How do you guys divide financial things?

snuff9861 · July 2012

I make less money from Sept-April since I am school, but FI is god awful with money. We are keeping seperate accounts for that reason. Next month, I am taking over his finances. We are sitting down, budgeting what bills need to be paid (he pays rent during the school year and we split it over the summer) from his money. I take care of the groceries and internet. We each pay our own cell phones and credit cards. He is a little bit hesistant to release the control, but he knows it has to be done and I am really good at making money stretch. This time next year we hope to be house hunting, and he knows it won't be done if he keeps pissing money away. Whatever, maybe we're weird for having seperate accounts but it works for us.

whitsy · July 2012

Yeah, we more than likely won't unless it just gets too annoying to keep doing it this way, like if we buy a house. I can see more issues then having things separate, but we'll just see. We also like to do whatever we like with our money without having to consult the other, so it's worked out good for us.

SVPW · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:121d0cb5-55ea-4192-88a4-5a4b7e6e8377">How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]So Fi and I are sorting out how our finances at the moment and I'm feeling pretty guilty. He earns a crapton more than me (I'm still a student so essentially don't really earn anything at all) and so pays the majority of the bills and I contribute where I can. He has no problem with this arrangement but I just feel so so bad about it! And I worry because I know it's going to be this way for the next 4 years (I just started medicine and he has been finished for two years). Anyway I'm interested to hear how other people sort things out financially? Esp. if one person earns way more than the other. This might be a P and R because I'm cooking dinner but interested to hear your thoughts!
Posted by lilja032[/QUOTE]

I don't have much to add but please don't feel bad that your fi makes more money and helps take care of you financially. He probably knew what he was getting into before he proposed. <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" />

lyndausvi · July 2012

whitsy -- I don't side-eye your situation at all. If it works, everyone is on the same page, what's the problem?

That said ,I believe paying for things based on percentages of your income to be a little more 'fair' if you do things separate. Especially if you have careers where incomes will become farther apart than closer together.

I knew some couple who split everything 50/50. He made 100k, she made about 30k. He use to go on vacation without her. When asked why he said, "she can't afford to come". "No shiitt, when she has to pay 70% of her income on rent/mortgage to your 40%" They ended up divorced over it. He was always playing with his money, she was always broke. It was sad.

Not saying you do that. Some incomes are big enough or even low enough for it not be an issue. It wasn't an issue for DH when we lived in St Thomas. Now that we moved here, I would have a big problem with that arrangement.

mmmendi · July 2012

I need to re-read this tomorrow. I am extremely interested in the responses. Thank you for a topic I haven seen in mynlimited time (and one that applies to me!)

Kate61487 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:40c80d01-a42f-45ed-b941-0a2348b8ff57">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]whitsy -- I don't side-eye your situation at all. If it works, everyone is on the same page, what's the problem? That said ,I believe paying for things based on percentages of your income to be a little more 'fair' if you do things separate. Especially if you have careers where incomes will become farther apart than closer together. I knew some couple who split everything 50/50. He made 100k, she made about 30k. He use to go on vacation without her. When asked why he said, "<strong>she can't afford to come</strong>". "No shiitt, when she has to pay 70% of her income on rent/mortgage to your 40%" They ended up divorced over it. He was always playing with his money, she was always broke. It was sad. Not saying you do that. Some incomes are big enough or even low enough for it not be an issue. It wasn't an issue for DH when we lived in St Thomas. Now that we moved here, I would have a big problem with that arrangement.
Posted by lyndausvi[/QUOTE]

That is just beyond shitty. I feel like, though, while paying in percentages is <strong><em>more</em></strong> fair than 50/50 it's still pretty unbalanced. I mean; say they have 10% disposable income a year - that's like $50 a week for her and $200 a week for him. Obviously it works for some people; and that income difference is a pretty severe one. I just would feel so awful if H was pinching pennies to go out to lunch during the week while I had surplus.

