How do you manage your joint income?

1730Ian

Hi All,

I have been an avid reader of the forum for some time now, however only just set up an account... so hello to all!

myself and my wife have recently purchased a house and took out a personal loan to renovate it... because of this, we have had to really tighten up our finances and have followed the advise given on this website, creating a budget, reducing outgoings, balance transfer card, etc. There should be excess cash after our outgoings that we could potentially pay off debts quicker with.

One thing we are really struggling with at the moment is managing any spare cash and allocating money from each others accounts. we both have separate accounts and direct debits set up between the two. it is obvious at the moment this is not working so we are looking at the best option to manage this process better.

So my question is this... how do you currently manage your joint income with your partner? do you have a joint account? a separate account that you pay into to cover bills etc?

Thanks for any advise and apologies if this isn't in the right section!

Regards,

Ian :beer:

If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply! [purplesignup][/purplesignup]

dano17439

Me and my wife are a team. We have 1 current account, which everything goes into and goes out of. Personally I don't understand married couples having separate bank accounts. If you are married then you are one. I suppose that I am lucky as we both earn similar amounts, however if wouldn't bother me if I earned a million a year and my wife earned nothing, as a married couple you are in it together no?


As a side note we never argue about money either.


I couldn't think of anything worse that say if I was cold my wife wouldn't let me put the heating on because it would increase her 50%. Ridiculous really

determined_new_ms

we have our own separate accounts and a joint account where all joint finances come out of. We put a proportional amount into it each month and most joint/house things come out of that, except when we want to spend more and we both have to contribute.

It's worked well for us over the years and we have put varying amounts in depending on our incomes. However now I work part time and I put a lot less in than oh so it has become a little more complicated

Mysteek

Hi 1730 Ian


I think it all boils down to how you see your earnings, is it 'my' money or 'our' money. We have always considered all monies earned by myself and DH as 'our' money and haver never had separate accounts. Our earnings are paid into a joint account and all bills paid out of this account. Someone has to be in 'control' of how this all works though, so there has to be 100% trust in that person. DH has always been happy for me to deal with all money matters from when we were first married (been married for 42 years) and its always worked for us and we've never fallen out over money.


However, my 2 daughters work differently (one married, one in a relationship). They have joint accounts with their partners, but have separate accounts into which their salaries are paid. Each partner then transfers half of all joint bills into the joint account, keeping all non joint bills for them to pay from their respective own accounts, things like their mobile phone, car loans, credit cards etc. This works for them too I suppose but there seems a reluctant for the partner who earns more to let the other partner know exactly what they earn and also to share any remaining monies with the partner who earns less when they have run out of money, as it is classed as 'their' money. This seems to be a reflection on the whole of their relationship though, not just money matters. They don't seem to be 'together' if you know what I mean.


I think you really have to decide what will work for you as no two situations are exactly the same, just as no two relationships are exactly the same.


Good luck in what you decide to do

enthusiasticsaver

We have always had a joint current account into which our salaries and joint bills come out of.

In the early years when we had little spare money we used to each do a weekly cash withdrawal for personal spends. Now we do a regular standing order to a personal account for each of us so we both get £250 per month to cover clothes and personal spends.

My husband is now retired and I work part time (retiring next year). This way we have always had the same amount of money to spend even though our income has varied over the years. We both earned the same before we had kids but mine went up and down due to part time working as husband progressed in his career and his salary went up.

This seemed the fairest way of doing it and gave us both some private money we could have access to. I also got fed up of constantly asking OH what each cash withdrawal was for when we only had a joint account as he was not so much into budgeting as me.

Schoolworker

My hubbie and I have a joint account. I will only work 3 days term time and look after the kids during all holidays. Hubbie is paid 6times my salary but its our money. I have a notebook which I enter wages and use a spreadsheet to enter monthlt expenditure including money to saving accounts and keep a running balance so when it spend I mark it up on the book. I do check our bank account every 3-4days to see what Hubble e spends so I have a true balance of what's in the account. It seems to work for us and there is money there to spend on clothes haircuts etc.

Skibunny40

Yep, joint account here too. Wasn't really an issue until we had kids and I wasn't earning anything - but I'm glad we already had the joint account set up. Nowadays, all money still goes into the joint account but we both have separate accounts as well that we each get the same amount "sanity money" each month, so we can still spend without having to explain / justify the purchase!

sysadmin

dano17439 wrote: »

Me and my wife are a team. We have 1 current account, which everything goes into and goes out of. Personally I don't understand married couples having separate bank accounts. If you are married then you are one. I suppose that I am lucky as we both earn similar amounts, however if wouldn't bother me if I earned a million a year and my wife earned nothing, as a married couple you are in it together no?


As a side note we never argue about money either.


I couldn't think of anything worse that say if I was cold my wife wouldn't let me put the heating on because it would increase her 50%. Ridiculous really

We are exactly the same as this and couldn't agree more. I earn 4 x more than my wife but we are a team so its our money

fromtheshires

It depends on the dynamics of life to some extent as well.

I had my house along with everything in my name when my husband moved in with me. I just get 50% of all bills transferred to my bank account each month on the first and I pay them all out of my account.

We are very much one unit and have a cash pile of a few hundred at home we just top up when one takes money from it but whats mine is mine and what his is his. If there are any big spends its just a case of one of us will pay and the other sends a FP over for their half. We saw no need to amalgamate accounts in this day and age where we can transfer up to £10k in the blink of an eye.

Dobbibill

A bills account is definitely something you need, whether that is sole or joint really doesn't matter, if you trust each other.

My DH and I did everything joint when our children were young and that worked.
Now we both earn approx the same and pay equal amounts into the bills account. Everything else is our own to do what we want with, this also works for us now the children are grown up.

He likes takeaways in work quite often, I don't particularly like many takeaways, so we can both do what we want with our spends.

It's all about personal choice. Just make sure it works for both of you. It's still a joint decision even if it's not a joint account

Bumblebear

Another vote for the joint account for bills and mortgage but with salaries paid into personal accounts.


I've nothing against having it all in a joint account, although personally I like to keep a bills account separate anyway, and we don't get paid at the same time. We already had separate current accounts, mortgages, cards, savings etc when we met. DH gets £4k more than me, soon to be £7k, but he always says that it's "our money" which I do think is sweet of him considering he has savings, and I have a credit card bill. We both put 50% of the house costs in, even though I earn less, but there's an understanding that he's squirreling away savings for rainy days, family etc - and my savings will always be 'modest' and for personal use.


As an added benefit, I recommended him for a Nationwide current account from my current account, even though we already have a joint account with Nationwide, to receive a £100 bonus each - kerching!