Piggy Banking
jessicaamy89
Posts: 5 Forumite
Couples how is best to arrange your bank accounts.
Currently OH and I have our own personal bank accounts and a joint savings account. A bizzare selection of the household bills comes out of each of our accounts. mostly mine, but i earn the least. so I always have to ask him to transfer me money and so on.
We want to arrange our finances better and I like the piggy bank idea. But if we have our wages going into our own accounts i worry ill still be relying on him to update me as to how much money is available towards bills and to transfer money into the bills account.
My idea was to have a main account that all the wages go into and all the bills go out of. Then have standing order set up to transfer money into a joint savings account for xmas, a joint savings account for big purchases, and a joint savings account for the weddings. and a transfer out to our own personal accounts for spends. Then a joint account that our weekly income goes into (plus a top up from our monthly salary) so we both have access to money for food and fuel.
Does this make sense?
Currently OH and I have our own personal bank accounts and a joint savings account. A bizzare selection of the household bills comes out of each of our accounts. mostly mine, but i earn the least. so I always have to ask him to transfer me money and so on.
We want to arrange our finances better and I like the piggy bank idea. But if we have our wages going into our own accounts i worry ill still be relying on him to update me as to how much money is available towards bills and to transfer money into the bills account.
My idea was to have a main account that all the wages go into and all the bills go out of. Then have standing order set up to transfer money into a joint savings account for xmas, a joint savings account for big purchases, and a joint savings account for the weddings. and a transfer out to our own personal accounts for spends. Then a joint account that our weekly income goes into (plus a top up from our monthly salary) so we both have access to money for food and fuel.
Does this make sense?
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Comments
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Joint account is the way forward.
But why transfer out money to individual accounts for spending?
You will each get cards with the joint account, unless you're hiding what you're buying/spending?
What you've suggested above is way too convoluted and unnecessarily confusing
1. Joint Current Account for wages to go into, then all outgoing spendings
2. Savings Accounts (or multiples thereof) for whatever you're saving for, if it needs to be split up0 -
We arent hiding what we are spending but I definitely would be more inclined to spend and I dont think thats fair on OH. For instance if he has some money spare each month and he wants to save for something personal then he can. And we can also put our own money aside for gifts for each other that way no?0
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Joint account is the way forward.
But why transfer out money to individual accounts for spending?
You will each get cards with the joint account, unless you're hiding what you're buying/spending?
What you've suggested above is way too convoluted and unnecessarily confusing
1. Joint Current Account for wages to go into, then all outgoing spendings
2. Savings Accounts (or multiples thereof) for whatever you're saving for, if it needs to be split up
Joint accounts are ok for as long as you both think your OH is the best thing since unsliced bread (you can have it any thickness you want. The wonders of modern technology). But if the relationship turns sour that's when the arguments start and the joint account itself turns sour. For that reason it's often recommended that single accounts are preferable: At the least there can be no arguments over whose money it is in the account.0 -
jessicaamy89 wrote: »...But if we have our wages going into our own accounts i worry ill still be relying on him to update me as to how much money is available towards bills and to transfer money into the bills account.
That's the crux of the issue. If you feel you can't rely on him to be open about his contributions and to actually put money into a joint account then you need to re-evaluate the whole idea of having joint financial arrangements.
If you combine your finances then you have to have absolute trust in the other person, especially if all your income is going into a joint account. It isn't romantic, but you need to consider, for example, how you'd feel if you came home one payday and discovered he'd packed up all his stuff and left and when you checked the joint account you found he'd withdrawn all the money including your month's pay?
If you have such doubts then the safer way is to have a joint account for 'shared' costs/expenses and for you both to agree an amount each of you will pay into the joint account on a regular basis, preferably by standing order to make it harder to 'forget'.
If the joint account starts to build up an excess then you can agree to reduce both payments, or each transfer money out of the account into your own in proportional amounts."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
Thanks,
Yeah I guess this is the issue. He really never spends money. Its not a trust issue at all. Its just that I deal with all the finances and Id rather not have to work it all out and remind him. But yes if we sit down together and set up a standing order each. Im presuming a percentage of the bills and each based on the percentage of the total income our wages make up? I would still like a food and fuel account separately to help us stick to a proper food budget and not overspend all the time and eat up money that should be paying bills or being saved0 -
What we do...