whitsy · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:40c80d01-a42f-45ed-b941-0a2348b8ff57">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]whitsy -- I don't side-eye your situation at all. If it works, everyone is on the same page, what's the problem? That said ,I believe paying for things based on percentages of your income to be a little more 'fair' if you do things separate. Especially if you have careers where incomes will become farther apart than closer together. I knew some couple who split everything 50/50. He made 100k, she made about 30k. He use to go on vacation without her. When asked why he said, "she can't afford to come". "No shiitt, when she has to pay 70% of her income on rent/mortgage to your 40%" They ended up divorced over it. He was always playing with his money, she was always broke. It was sad. Not saying you do that. Some incomes are big enough or even low enough for it not be an issue. It wasn't an issue for DH when we lived in St Thomas. Now that we moved here, I would have a big problem with that arrangement.
Posted by lyndausvi[/QUOTE]

I definitely see what you're saying, but it evens up pretty fairly. I pay for most of our dates out, like movies, dinner, etc. I also am paying for the majority of decorations, like new curtains, mattress, grill, etc. On the other hand, I have way more debt than him, so even though we split our household expenses, I'm paying the debt off. And he builds up savings. I definitely think splitting it 60/40 or whatever might be more fair, but we're both ok with the current state. It's always open for discussion though!

lyndausvi · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:b9db5aa7-cc95-43b0-9404-5c3fd50402e0">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: How do you guys divide financial things? : I definitely see what you're saying, but it evens up pretty fairly. I pay for most of our dates out, like movies, dinner, etc. I also am paying for the majority of decorations, like new curtains, mattress, grill, etc. On the other hand, I have way more debt than him, so even though we split our household expenses, I'm paying the debt off. And he builds up savings. I definitely think splitting it 60/40 or whatever might be more fair, but we're both ok with the current state. <strong>It's always open for discussion though!
</strong>Posted by whitsy[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>That is what is key.</div><div>
</div><div>A year ago we were more 50/50. Now it's more like 90/10. Things change, we adapted. I'm sure it will change again and again as our careers change. As long as there is an open line of communication and things are not set in stone it will all work out.</div><div>
</div><div>We should just have a joint account. But we both like having our 'own' money. Even if it's only a small amount. LOL</div>

WildMagelet · July 2012

FI makes multiple times what I do so he ends up paying for a good portion of the bills. We pay for our phones, cars, and insurance individually. He picks up the "necessary" household expenditures (mtg, util, taxes, etc.) whereas I pick up mostly optional things like internet, television, and our groceries plus my hefty student loan bill. We both spend money towards entertainment & gifts and we've both been putting money towards new furnishings for our new house.

We've had separate finances our entire relationship so I don't miraculously see us combining everything after we get married, unless we open some joint savings or something. It's worked just fine for us.

dawnp917 · July 2012

We just set up a joint account and will be depositing 50% each into the account the remainder goes into personal accounts. The joint account will cover mortgage and other joint household expenses, along with savings. The savings will be used for unexpected expenses such as repairs, painting the house, etc and vacations. We've decided that until the savings get to a certain dollar amount there will be no unnecessary expenses. Between buying a house, doing a few renovations and the wedding our savings are a little lower than we're comfortable with. I need to have a buffer in savings to know if something were to happen and we were down to 1 salary we could pay living expenses for 6 months.

Summer2011Bride · July 2012

We combined everything. We have joint checking and savings and it works for us. We talk to each other before making big purchases, but I don't have to "ask permission" for things like picking up a couple pieces of clothes or getting coffee, etc. I could never be in a relationship where I had to do that (ILs are like that and MIL gets an "allowance" although they make about equal pay). I do make a little more than H but it doesn't bother me or him. That could change in the future, and it just doesn't matter much to me.

