Do you know your spouses income?

CharlieRabbit01

ognum wrote: »

Just a thought as this is a money saving website!

How money saving is it for one person to be paying interest on a loan, credit card or an overdraft while the other makes minimal interest on savings?

The debt I have is on 0% cards, very MSE balance transferring between 2 that I have when one is running out the other sends me a 0% deal.

OH has no debt so he saves everything, but if I couldn't get 0% we'd discuss what to do and he'd help me out.

missprice

claire16c wrote: »

Of course I do he's my husband not a flat mate. It's a pretty basic fact.

Not to mention if you didn't know, how could you possibly say look for houses, plan holidays, plan savings or rent a house etc if you had no idea how much money you had to spend?

not all these things are important to everyone I think.
My mortgage is peanuts and there is as yet no point discussing a possible house move.

hols are not for everyone I could not go to Spain every year for two weeks for instance, but I would be over the moon with a 3 week trip to Peru (which being MSE I would try to win first.
so hols are usually won in this household and then you take what you get. However they cost very little too.
As yet this year no win so no hol

I don't worry about savings right now cos I know he has a lot and I have none but Till I get a full time job that's just the way it is and my choice to take my time about getting one:)

VestanPance

I'm shocked that there are people that have don't know their partners income, but even more so at the comments of being unsure of their own income!

22cuddles

We don't live together so possibly slightly different. I know how much he has in savings as we were talking about him possibly buying a house and whether he had enough for a deposit. I don't know how much he earns only that it's less than me. He knows roughly how much I earn as he did my interview! We no longer work together though and I've had a small payrise since so he doesn't know the exact figure although I'd tell him if he asked.

Lagoon

claire16c wrote:

not to mention if you didn't know, how could you possibly say look for houses, plan holidays, plan savings or rent a house etc if you had no idea how much money you had to spend?

missprice wrote: »

not all these things are important to everyone I think.
My mortgage is peanuts and there is as yet no point discussing a possible house move.

hols are not for everyone I could not go to Spain every year for two weeks for instance, but I would be over the moon with a 3 week trip to Peru (which being MSE I would try to win first.
so hols are usually won in this household and then you take what you get. However they cost very little too.
As yet this year no win so no hol

I don't worry about savings right now cos I know he has a lot and I have none but Till I get a full time job that's just the way it is and my choice to take my time about getting one:)

Technically you don't need to know your spouse's income to know how much they're willing to spend on these things. Conversations in our household would be:

A:

"I'm thinking of moving house/going for a weekend away"

B:

"I'm able/happy to contribute £x" or "I'd rather not"

A:

"In that case, I'll match that, which gives us a total of £x"

OR "I can't manage that much. I was thinking more along the lines of £x" (met with agreement, or the other person offering to take up the slack)

OR "I was hoping for something more expensive. I'll pay the extra".

OR "You'd rather not? That's fine"

OR "You'd rather not. Would you feel differently if I covered the costs?"

None of those actually involve knowing someone's income, or in fact their financial situation as a whole.

maman

VestanPance wrote: »

I'm shocked that there are people that have don't know their partners income, but even more so at the comments of being unsure of their own income!

Well I've never thought of myself as shocking but I don't know my own income or my DH's. I have a rough idea but that's all. If I need to know the detail then I can always look it up.

claire16c wrote: »

Of course I do he's my husband not a flat mate. It's a pretty basic fact.

Not to mention if you didn't know, how could you possibly say look for houses, plan holidays, plan savings or rent a house etc if you had no idea how much money you had to spend?

I suppose I'm fortunate that we have our finances well sorted so that we have surplus income/savings. Also, both DH and I are happy living well within our means unlike some people who have to spend right up to their income limit (and beyond). I'm sorry if it sounds smug but when you have financial security then you can have a holiday without resorting to credit etc etc.

I do appreciate that many people are struggling financially through no fault of their own but that's not true of everyone. My financial security has come from hard work and good mse habits.

hawk30

VestanPance wrote: »

I'm shocked that there are people that have don't know their partners income, but even more so at the comments of being unsure of their own income!

I don't know my gross yearly salary because I've had a couple of cost of living pay rises and my company don't put your new salary in your pay rise letter. And because the pay rise is rarely a whole number, my salary is no longer a round figure, so I have lost track over the years.

CharlieRabbit01

hawk30 wrote: »

I don't know my gross yearly salary because I've had a couple of cost of living pay rises and my company don't put your new salary in your pay rise letter. And because the pay rise is rarely a whole number, my salary is no longer a round figure, so I have lost track over the years.

this is the problem I have I'd remember if it was a round number.

Any

hawk30 wrote: »

I don't know my gross yearly salary because I've had a couple of cost of living pay rises and my company don't put your new salary in your pay rise letter. And because the pay rise is rarely a whole number, my salary is no longer a round figure, so I have lost track over the years.

P60?
Take your basic pay on the payslip and multiply by 12? Or 52 if weekly?
I find that :eek: No offence.

claire16c

Lagoon wrote: »

Technically you don't need to know your spouse's income to know how much they're willing to spend on these things. Conversations in our household would be:

A:

"I'm thinking of moving house/going for a weekend away"

B:

"I'm able/happy to contribute £x" or "I'd rather not"

A:

"In that case, I'll match that, which gives us a total of £x"

OR "I can't manage that much. I was thinking more along the lines of £x" (met with agreement, or the other person offering to take up the slack)

OR "I was hoping for something more expensive. I'll pay the extra".

OR "You'd rather not? That's fine"

OR "You'd rather not. Would you feel differently if I covered the costs?"

None of those actually involve knowing someone's income, or in fact their financial situation as a whole.

But getting a mortgage or renting a house where you are looking at multiples of income, you're gonna need a ball park figure how would you know where to start?

When I go on mortgage calculator websites what would I do, put in random amounts on the salary bit hoping I might hit the jack pot of thr correct salary amount for my DH? Why play guessing games?

Btw I don't mean that in a rude way I just don't get why you wouldn't just be transparent.