We have a seperate current acount each. Our salaries get paid into them. I pay £1000, and wife pays £800 into the joint account on pay day We then pay mortgage / bills / day to day shared spends from that joint account.
We then have agreements that i cover DIY and car payments, wife covers holidays and present buying from individual accounts.
Any remaining goes on gifts for each other / savings / etc.
It works, and has done so far!0 -
jessicaamy89 wrote: »I would still like a food and fuel account separately to help us stick to a proper food budget and not overspend all the time and eat up money that should be paying bills or being saved
Hopefully you wouldn't need a separate account to be able to do this. You set a budget for food - say £30 each per week - and then shop to that budget. If you do online shopping then it is easy to see the total, if you shop in-store then either use scan as you shop or keep a running total as you go. For most people being able to stick to a budget is more about having self-control than having separate bank accounts.
If either of you are people who cannot keep control of spending (and I'm not meaning that in a judgemental way) then you need to look at alternative solutions - otherwise you'll end up finding your 'food' account just goes overdrawn."In the future, everyone will be rich for 15 minutes"0 -
That's the crux of the issue. If you feel you can't rely on him to be open about his contributions and to actually put money into a joint account then you need to re-evaluate the whole idea of having joint financial arrangements.
If you combine your finances then you have to have absolute trust in the other person, especially if all your income is going into a joint account. It isn't romantic, but you need to consider, for example, how you'd feel if you came home one payday and discovered he'd packed up all his stuff and left and when you checked the joint account you found he'd withdrawn all the money including your month's pay?
If you have such doubts then the safer way is to have a joint account for 'shared' costs/expenses and for you both to agree an amount each of you will pay into the joint account on a regular basis, preferably by standing order to make it harder to 'forget'.
If the joint account starts to build up an excess then you can agree to reduce both payments, or each transfer money out of the account into your own in proportional amounts.Hopefully you wouldn't need a separate account to be able to do this. You set a budget for food - say £30 each per week - and then shop to that budget. If you do online shopping then it is easy to see the total, if you shop in-store then either use scan as you shop or keep a running total as you go. For most people being able to stick to a budget is more about having self-control than having separate bank accounts.
If either of you are people who cannot keep control of spending (and I'm not meaning that in a judgemental way) then you need to look at alternative solutions - otherwise you'll end up finding your 'food' account just goes overdrawn.
I think it will be easier to see the amount that is available if it is just a small amount in one account rather than just thinking thats ok we can pinch a bit from elsewhere. but youre right we need to stick to a budget10 -
Whether you opt for joint or individual, or a mix of both, the most important thing when it comes to couples and money is to TALK TO EACH OTHER.
This needs to start with a general discussion about what you both want out of life. Do you want to enjoy yourselves in the here and now, or do you want to save/invest for future plans/retirement/kids/rainy days. Does either of you spend on things the other disapproves of or thinks is unnecessary (gambling, manicures, Sky packages, smoking, whatever)? Is one of you forever turning lights off, but the other leaves everything on standby. If you have different attitudes to money, and can't agree to compromise, then it won't make any difference what sort of account you keep your money in.
OH and I have a joint account - basically everything comes in to that account, and everything goes out of that account. We also have some individual accounts for savings, to benefit from the interest - but we still think of it as 'our' money, and the interest earned is 'ours'. We don't pay for things as individuals - we would never say something like 'He pays for the gas and electric' or 'I pay all the food bills'. We both enjoy being warm and well fed, we both pay towards the cost.
Sometimes I've been the higher earner of the two of us, and sometimes he has. Right now we both earn pretty much the same. But we've always had a joint account for everything and we've always TALKED.No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...0 -
All money into a joint account, a certain amount is transferred to savings (which covers shorter-term savings like Christmas as well as an emergency fund) and a certain amount to each of our individual accounts. Whatever we have in our individual accounts is essentially pocket money. The savings and pocket money amounts are worked out after finishing the budget, so we should always have enough in the joint account for bills and household expenditure.
We don't actually do this, as we only have one current account (mine) and one savings account. I keep very close track of it through our budget though, with money coming out of the various different pots according to spend. In theory it works the same as I've described above, except without the actual physical transfer of money! So you can definitely have a single account and still manage it the way you're suggesting. Having said that, I think it's easier to have separate accounts, and then you know you're free to spend whatever's in your own account on whatever you want, without having to work it all out payment by payment.0
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