Do you know your spouses income?

lostinrates

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!

Income on a day to day basis is less important than budget...for some the two are blessedly not the same.

For others income is variable. DH should know his salary I agree, but forgets it, but is income has other aspects that vary and have very little to do with how much effort he puts into them now. Others might have investments, making gains, or indeed losses, which make their salary and income very different from each other and the latter not always as predictable as the former.

Any

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Why? It's clearly not a problem to those of us who don't know to the last penny, or pound... or thousand pounds.

How do they know they are paid right though?
Unless of course they are so well off they work just help the society...

Goldiegirl

tbourner wrote: »

My wife doesn't know how much she earns!

Seriously, we have 3 joint accounts and she has an individual account which we don't really use. She doesn't know any online banking passwords, I only managed to get her to start using her cards a few months ago as she didn't even know the PINs! I deal with all the income and what we need to spend where and how much we've got left etc. she's happy as she hates numbers and the only problem I have is when I have to say no when she asks for something.

Weird? Probably, but it works, and we're just about to go out to dinner for out 10th anniversary. :beer:

It's quite usual in a partnership for one person to look after the day to day running of the finances.

But I feel that everyone should be aware of the overall financial picture in their relationship.

What would happen if you were run over by a bus and wasn't around any more - she would really struggle then.

Oh, happy anniversary by the way.

Gloomendoom

Any wrote: »

How do they know they are paid right though?
Unless of course they are so well off they work just help the society...

In our case they all pay themselves by direct debit. We aren't that well off, we just live within our means.

Rebecca01

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.

Not a relationship I would like to be in, sounds like mates discussing a weekend away,but each to their own.

I know OH income, he knows mine. We share it all. I would not like it any other way. Though clearly we all have our own preferences.

marisco_2

tbourner wrote: »

My wife doesn't know how much she earns!

Seriously, we have 3 joint accounts and she has an individual account which we don't really use. She doesn't know any online banking passwords, I only managed to get her to start using her cards a few months ago as she didn't even know the PINs! I deal with all the income and what we need to spend where and how much we've got left etc. she's happy as she hates numbers and the only problem I have is when I have to say no when she asks for something.

Weird? Probably, but it works, and we're just about to go out to dinner for out 10th anniversary. :beer:

Begs the question of how she would cope though, if god forbid anything happened to you. Could you write anything down for her and store it securely, so that in the event she needs to take over handling it all herself, she wouldn't be at a complete loss during a very difficult time.

Hope that hasn't put a dampner on your celebrations today, Happy Anniversary.

maman

claire16c wrote: »

We have savings and no debts.

But in order to know how much we can save each month clearly I need to know how much we have coming in & out & therefore what's the max we can put away each month.

We approach our finances from a different angle. We spend an absolute minimum on outgoings (those are figures I DO know;)) and all the rest is saved in one form or another. My best interest rate is from my current account at the moment so there's always plenty in there to spend on holidays or anything else. DH does the same.

Carl31

Yes I know my wife's income, probably better than she does. She knows mine. All our money is pooled into our joint account and we have is as in our own names, but are joint.

We have access to each others online banking too.

We don't have our own money

missprice

claire16c wrote: »

If your mortgage is peanuts then I'm assuming you're at an age where you are not in a relationship with the person you originally bought the house with/you bought it on your own previous to meeting them. If you are a young couple & go to a bank to get a mortgage it's going to come out how much each person earns!

We like to go abroad a couple of times a year to new places and so where the destination will be clearly depends on how much we've earned that year.

no I only bought it 7 and half years ago am still quite young ish (or so I like to think)and I bought it when on my own and OH came along few years later.
if we went for a mortgage now it would have to be on his salary only so in fact he would go for mortgage himself as my pittance of a wage would cover the mortgage on this house and our food bill.
If I really want a hol and don't win one then I will say can we go away ? will you pay? and where you want to go?

bsms1147

"I'm thinking of moving house"
"I'd rather not"
"You'd rather not? That's fine"