Stolen from E: How do you split finances?

FutureMrsSS · July 2012

I'm not a regular here, but I saw this thread on the etiquette board and its something I've been thinking about so I thought I'd ask it over here with all you military ladies!

How do you and your H (or FI) split your finances? Especially considering the military aspect and BAH?

Here's my deal... Currently my FI is in the military, and I'm working/living in a different state then where he is. I make about double then him right now, but after we get married I'm moving to where he is and going back to school. I MIGHT have a part time job, but I know I will make no where close to what I make right now. Therefore, I will be contributing very little once we are married. I'm building up my savings now though so I can bring that into the marriage at least. The good thing is BAH which would basically be my paycheck (as in usually two people need to be working, one to pay for housing, the other to pay for whatever else... not as in BAH is my personal paycheck as my FI took it when I tried to explain it to him haha). I do feel badly about not being able to contribute too much when we are first married and living off of him basically. So! After all of that... how do you ladies split finances?

ggirl2001 · July 2012

We both have separate checkings and savings and a joint checkings and savings. Right now, his BAH goes right into the joint account and I pay bills out of there. We are responsible for our own car payment, insurance cellphone bill etc. However, we basically just help each other out wherever needed. If I'm short one week because of an extra bill or car issue, he will cover me and vice versa. I make about the same as him right now (if you count bah into his salary) unfortunately (used to make way more than him), but I am looking for a better paying job.

Combining income was easy for us. Basically, we make sure bills are paid and go from there. If we go out one night, we take turns paying for it depending who has the money to.

crownsuperstar · July 2012

We have not combined the checking accounts yet but we will. Since we will be PCSing soon I will be without a job and at that point we will live on H's pay check until I can find some sort of work. I will say that up until the point we move we do like GG does and pay each bills out of our accounts that we are responsible for and then take turns taking the other one out to dinner or whatever.

kara811 · July 2012

We have completely joint finances(checking, savings, MM, mutual funds, etc), it's just how we always planned on doing things, even before we were married. I do have a separate checking and he has a separate CD somewhere too but we just really haven't taken the time in dealing with those but in the future we will. All the money that we make are "ours" which takes some time getting used to. Right now since I am in between jobs(my last one decreased my hours and wanted to dock my pay so I quit!), we're living off of H's paycheck, which we also did when we first moved here too. I used to feel bad, still do sometimes but like I said, all the money that comes into the marriage is "ours" so H gets annoyed whenever I feel bad about it. It will take some time adjusting from having separate accounts to sharing everything together. We are able to live quite comfortably even with just H's paycheck but I still like working and making money. Every couple is different though. joint finances work very well with us, but for others they do well with having separate accounts. It all just really depends on how you 2 want to deal with it.

tyleet87 · July 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_stolen-from-e-how-do-you-split-finances?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:13Discussion:7ba84c60-7133-4330-854e-9ac67c5b8252Post:1b6f9fdc-c855-4a68-95bf-e320133391c3">Re: Stolen from E: How do you split finances?</a>:
[QUOTE]We both have separate checkings and savings and a joint checkings and savings. Right now, his BAH goes right into the joint account and I pay bills out of there. We are responsible for our own car payment, insurance cellphone bill etc. However, we basically just help each other out wherever needed. If I'm short one week because of an extra bill or car issue, he will cover me and vice versa. I make about the same as him right now (if you count bah into his salary) unfortunately (used to make way more than him), but I am looking for a better paying job. Combining income was easy for us. Basically, we make sure bills are paid and go from there. If we go out one night, we take turns paying for it depending who has the money to.
Posted by ggirl2001[/QUOTE]

This is exactly me and my H.

CAB1217 · July 2012

Well, my H is still not in the military yet *grumble grumble***... but we have a joint account, and only use credit cards. We pay off our cards bi-weekly, and I have my own, low balance CC for my fun stuff, like makeup or clothes. I am the only bread winner right now since H is in school, but we see it as our money and not my money. We try to keep it as simple as possible. So far, no issues. We're really good about spending within our means.

divinemsbee · July 2012

In the simplest of terms, I live off of FI.

I take freelance and temping work, but don't bring in a ton of money, so he takes care of pretty much everything. I do still have my own separate checking account that he puts a little money in once a month so that I can cover anything like gas/ small grocery trips/anything if I'm on a trip back to MS when he's not there. I also pay if I happen to have enough money in my accounts to cover it. I take care of paying all of the bills and writing all of the checks (I use his card and checkbook). We intend to get my name put on his accounts right after we get married. I run all expenses by him and then pay them. I make the grocery list and do the budgeting. I make pretty much all appointments and handle all important phone calls that aren't related to his job, I do all of the cooking, cleaning, dishes and laundry, as well as pet care. Basically, until after the wedding, I am the little hausfaru. I worry about it, and am definitely more careful with money, but he's fine with this arrangement, so am I.

I do have student loan debt that most of my pay goes to covering, and he pays back his car loan every month. I also have a pretty substantial CD that's in mine and my grandmother's name (originally was my grandfather's before he passed) that will probably just get my name changed on it and stay in her name since it won't pass into her estate with my name on it. It will probably go to paying off the majority of the rest of my loans when all's said and done.

firemedicrr · July 2012

We live completely off of H's income. I am still working at the moment and all of my income (minus tithe) goes to savings. In a few months I will be moving to live with H and we didn't want a problem if I end up not finding employment relatively shortly after moving.

Even once I work, we still plan to live completely off of H's income. We will split my check after tithe into 1/3's- 1/3 for extra payments (paying down existing debt), 1/3 for investments, 1/3 for vacation/rainy day fund. We do have fun money built into our every day budget. We felt it was important to structure things so that we are used to living off of H's pay as there can be periods of unemployment for me in the future related to moves or (in the far future hopefully) having children. We also have a minimal amount from H's check that goes to vacation fund, mainly so that we know we will have the funds to travel cross country for holidays or big family events (like his cousin's wedding next year) regardless of my employment status.

It works really well for us.

Zeldakins · July 2012

FI and I still have a lot to discuss as far as finances go, it'll probably be split about 50/50 though as far as I'm concerned. That's with the hope that he gets into the academy and I land this job that I'm interviewing for on Tuesday.

We're going apartment hunting this next week though and hopefully hear back from his potential job and mine soon too. Maybe we'll go out on a limb and tie the knot while we're on vacation in the next month or so! (probably not though) XD

Zimsgirl · July 2012

H and I have a joint checking and savings account. We just pay for everything out of there and both incomes deposit in our account

Stolen from E: How do you split finances?

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