Marital Joint Account

Louten

Evening All

I am after some general advice regarding marital accounts with regards to paying bills etc. as there appears to be a differing of opinion between husband/friends/family/colleagues!! I work part time (have children) earn around 10k a year. Husband earns around 42k a year. From my salary I pay for all the food bills, run my car (service/petrol/tax/mot), pay my mobile phone bill, my credit card repayments and a gym membership also any clubs children want to do. Husband pays mortgage (approx £500 a month) and utility bills. The rest of the money he gets to keep and i get left with a small amount. We have talked about joint account for bills etc to get paid out of. Can anyone advise as to what percentage i should pay of the bills considering the salary divide and vice versa?

Thanks in advance

Carrot007

I'd say for a "married" or long term couple, that your main bank account should be joint and you pay everything into it and all costs come from it and any savings are agreed to come out of it.

But you know I like things fair and simple.

Zanderman

Louten wrote: »

....Husband pays mortgage (approx £500 a month) and utility bills. The rest of the money he gets to keep and i get left with a small amount. We have talked about joint account for bills etc to get paid out of. Can anyone advise as to what percentage i should pay of the bills considering the salary divide and vice versa?

Sounds extraordinary to me! If you're married you're married. And in my book that means everything is shared, but perhaps giving each other 'pocket money' for hobbies, clothes etc as that's more difficult to share. That's what Mr & Mrs Zanderwoman have always done and we've never had any problems - and we do have differing incomes, but don't see that's an issue.

Salary divide seems irrelevant to me. From your account your husband is doing very well out of your arrangement - don't consider how YOU should share the utility bills, consider how HE should share his income properly with his wife and family.

Edited to add: His £42k gross (I assume that's gross) is about £32k net. If he pays mortgage at £500 per month plus utility bills that's £6k per year mortgage plus bills which won't be more than a few k. So he's left with a spare £20k+ per year? That's astonishing! Does he use it for anything? Could you not pay off your mortgage quicker? (and please don't say the house is in his name only!)

Mojisola

Louten wrote: »

I work part time (have children) earn around 10k a year. Husband earns around 42k a year.

From my salary I pay for all the food bills, run my car (service/petrol/tax/mot), pay my mobile phone bill, my credit card repayments and a gym membership also any clubs children want to do.

Husband pays mortgage (approx £500 a month) and utility bills.

What percentage of your income do you spend on necessary family bills?

What percentage of his income does he spend on necessary family bills?

Does the answer seem fair to you?

newatc

Marriage is about sharing and I can never come to terms with this type of negotiation.

My wife never worked (and then only part time) until our youngest was at secondary school. All main current account has always been joint and I (we) regard all our capital/income to be joint.
The sharing is more than just money and my wife has contributed far more than me in child raising, house maintenance etc but our arrangements have never been apart of any negotiation or even much discussion. It's been understood for over 40 years and hopefully will continue for the next 20 or so <s>.

Sparx

My salary is about £7k a year more than my wife's, we both work full time. We just put a lump sum in the joint for our bills and food for the month, then whatever's left we just split 50/50 between us. It doesn't really bother me.

Now earning £10k and £42k I can see the difference. But him being your husband and you have children, at the very least I would expect you to have an allowance as such that allows you to treat yourself the same way he does himself I'm sure... If you work part time and look after the kids, he's not really great marriage material if he keeps all his salary for himself.

Just my 2p

xylophone

Open a joint account (say Santander 123) into which both your salaries are paid.

Let's say that's £42,000 per annum.

Make sure that all DD bills which generate cash back are paid from that account. The children's expenses should also be met from that account.

Agree a monthly transfer amount from that account to your sole accounts to represent your personal funds from which you pay for your hobbies, petrol, clothes etc

Mnd

We don't have yours/mine money..it's a partnership and all our income and expenditures are ours. I suppose I could be considered the manager but that's because my wife trusts me to look after our money and she can't be bothered.
My wife does have some disposal cash, because she needs? Shoes, make up, tights, leaving presents, work lottery/sweepstakes and so on, where I might buy a packet of cabbage seeds and a couple of pints!

Zanderman

xylophone wrote: »

Open a joint account (say Santander 123) into which both your salaries are paid.

Let's say that's £42,000 per annum.

Make sure that all DD bills which generate cash back are paid from that account. The children's expenses should also be met from that account.

Agree a monthly transfer amount from that account to your sole accounts to represent your personal funds from which you pay for your hobbies, petrol, clothes etc

Don't include petrol and car in personal funds unless it really is all personal. I'd guess most is commuting, shopping and children-carrying - which should be jointly funded.

Louten

Thank you all so much for 'shedding some light' on this. I thought I was the one not putting in enough financially but I can now so that my view is probably flawed. I like to do the right thing and be nice but maybe I've been too nice! Very much appreciate your input

enthusiasticsaver

You have similar salaries to me and DH when we were working. We have recently taken early retirement. We have always had a joint account for both salaries and all household and joint bills come out of the same account. We have some joint savings and some just in my name as I was the basic tax payer and my DH was HR. We each have a personal account and the same amount goes into each so we both have access to the same amount of personal spends even though I earned £12k gross and DH earned £45k+

Is your DH reluctant to share the income and have all bills come out of the same account? If he is then I suggest that you take the net salary of each, add up all joint bills and divide according to the percentage. Have you done a spending diary showing how much you spend on food and childrens clubs which should be a joint expense?

Is there any reason why your DH is reluctant to share finances. Have you got into debt in the past and he is not happy to repay that? You mention a credit card - is that for household stuff or personal? I don't think it is unreasonable for your gym and car expenses to come from your own personal spends and if the credit card is used for your clothes etc then that should also be your responsibility.

The thing is when all is taken into account is there a massive difference between the spare spending money your DH has and the money you have to spend just on personal expenditure? If there is you need to show him how much you spend and how it compares to his share of the household bills and how much you have spare for personal money compared to his personal money.

I have to say on principal though if I had a husband who would not share income when you are sacrificing earning capacity to look after both of your children I would be returning to work full time and making him pay half the child care costs. That might make him change his mind about being unfair with money.