Couples and joint accounts

kingkano

THANK YOU! to everyone who has replied. I have learnt some things reading through this including how seperate accounts CAN work well. I can see the appeal now.

mintymoneysaver

We both get paid into our own current accounts.We then transfer a set amount each into a joint account that pays all bills,petrol food etc,this never goes overdrawn and we change the amounts as necessary..This is roughly the same aamount ,as we earn similar wages, but it would be pro rata if there was a huge gap.We then leave ourselves some pocket money each ( both the same amount) and then write a cheque out for anything that's left to go into our savings/paying off credit card account
We have a joint credit card that we use for household or child realted things, and then we each have an individual one although they are not used very much.
Worked great for us for 16 years!

nearlyrich

Seperate current accounts and a joint one for household bills, I pay for food etc and we split it when the bill comes in. We have been together for 16 years and have never had even one argument about money.

skintchick

piglet6 wrote:

P.S. This is my first post, so I hope I haven't spoken out of line...

Piglet - you can say what you like here!

And welcome.

Star1979

My partner and I have our wages paid into our own accounts. We both pay a set amount into a joint account on pay day for rent and bills. Anything that we have left is ours. We don't pay for food from the joint account but I would like to change that soon.

silvercar

Separate bank accounts, whoever has money in them pays the bill when it lands on the mat. When money was tighter we used to make sure that one or other account had some money in it for whatever bills we were expecting.

Joint egg credit card in his name paid off in full by direct debit from his account :j , I download the statements each month, in fact I don't think he even knows the password

Savings accounts in both our names - whoever it was tax efficient to open them in at the time.

Pension in his name only, life assurance on both of us.

I ussually end up paying car tax and house & car insurance, he pays household bills, including the mortgage, by direct debit. I pay for holidays and house improvements.

I keep a note of all my outgoings down to the last penny, especially on cheque stubs and bank payments. He writes cheques and leaves the stubs blank. I couldn't share a bank account with him!

newmoneysaver_2

We have OUR (shared) money but have seperate bank accounts. I get paid monthly so pay all monthly bills, OH get pais weekly so use his wage for food shopping and other weekly expenditure. Whatever is left at end of week/month get put into joint account.

taplady

We have separate acounts but share the money equally.I earn more than he does.He gives me all his wages bar his 'spends' and I pay everything. We always talk about purchases etc and I also allow myself the same 'spends as my OH. In the past he hasn't been good with money and its a security thing for us that I pay the bills on time.

We worked out our budget together and have no secrets financially. We have never had or wanted a joint account.
Edit, we don't have credit cards any more!:j

indesisiv

We have seperate accounts and a joint account.

Wages go into our seperate accounts and we transfer money over to the joint account by standing order for some bills etc. (elec, gas, phone, water, nursery)

Some things get paid out of my account mainly because I sort out all of this stuff as the OH doesn't like doing these things such as Mortgage (in joint names), Life insurance, house insurance, internet, mobile phone.

Steve

Daniel_B

I think I've probably posted before, but this is how it works for me and my gf (of 6 (SIX) years today!)

I earn X amount, she earns Y amount (NET)
We add the total together, and whatever each of us earns is X % of the total, ie, in most cases this will be a 60/40 split.

We add all the bills up, most come out of my account for convenience, and then we apply the above percentages, so for arguments sake, if the bills were £2000 per month, and we worked on the above forumla, I would pay 60% = £1200, and she would pay 40% = £800.

We also have a few joint savings accounts - these are for:
Food
House purchases/DIY
Long term savings

We use these for any individual purchases we make on cards, and draw the money out of them to pay them off.

Works like a dream!

Pretty much everything we buy we work on the same percentage (roughly) as per our salaries, and it works out really well.

At the end of the day, whoever earns more can save more, but it doesn't matter, as we are saving to offset our mortgage, and it's joint now anyway.

I appreciate, and I think she does too, still having your own current account - I know we are a couple, and we love each other to bits, but I think having your own identity, financial and otherwise, is vital - IMHO.

Dan