When we buy each other gifts, we take out the money in cash so the other person can't check the account and see where you bought the gift ahead of time. I know many people that keep separate accounts or somewhat separate finances and it works for them. For us, it just is much easier and I prefer that everything comes out of the same bowl, so to speak.

leia1979 · July 2012

Like Whitsy, we keep everything separate. We tried to create a joint account after we got married to cover household expenses, but it turned out H wouldn't have online access, so we just kept the separate accounts.

We have been splitting everything 50/50, but I might ask about reevaluating, as I'm going to be making significantly more than H instead of a little more. Our incomes were close enough before that 50/50 was fair, but now percentages might make more sense.

HandBanana · July 2012

H just went back to work after year and a half. When he is working he makes 3 times me. When we were living together and he was working, that is how we split the bills. I paid 30% of everything. When it came to dates, we just traded off who paid and the same for groceries.

When H was laid off we scraped that and we really can't sit there and do that when he is trying to do side jobs and working where he can and feeling horrible that he isn't working. We just pay for things as they come along. He does all the bils from our joint money and I do the long term savings.

Now that he is working again we aren't going back to the old system but we are putting a lot away.

Also, I am going to have to go grocery shopping again. H not working had its perks. He did all the grocery shopping.

ETA: When it comes to how we spend money, we do not have to ask permission for our basic fun purchases but anything over $100 involves a phone call. Not that it is really permission as much as being respectful that it is both of our money.

Soon2BeMrsTing · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:40c80d01-a42f-45ed-b941-0a2348b8ff57">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]whitsy -- I don't side-eye your situation at all. If it works, everyone is on the same page, what's the problem? That said ,I believe paying for things based on percentages of your income to be a little more 'fair' if you do things separate. Especially if you have careers where incomes will become farther apart than closer together. <strong>I knew some couple who split everything 50/50. He made 100k, she made about 30k. He use to go on vacation without her. When asked why he said, "she can't afford to come". </strong> "No shiitt, when she has to pay 70% of her income on rent/mortgage to your 40%" They ended up divorced over it. He was always playing with his money, she was always broke. It was sad. Not saying you do that. Some incomes are big enough or even low enough for it not be an issue. It wasn't an issue for DH when we lived in St Thomas. Now that we moved here, I would have a big problem with that arrangement.
Posted by lyndausvi[/QUOTE]

This just blows my mind! No wonder they're no longer together. Sounds as though she's better off.

H and I pool all our income and consider it all "ours." He earns more than twice what I earn, but my work gives me retirement and better insurance than his does, so we end up using a good bit of what I earn to sock away for his retirement. The fact that we earn in two different currencies complicates things slighty, but it's all ours nonetheless. In day-to-day practicality, we spend what he earns (in CNY) and we save what I earn (in USD).

Whenever we're out, whether we're shopping or dining or what have you, I look to him to pay. He usally has more cash on hand just because he likes to be prepared. He also has only his name on the bank account through which he receives his income, but that's because in China it is not possible for two people to share one account, at least not on paper. I kid you not. I think it's a holdover from the revolutionary days, when no one trusted anyone else, even family members. So, my name is not on the account, but I would be able to withdraw funds using the card and the password attached to it if he were away somehow or not able to do it. We added his name to all my U.S. accounts.

Snippylynn · July 2012

Whitsy, we keep everything separate and always will. This way we can each do what we wish with our money and we trust each other to pay our bills. I contribute an amount towards our bills that is commensurate with how much I make vs H and it works. Anyone who side eyes it can eff off.

SB1512 · July 2012

OP I am in similar situation. I am a grad student on a fellowship so I earn very very little money. I also work per diem in my former career field, but it's not consistant work of income. I pay for half of our utilities and I pay for all the grocery shopping. FI covers the mortage and condo fees. We usually rotate on who pays for basic household needs other than food.

[Deleted User] · July 2012

We share all of our accounts. We make about the same, but FI is a teacher and receives his salary over 9 months. During the summer he keeps his "summer job" money stocked away for presents. That's what his dad always did so that his mom wouldn't know how much he was spending on gifts and such.
I control the majority of our banking (we talk about everything, but I physically make the payments, etc), so I don't worry about him peeking at what I'm spending on him.

