Do you know your spouses income?

BugglyB

No, I know how much he contributes to joint account for mortgage/bills and how much he contributes to savings. But don't know how much he earns.

fannyanna

I know everything about my Husbands finances. In our marriage everything we have as individuals is ours as a couple. I've probably contributed quite a bit more over the years but we're both happy with the arrangement.

But each to their own. What's right for one couple won't be for another. It doesn't mean one couple's relationship is any stronger than another's.

CharlieRabbit01

BugglyB wrote: »

No, I know how much he contributes to joint account for mortgage/bills and how much he contributes to savings. But don't know how much he earns.

How do you know how to split the bills? ie we earn very similar amounts so split everything in half.

balletshoes

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

He knows roughly what I earn and I know roughly what he earns - but we bank separately and don't show each other our pay slips etc each month to know exact figures (if he asked he'd be welcome to see mine). We're fairly comfortable though so I've never felt a need to know down to the penny - if we were struggling then I'd probably want to know a lot more detail.

thats our situation too - when times are hard financially, then I do need to know exactly how much money we have coming in (as its me who does the household finances). When we are coasting along, I don't need to know, so I don't ask. I have a rough idea how much my OH earns, and I have told him how much I earn, but I don't know if he has retained that information :cool:.

Prothet_of_Doom

I know my wife's income, because I employ her, and I'd still know it If I didn't employ her because we have a joint account, and she used to get me to check her pay slips.

My mother tells me about a problem she caused with a friend.
It was the early 60's.
My dad worked in the same company on the same grade, and was on the same pay as this woman's husband.

My mother invited her to do something together, (I think a joint faimily holiday together) and she declared she couldn't afford it, and my mother, couldn't believe it, and started doing a household budget with her, to see if they could make saving. They got to the point where my mum told her my dad's take home, and this woman realised her 'allowance' was a fraction of what it could be, and he had been conning her for the 3 years that they'd been married. It almost caused the marriage to fail.
I think my parents thought that they were very 'progressive' to have a joint account, and also tell of a story where my mum went to the bank to cash a cheque, and the bank manager wanted to phone my dad to check that he was okay with it. My dad hit the roof. How dare they doubt his wife. He said he knew nothing of why she wanted the money, but he was furious that they sought his permission. He threatened to close the account, unless they sent a written appology to her. They also sent flowers apparently.

FatVonD

I know roughly what DH earns but it fluctuates (black cab driver), our finances are completely separate anyway. He knows what I earn.

Gloomendoom

CharlieRabbit01 wrote: »

How do you know how to split the bills? ie we earn very similar amounts so split everything in half.

In some relationships it doesn't matter. Ours, for example.

CharlieRabbit01

Gloomendoom wrote: »

In some relationships it doesn't matter. Ours, for example.

thats fair.

For us we pay bills in proportion to our income, if one of use earnt more then they would contribute more to the bills.

kwmlondon

Kind of. We talk about our money situations (he gets very annoyed if he thinks I'm being profligate with my money, he's such a bargain-fiend!) and he's about to start full time education with an annual bursary of £4700 so I'll pay the mortgage and he can take care of renting out the spare room to make some more money for us. We have a joint 1-2-3 account for bills but it only just pays for itself, I mainly keep it as it may be a really good option when we come to remortgagae. Mostly we keep our finances separate but we're pretty open about what's happening with the money.

BugglyB

CharlieRabbit01 wrote: »

How do you know how to split the bills? ie we earn very similar amounts so split everything in half.

We just pay half each, its my choice to work part time so I choose to have less disposable income, if that makes sense.