joint team with joint goals like saving and paying bills.
Anonymous
11/05/2013 10:01
Subject: Working Married Couples
Same as 8:56 and 9:47.
Paychecks go into our individual checking accounts. A set amount goes into the joint checking account every month. Joint account funds pay for: mortgage, utilities, tuition & aftercare, taxes, vet and doctor bills, groceries, furniture, etc. Pretty much all household expenses.
Our individual accounts cover: cars and related expenses, clothing & grooming expenses, gifts, entertainment, charity. I cover DC's clothing and DH contributes to DC's college fund.
We have separate retirements savings and portfolios. This works for us. Neither set of our parents had any joint accounts, so maintaining independent accounts seems pretty normal for us. It also helps to limit the impact of identity theft (someone might be able to drain my accounts, but not DH's, for example). Might also help with continuity of "operations" when one of us dies, but I can't say I've given that a lot of thought. Not sure if it would protect assets in a liability-type lawsuit (say a car accident with injuries), but it might.
Paychecks go into our individual checking accounts. A set amount goes into the joint checking account every month. Joint account funds pay for: mortgage, utilities, tuition & aftercare, taxes, vet and doctor bills, groceries, furniture, etc. Pretty much all household expenses.
Our individual accounts cover: cars and related expenses, clothing & grooming expenses, gifts, entertainment, charity. I cover DC's clothing and DH contributes to DC's college fund.
We have separate retirements savings and portfolios. This works for us. Neither set of our parents had any joint accounts, so maintaining independent accounts seems pretty normal for us. It also helps to limit the impact of identity theft (someone might be able to drain my accounts, but not DH's, for example). Might also help with continuity of "operations" when one of us dies, but I can't say I've given that a lot of thought. Not sure if it would protect assets in a liability-type lawsuit (say a car accident with injuries), but it might.
Anonymous
11/05/2013 09:47
Subject: Working Married Couples
We have a joint for household bills items, groceries etc. but separate ones for our own expenditures.
Anonymous
11/05/2013 09:20
Subject: Working Married Couples
We have a joint account and all income goes into it and all bills are paid out of it. We don't consult each other over ordinary spending, but do if one of us wants to make a major purchase (a new TV or a case of wine or something).
Anonymous
11/05/2013 08:56
Subject: Working Married Couples
We have a joint account as well as separate accounts for each of us. Our paychecks go into the separate accounts and then at the beginning of each month, there is an automatic transfer from each account into the joint one. (We have roughly equal salaries and so it is the same amount for each, but there's no reason it has to be that way.) We pay all family expenses out of the joint account and then what's left over in our separate accounts is for each of us individually (new clothes, dinner with friends, etc). I like it because I never feel like I have to answer for what I spent on a dress or something -- not that I probably would have to anyway, but this just takes the issue off the table.
Anonymous
11/05/2013 00:13
Subject: Working Married Couples
We do everything through the joint account. I handle most of the books but my spouse has all the passwords and looks things up if there's a question about something. For us, there is no his/her money or his/her spending. It's all ours.
Whatever works. I know people who do everything separate and it's fine.
Whatever works. I know people who do everything separate and it's fine.
Anonymous
11/04/2013 23:31
Subject: Re:Working Married Couples
We keep nothing jointly, and it has helped our marriage. I'm the primary breadwinner, so it keeps me sane to know what I have to cover every month and exactly how much money I have to cover it with. I have absolutely no clue how much money my husband has in his savings, and he has no clue about mine. We each pay for what we pay for and don't discuss it further.
Anonymous
11/04/2013 22:55
Subject: Re:Working Married Couples
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It's about what works for the two of you.
DH and I manage our funds and bills jointly - everything goes into one pot (well, actually a few pots that include savings accounts and our checking account). We pay our bills out of our checking account and any discretionary items come out of that account, too. For us, it's easist to manage our money that way and we both have visibility into our spending and finances. We do consult each other if we individually make big purchases, but we've never vetoed the other's purchase. We're on the same page in terms of financial priorities which is important, too. I guess the disadvantage would be if we wanted different things for our money or we didn't agree with how to manage our finances.
My BIL and his wife split their money - they both have individual checking and savings accounts, seperate credit cards, seperate retirement savings. I think he covers the mortgage and a variety of household bills and she covers child care and other household expenses. They recently purchased a car and my BIL noted that they contributed to it 70/30 since he was going to drive it more frequently. That system works very well for them.