Ali092011 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:40c80d01-a42f-45ed-b941-0a2348b8ff57">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]whitsy -- I don't side-eye your situation at all. If it works, everyone is on the same page, what's the problem? That said ,I believe paying for things based on percentages of your income to be a little more 'fair' if you do things separate. Especially if you have careers where incomes will become farther apart than closer together. <strong> I knew some couple who split everything 50/50. He made 100k, she made about 30k. He use to go on vacation without her. When asked why he said, "she can't afford to come". "No shiitt, when she has to pay 70% of her income on rent/mortgage to your 40%</strong>" They ended up divorced over it. He was always playing with his money, she was always broke. It was sad. Not saying you do that. Some incomes are big enough or even low enough for it not be an issue. It wasn't an issue for DH when we lived in St Thomas. Now that we moved here, I would have a big problem with that arrangement.
Posted by lyndausvi[/QUOTE]

That is awful! Even though like whitsy we keep everything separate, we still have a "what's mine is yours" attitude about our money. When we're debating a large purchase, like the car we bought a week ago, we talk about what <em>we</em> can afford. Usually whoever has more money at the time (usually FI) is the one to pay for things, and we don't keep tabs on who pays for what.

I think communication is key, but I also think having similar personalities and attitudes towards money is important too. I've seen relationships fall apart because one person was thrifty as hell and the other casually spent money like it was going out of style. FI and I have different weaknesses when it comes to money, but we both like to save about the same amount and use the same percentage for fun stuff, like Amazon and Sephora for me, video games and Netflix for him. If one of us was a penny pincher, even if we kept our finances separate and let the other spend what he/she wanted, I don't know how well things would work out. Now, I'm not talking about relationships in which one person is the better saver, I'm talking about extreme versions, where one person won't spend money on coffee when there's coffee in the house and the other person is buying his third flat screen this year. Just my two cents.

LesPaul · July 2012

Because of pre-existing obligations, we still have our separate checking accounts for our direct deposit, but we both contribute a set amount into our joint account each month for household expenses (mortgage, cable, utilities). DH pays the car insurance, I pay the cell phone. We have our own 'fun' money from our individual accounts, but discuss major joint purchases and agree on a split. We have a joint investment account. I'm hoping to combine everything in a few years when our individual obligations are gone.

ETA: our salaries are roughly equal.

whitsy · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:54d747d2-4c8e-456a-8730-4a180355e877">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]Whitsy, we keep everything separate and always will. This way we can each do what we wish with our money and we trust each other to pay our bills. I contribute an amount towards our bills that is commensurate with how much I make vs H and it works. Anyone who side eyes it can eff off.
Posted by Snippylynn[/QUOTE]

Yeah, it's mostly because women in my area are so old fashioned that they can't fathom 1) that I'm the "breadwinner" 2) that I'm "in charge" of my money 3) that we're not combined. We're still a backwards little area lol.

Meegles4 · July 2012

We just combined everything this month. We set up a joint checking/savings. Any $$ gifts from the wedding started our joint savings account. Our paychecks go into checking and all bills will be paid out of the joint checking. That includes our respective credit cards (we don't have any joint cards yet). So, in our case, if I go out to dinner with the girls or he has beers with the guys, it all comes out of the joint account.

We thought about the "fun money" that MUNI does for "independent" expenses, but thought it might get too complicated. We've set up a joint budget that includes all expenses (from dry cleaning up through rent/utilities) and so any dinners out or clothes, etc. are all accounted for in the joint budget.

We're going to watch how things go over the next couple months and assuming it all goes well, we'll keep everything like this. If it doesn't, we might reapproach the fun money thing.

