Splitting bills equitably - help with calculation!

Maddie

pie81 wrote: »

But really from a practical point of view, does it matter whether he buys the motorbike out of "his" money or out of "your" money or out of "joint" money?

Whoevers money it is labelled, and whoever earned it, it still means that the two of you have less savings/free cash to spend on other things.

Somewhere down the line, I admit, it isn't going to matter whether its from his money or ours. But it the mean time it can help with decisions as to whether he can afford stuff, and whether I can justify not working once I have a baby etc.

I realise at some point we are going to buy a house and I'll be using my savings as a big deposit whilst he might not have much saved.

The problem is, if you decide to put everything into one big pot, and you don't like it, you can't really separate it again. We are both happy as things are so why bother.

Sorry Flomay, you only asked for a calculation, not a debate!

tara747

Maddie wrote: »

If you want to do it how you suggested;

OH would pay 662/(662+1151) x 1505 = 550
And you would pay 1151/(662+1151) x 1505 = 955

So OH would have £112 'pocket money' and you'd have £196.

I'd say this is perhaps more fair in your case than having £154 each as OH is paying back a loan which presumably he's had the benefit of in the past.

I think this is the fairest response. I am probably biased though cos my OH has far less in savings than I do, due to travelling more in his 20s! I, on the other hand, started work shortly after graduation and have saved lots (deferred consumption as I am saving for a house deposit). So I don't feel guilty about having more savings/financial freedom than him (as I earn slightly more too). I do, however, wish he would save a bit more. I know his outgoings are higher than mine (student loan, higher pension contributions and a car) so this accounts for some of it, but I do expect him to contribute.

If/when we buy a house together, I will be providing the vast bulk of the deposit (atm I have saved 3x what he has) and you can bet I will be protecting that in writing. Cynical? Maybe. But I have worked hard for that money and I have seen too many women end up screwed financially when they fail to provide for themselves in the event of a relationship/marriage breakup.

OK, rant over! Thanks to all for the interesting replies. I agree with those who say you should each have a little spending money/separate account even when you have a joint account.

CRANKY40

I'm not so sure about the joint account thing. My husband earned a lot more than me, but we never put our money in a joint account. He paid the mortgage, council tax and insurance, I paid car tax, water rates, car insurance and food, that kind of thing. I actually suggested keeping the accounts separate as I was hopeless with my money but knew I'd never dare waste his. I had online banking for emergencies as he worked away, but generally speaking, we managed to do a fair bit of renovation work on the house by keeping his money aside to pay for it.

Jem8472

tara747 wrote: »

If/when we buy a house together, I will be providing the vast bulk of the deposit (atm I have saved 3x what he has) and you can bet I will be protecting that in writing. Cynical? Maybe. But I have worked hard for that money and I have seen too many women end up screwed financially when they fail to provide for themselves in the event of a relationship/marriage breakup.

Its normally the other way round :D The women usually get everything in a divorce for some strange reason?

MrsTinks

We're married and share everything too but we still don't have a joint account - mainly because we haven't got round to it more than anything... If I'm short I just tell him (only happened since I went on SMP LOL) or if he's been short he's told me and I've moved money over... he pays the mortgage and the house insurance etc, I pay the electric, the water, phone etc etc etc. why? Because he earns more but is rubbish with managing his money so his payments are all the fixed ones - I manage all the variables and ones I can change from time to time to get better deals on etc. We prefer it this way as then there are no bills that accidently get forgotten
We've never done the "maths" on what we should both be paying because it's never been an issue - I glare at him if I think he's buying too many games - he in turn glares at me uhmmm... ok very rarely... I'm a scrooge And he doesn't buy many games... he rents them now