Again, it's what works best for you.
How do you handle a "surprise gift"?
Well most of our gifts to each other are below the threshold where we'd discuss it beforehand. It's never been an issue to buy Christmas, anniversary, and birthday gifts or the random present.
Anonymous
11/04/2013 22:32
Subject: Re:Working Married Couples
Anonymous wrote:It's about what works for the two of you.
DH and I manage our funds and bills jointly - everything goes into one pot (well, actually a few pots that include savings accounts and our checking account). We pay our bills out of our checking account and any discretionary items come out of that account, too. For us, it's easist to manage our money that way and we both have visibility into our spending and finances. We do consult each other if we individually make big purchases, but we've never vetoed the other's purchase. We're on the same page in terms of financial priorities which is important, too. I guess the disadvantage would be if we wanted different things for our money or we didn't agree with how to manage our finances.
My BIL and his wife split their money - they both have individual checking and savings accounts, seperate credit cards, seperate retirement savings. I think he covers the mortgage and a variety of household bills and she covers child care and other household expenses. They recently purchased a car and my BIL noted that they contributed to it 70/30 since he was going to drive it more frequently. That system works very well for them.
Again, it's what works best for you.
How do you handle a "surprise gift"?
Anonymous
11/04/2013 22:29
Subject: Re:Working Married Couples
It's about what works for the two of you.
DH and I manage our funds and bills jointly - everything goes into one pot (well, actually a few pots that include savings accounts and our checking account). We pay our bills out of our checking account and any discretionary items come out of that account, too. For us, it's easist to manage our money that way and we both have visibility into our spending and finances. We do consult each other if we individually make big purchases, but we've never vetoed the other's purchase. We're on the same page in terms of financial priorities which is important, too. I guess the disadvantage would be if we wanted different things for our money or we didn't agree with how to manage our finances.
My BIL and his wife split their money - they both have individual checking and savings accounts, seperate credit cards, seperate retirement savings. I think he covers the mortgage and a variety of household bills and she covers child care and other household expenses. They recently purchased a car and my BIL noted that they contributed to it 70/30 since he was going to drive it more frequently. That system works very well for them.
Again, it's what works best for you.
DH and I manage our funds and bills jointly - everything goes into one pot (well, actually a few pots that include savings accounts and our checking account). We pay our bills out of our checking account and any discretionary items come out of that account, too. For us, it's easist to manage our money that way and we both have visibility into our spending and finances. We do consult each other if we individually make big purchases, but we've never vetoed the other's purchase. We're on the same page in terms of financial priorities which is important, too. I guess the disadvantage would be if we wanted different things for our money or we didn't agree with how to manage our finances.
My BIL and his wife split their money - they both have individual checking and savings accounts, seperate credit cards, seperate retirement savings. I think he covers the mortgage and a variety of household bills and she covers child care and other household expenses. They recently purchased a car and my BIL noted that they contributed to it 70/30 since he was going to drive it more frequently. That system works very well for them.
Again, it's what works best for you.
Anonymous
11/04/2013 22:25
Subject: Working Married Couples
All goes in to one big pot. All comes out of that one big pot. That's a marriage.
We don't spend over a certain amount on a personal thing without checking.
"Everything else" will be very unpredictable. Does this mean that he can't get his teeth repaired until next month because his income has been used up for the month?
We don't spend over a certain amount on a personal thing without checking.
"Everything else" will be very unpredictable. Does this mean that he can't get his teeth repaired until next month because his income has been used up for the month?
Anonymous
11/04/2013 22:23
Subject: Working Married Couples
All combined. ZERO split.
Anonymous
11/04/2013 22:15
Subject: Working Married Couples
How do you handle household bills, outings, car notes etc. Do you have joint accounts and personal ones. I have some friends who tell their partner/spouse to give them X amount every two weeks/month and others who share household bills with joint accounts and car notes, student loans with personal accounts. Since I'm the bread winner I was considering covering the mortgage myself and DH covering everything else. Gas, electric, water, triple play, car insurance. His mom takes care of our child so there is no daycare expenses currently. He does however buys her groceries and other minor necessities. Should I just consider 50/50?