FWIW, H makes multiple times more than I do. There's no way we could've just divided expenses 50/50. He's also used to spending more than I do. So, it's been really interesting to combine things and truly see the other person's spending habits. But it's been a good exercise for us and even H has enjoyed it because he's never tracked his spending before, so he's finding that useful.

rlavach · July 2012

We're kind of the opposite. I make >2x what DH makes, so I have payments revolving around my paycheck. Since I'm better at budgeting & saving, I handle our finances, but DH knows what's going on. Right now things are tight, so we're not keeping much personal fun money. In an ideal situation, we both get paid, take out $X as fun money, and the rest gets dumped in our joint checking. Then I go through and make all the payments. We have a joint savings that our emergency money comes out of. Then I have several individual credit cards that we use for large purchases (yey for points!).

ETA: The hard part is when DH blows through his 'fun money' and then tries to ask me to take more. Everything is a 'need' & then I look like the bad guy when I say we can't afford it. But we really can't! That's why he's not taking care of our finances.

harr0610 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:fcf7ec40-5a1f-4efd-8cb2-ab22285eccda">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]We combined everything. We have joint checking and savings and it works for us. We talk to each other before making big purchases, but I don't have to "ask permission" for things like picking up a couple pieces of clothes or getting coffee, etc. I could never be in a relationship where I had to do that (ILs are like that and MIL gets an "allowance" although they make about equal pay). I do make a little more than H but it doesn't bother me or him. That could change in the future, and it just doesn't matter much to me. When we buy each other gifts, we take out the money in cash so the other person can't check the account and see where you bought the gift ahead of time. I know many people that keep separate accounts or somewhat separate finances and it works for them. For us, it just is much easier and I prefer that everything comes out of the same bowl, so to speak.
Posted by Summer2011Bride[/QUOTE]

This is exactly what we do. My mom freaks at me that I don't have my own "rainy day" account stashed away for myself (other than my 401k and retirement) and I get it, but it just doesn't work for us.

We tried seperate for awhile after we moved in together and it was DISASTEROUS. I make amost 2x what FI makes and we got in so many fights over whether it should be straight 50/50 or split based on the amount of money we make. So we finally said screw it and just combined it all.

julibug86 · July 2012

I think it really depends on what works for you. My friend is actually a financial planner, so a few months back we sat down with her and came up with a realistic plan to help us save. Now, we both still have our own personal accounts and personal credit cards (we pay off these credit cards each month with our personal accounts). Each month, he pays all the utilities and I pay (and shop for!) all the groceries. At the end of the month, we total that and someone writes the other person a check (usually he writes it to me since groceries seem to cost an arm and a leg!). We also split the rent down the middle and write two separate checks. These personal accounts also cover our personal bills (we both have phones, I have student loans, and he has a car loan/car insurance).

Then, we also have a certain amount deducted from our paychecks which goes into separate savings accounts. Currently, we keep two different accounts. One is only for the wedding (we are footing the whole bill ourselves and want to plan accordingly!) and the other is for the house. He puts a lot more into savings than I do, because he makes a lot more and has no student loans (although I have no car). Once the wedding is over, we will still keep this second account as a place to save (honeymoon, vacations, etc).

As for day to day items, we just trade off on who has cash, who paid last time, etc. Neither of us are crazy spenders, but I like the freedom of using my fun money how I please. We both keep our "fun" money around $1000 and if it creeps over that, we dump the extra into one of the savings accounts. I can't justify ever needing more than $1000 in the fun money area!

frantastic12 · July 2012

FI makes close to twice what I make. We have a joint checking/savings that most of our money goes to, and we each have our own accounts for fun money. A chunk of his paycheck also goes to our joint savings--we view the savings as shared money, but I say "his paycheck" because it direct deposits from his check. My paycheck and what's left of his goes to checking to pay rent, student loans, utilities, groceries, etc.

The fun money is the same set amount to each of our accounts--FI said it wasn't fair to me to get less just because I make less. It took me a while to get comfortable with that, and I do every now and then still spend my fun money on things like wedding/birthday gifts that are from both of us. But otherwise, it's for our own use; me--shopping, him--golfing, and buying presents for each other, etc.

aragx6 · July 2012

Ours is totally ad hoc. We've lived together for 7 years so we've just kind of done what made sense at the time and slowly combined over the years.

