Getting married: Advice needed on joint finances

MiM

We're getting married in a couple of months and have been talking about what to do about finances.

We both have our own homes and having failed to sell her's we're renting that out and moving into my house.

We both earn about the same and we should be better off than ever together.

We were thinking of getting a joint buildings account which we would pay the rent into and pay out both mortgages from as well as bills.

Anyone got any tips, advice or experiences to share on how best to go about this. Any particular accounts which are best for this?

Or any previous threads on the subject anyone can direct me to?

Many thanks.

Horace

You could have joint accounts as well as retaining individual accounts.

toria27

Hi,

Mine and my husbands wages both go into a joint account (we have alliance & leicester) everything comes out of that one account. i control all our finances and when times are good we each get a set amount of personal money each week (usually about £20 each) but since having our DD and a bigger house we find most of our money goes on family things and we dont have much time to spend money on ourselves or we just have a holiday.

some friends of ours pay a set amount into a joint account each moneth and then whats left is there own, we dont see that as fair though that one may end up with less than the other, if you have a child and your wife reduces hours at work? or one of you has higher travel costs etc.

Not sure if ive helped much, congrats though x

margaretclare

What we (retired wrinklies) do is to have separate personal current and savings accounts, and also a joint current account which we both tip into for household bills, council tax etc. As DH also buys all food, I transfer a contribution to him every 4 weeks when pension money arrives. He pays all the car and broadband expenses. Everything else, we share. We each save individually, both have cash ISAs.

HTH

tanith

We manage our finances in a similar way to Margaretclare a joint acc for bills ,mortgage etc.. and our own accs for incoming money and ISA's... We pay for food alternate weeks and both maintain and buy our own cars...

As I am now retired OH insists on paying a larger share into the bills acc we just transfer from our own acc to the J/A on a monthly basis... but we pay in more than needed so that J/A builds up a surplus which then pays for larger purchases if necessary... its worked for us for a long time... everything evens itself out, swings and roundabouts, give and take , you will be a partnership after all..

Other purchases such as holidays, meals out etc can be payed for by equal shares or by whoever is feeling 'flush':rotfl: we have absolutely NEVER in 20 odd years argued about money...

Good luck with your wedding....:T

wornoutmumoftwo

Me and the OH have been together for 14 years and married for 7, and we have NEVER had a joint account - mind you I have online access to both of them and generally deal with everything.

rchddap1

We also don't have a joint account. I move my partner's money out of his current account to savings (and back where necessary) and then tell him how much he has to spend. He's not good with cash or organisation....so I got the job.

belfastgirl23

I think it's very handy to have a joint account - having all bills etc paid from one account means you can both keep an eye on things should you so wish. And if one of you is away or sick or something, the other can still make sure stuff is dealt with.

As for the issue of the rest of your money, it's really what you feel comfortable with. We run individual accounts as well, that way if DH wants to splash out on an iphone or I spend too much in the sales we don't have to be accountable to each other. Which suits us pretty well but wouldn't necessarily suit others. I think it's a bigger issue if you have children too...

The other thing I'd say is be clear what comes out of the joint account. In the end up we excluded car costs, wine and eating out but included groceries. Again though this took a bit of negotiation.

Very good to be thinking of it ahead of time though, deal with it before it becomes a problem...

Errata

As you're going to have 3 properties you'll have to manage the finances for I'd suggest you take a very business like attitude to it as it will be very much like running a small business.

Shambler

It makes sense to have a joint account for paying mortgages,fuel and services. We pay into a joint account £500 a month each and then every few months skim off any surplus into a joint savings account.

I bank with Lloyds and find that the instant transfer from my current account to our joint/savings account is convenient, I suggest creating a joint account with the same bank as the one who will be overseeing the finances for this reason.

onlyroz

We've got a joint account for household expenses, mortgage etc, and we each have a standing order going into this, with the amounts determined from our respective incomes. Then, we know that everything left over is "ours", although we still consult on any big items we're thinking of buying.