Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Checked Prolific balance standing at £10.14 so I requested withdrawal - somehow it became £10.15 by the time it got to PayPal, so that's now been transferred to kitchen fund. 

Also realised kitchen fund is in an account just in my name, and as part of my slightly morbid 'emergency planning I'm trying to make sure that should anything happen to me, Mr Cheery will have very easy access to enough to live on for at least a couple of months while finances are sorted out (he's get hefty life insurance and pension payouts so don't worry about him - he's just never been one for keeping track of bank accounts, and all the premium bonds are in my name 😮 ).

Anyway, switched it to an idle joint savings account (they're all with the same bank) which had about £30 sitting in it for no reason so that's been added to the balance too - now standing at £1521.11 😁😁

Chiglepig

We need to sit down and make sure everything is easy and obvious too, Mr Chigle was pretty similar until last month, as long as I said it was ok, he wasn't that interested. We've always treated finances as completely joint, but have some in individual accounts just to maximise savings returns etc. I also hold some money on behalf of my Mum, which needs to be accounted for.

So thanks for the nudge, it's on my list for the day.

Baileys_Babe

We treat all money as joint but we don't have any joint accounts except the mortgage. All the savings are in my name as OH said he needs to know if he died I had access to money whilst the life insurance and other stuff (OH's technical term 🤣) is sorted out. He would have access to his wages. Obviously, it could all be easier if we had joint accounts, but if he sees a positive amount it starts burning a hole in his pocket, so this awkward system works better for us.

Cheery_Daff

We probably all have slightly awkward systems that work for us BB! Our main account is joint - my wages and Mr Cheery's pension are paid in there. We had a joint savings account for a while, and separate regular savers, but they're all closed now and everything is in premium bonds. The bulk of our savings are Mr Cheery's pension lump sum - but the premium bonds are in my name (just because it was me who set them up and will only ever be me checking!) Winnings are paid back into joint account. 

If he dies, obviously I'm still have my wages and access to everything. But if I go, his only immediate access will be to the joint account (and now the kitchen fund, although hopefully I won't die before we pay for the kitchen!! 😮😮). He'll be far better off in the longer term though as I'm the only one with life insurance and that will pay the mortgage off, whereas if he dies I'll have to stay at work! (But then I'm 18 years younger, so fair enough... 😂 )

rtandon27

My OH is much the same Cheery & Chiglepig.  Not interested in the least, as long as he can see a healthy bank balance he doesn't pay attention to the ins and outs.  A few weeks ago I started writing out a list so that it will be on paper and easy to follow should the need arise.  Our finances are more complicated than he'd like to believe, but as that's my remit he doesn't pay as much attention as he should.

Karmacat

Fascinating stuff, you lot!  If it was me that popped my clogs, my sister would have to deal with it all - and I haven't even given her the passwords to the computer or the phone **shrieky smiley** and she'd be hard put to find the spreadsheet where everything's written down - I did keep a notebook for a few years, but updating it (old accounts closing, new ones opening, as we all do) is a lot harder than you'd think, for me, anyway.  If she goes first, I'm kind of let off the hook, because its her adult kids who get the financial responsibilities - I think I'd have to be relegated to making them cups of tea and doing the cleaning.  

Just to be really fun about all this - sometimes people die together!  Like in car crashes  sorry!

The image I really like, though, is from yesterday, as I'm catching up - Cheery on the swing, surrounded by chickens 🐔🐔🐔

Chiglepig

Karmacat said:

Just to be really fun about all this - sometimes people die together!  Like in car crashes  sorry!

As Mr Chigle and I share a car, and I can't drive at the moment, that is scarily close to the bone!

dawnybabes

Having lost my DH recently, I’d also advise an emergency pot. I was surprised I had to pay for half the funeral up front and the rest quite quickly afterwards and at the moment everyone paying out is taking soooooo much longer ‘because of Covid’ in fact it’s 6 months in 2 weeks and I’m still waiting on one.  It’s frightening really, they don’t know I can afford the bills and mortgage but some people won’t be able to. 

greenbee

Sorry for your loss @dawnybabes, but agree with your advice. When my dad died, his pension was stopped immediately, and it took a while for the pension provider to sort out my mum's pension - luckily I was able to lend her the money she needed to tide her over until it was sorted out and pay for the funeral. It's a hard enough time without having to deal with all the expenses and no income. 

Karmacat

Really good points - I'm glad my comment was taken the right way, it's actually something that my sister and I have talked about, what with driving together and taking holidays together ...  my commiserations to those who are bereaved.