We make pretty close to the same amount -- within a few hundred bucks a month anyway -- so we mostly split things. We have our own checking accounts and he pays rent, car insurance and the electric bill. I pay the phone bill, the gas bill and work to pay down our credit card debt (it's all on zero interest intro rates right now). We have a joint AmEx that we use for all our daily spending and we both pay it when we get paid every two weeks so the balance stays at zero for the month, and we have a joint savings account.

Whatever works for a couple is fine with me. Unless there's some huge disparity where one person can't afford to put gas in her car and the other goes out and buys a brand new Mustang Shelby <--- I know this couple. They're divorcing right now, not surprisingly.

It's when money gets equated with power that you're bound to run into trouble.

jhg140 · July 2012

I am a sorta lurker, but this has been very interesting!

We have a joint checking account that we each deposit X amount into from every paycheck - FI makes more than me, so he deposits about $100/mo more. All household costs - mortgage, bills, pet costs - come from there.

The rest is ours. I pay for household items, groceries, take out dinners with my money. FI pays when we go out to eat. Its kinda a toss up on other stuff. And we buy our clothes, etc. with our "fun money".

He is really bad about paying off his CC each month, while I pay mine off religiously, so I wanted to keep those separate. Also, when we go out to the bar with friends, he tends to drink a LOT more than me , plus he loves to buy his buddies rounds, so I really don't want to be paying for his buddies to drink when they all have good jobs. That is his choice. When you look at the $150+ I spend on groceries each week, plus random dinners, it usually equals out, unless we go to a super fancy meal.

MyUserName1 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_how-do-you-guys-divide-financial-things?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:cc418d0f-8f46-4022-958e-c3d5a0520c13Post:a71100ce-7c16-40cc-a482-85fccf6acedb">Re: How do you guys divide financial things?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: How do you guys divide financial things? : That is just beyond shitty. I feel like, though, while paying in percentages is more fair than 50/50 it's still pretty unbalanced<strong>. I mean; say they have 10% disposable income a year - that's like $50 a week for her and $200 a week for him. </strong> Obviously it works for some people; and that income difference is a pretty severe one. I just would feel so awful if H was pinching pennies to go out to lunch during the week while I had surplus.
Posted by Kate61487[/QUOTE]

H makes about 3x what I do. So he has a lot more disposable income than i do, thanks to our 20% of each of our income fun money setup. But it doesn't bother me at all. I don't feel like I'm losing out or anything because he gets to spend more money on shoes than I do.

amyb140 · July 2012

We each have the separate accounts we had before we met that we keep for some things. He pays his student loans and credit card bills out of his, I pay my credit card bills from mine, and we each spend "fun money" out of those accounts. I don't want to have to keep track of every bar tab or lunch out that he has, nor does he care about keeping track of my coffees and pedicures. It's easier to just have our own money for that small stuff.

We also have a joint account that we set up after we got married. We both have money direct deposited to that every paycheck, and all that comes out of that account is fixed expenses like mortgage, car payment, insurance, utilities, etc. that we share. I pay all the bills from there but H contributes mcuh more than I do because he makes 4 times what I do.

Whoever has money in their individual account at the time pays for things like groceries and dinners out. Whatever extra we have in our individual accounts is going to pay off credit card bills until those are out of the way, then we'll save for things like house downpayment and more retirement contributions.

tlc35 · July 2012

This has been really interesting to read. Right now my FI and I live in separate towns (70 miles apart) so we have everything separate except for dinners and trips. In the next year I will be moving to his town and finding a new job (hopefully) and we will sell our respective places and buy a new house together. Currently I make about twice what he makes but soon will not have a job until I find one in his town. This thread has definitely got me thinking about the best way to combine things.

How do you guys divide financial things?

Re: How do you guys divide financial things?

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