Domestic financials
Discussion
Zigster said:
And that's why I don't see how the "I keep my money, you keep yours, and we both put a bit in the pot for bills" works for couples.
Agreed, the impact children have on a career is the elephant in the room with how you allocate resources between the two parties. It can get considerably tougher again if one of you wanted the children much more than the other :-/ .ROSSinHD said:
Salaries paid into sole accounts, I earn 4 x the wife however once our "sweep" is done we have the same amount to enjoy each month.
so from our sole accounts we sweep everything apart from £X amount each to our joint account. From the joint we sweep funds between our savings pots we have which are split long term savings and short term, short term is for holidays, house stuff or any larger purchases like a new TV, new car etc and long term is a cash pot, investments, equity in my employer and pensions and then to our sons savings account and the balance left in the joint is pre budgetted that it covers exactly the previous months credit card which is used for all house and son related spending, mortgage, mortgage overpayment, utilities and schooling.
A bonus or surprise cash, for instance next month the wife gets £2k as the first 50% of a finders fee at work and I get a dividend from my employer equity, gets divided up, 1/3 to long term savings, 1/3 to short term savings and then a 1/6 each to piss up the wall how ever we see fit.
I do budget via a good spreadsheet and our banking takes about 10 minutes per payday to sort which is also when I look at our long term savings and adjust the investments if needed.
Crikey some obviously put in a lot more thought into this than others (me included). so from our sole accounts we sweep everything apart from £X amount each to our joint account. From the joint we sweep funds between our savings pots we have which are split long term savings and short term, short term is for holidays, house stuff or any larger purchases like a new TV, new car etc and long term is a cash pot, investments, equity in my employer and pensions and then to our sons savings account and the balance left in the joint is pre budgetted that it covers exactly the previous months credit card which is used for all house and son related spending, mortgage, mortgage overpayment, utilities and schooling.
A bonus or surprise cash, for instance next month the wife gets £2k as the first 50% of a finders fee at work and I get a dividend from my employer equity, gets divided up, 1/3 to long term savings, 1/3 to short term savings and then a 1/6 each to piss up the wall how ever we see fit.
I do budget via a good spreadsheet and our banking takes about 10 minutes per payday to sort which is also when I look at our long term savings and adjust the investments if needed.
Edited by ROSSinHD on Wednesday 9th May 09:25
ROSSinHD said:
Salaries paid into sole accounts, I earn 4 x the wife however once our "sweep" is done we have the same amount to enjoy each month.
so from our sole accounts we sweep everything apart from £X amount each to our joint account. From the joint we sweep funds between our savings pots we have which are split long term savings and short term, short term is for holidays, house stuff or any larger purchases like a new TV, new car etc and long term is a cash pot, investments, equity in my employer and pensions and then to our sons savings account and the balance left in the joint is pre budgetted that it covers exactly the previous months credit card which is used for all house and son related spending, mortgage, mortgage overpayment, utilities and schooling.
A bonus or surprise cash, for instance next month the wife gets £2k as the first 50% of a finders fee at work and I get a dividend from my employer equity, gets divided up, 1/3 to long term savings, 1/3 to short term savings and then a 1/6 each to piss up the wall how ever we see fit.
I do budget via a good spreadsheet and our banking takes about 10 minutes per payday to sort which is also when I look at our long term savings and adjust the investments if needed.
I do the exact same thingso from our sole accounts we sweep everything apart from £X amount each to our joint account. From the joint we sweep funds between our savings pots we have which are split long term savings and short term, short term is for holidays, house stuff or any larger purchases like a new TV, new car etc and long term is a cash pot, investments, equity in my employer and pensions and then to our sons savings account and the balance left in the joint is pre budgetted that it covers exactly the previous months credit card which is used for all house and son related spending, mortgage, mortgage overpayment, utilities and schooling.
A bonus or surprise cash, for instance next month the wife gets £2k as the first 50% of a finders fee at work and I get a dividend from my employer equity, gets divided up, 1/3 to long term savings, 1/3 to short term savings and then a 1/6 each to piss up the wall how ever we see fit.
I do budget via a good spreadsheet and our banking takes about 10 minutes per payday to sort which is also when I look at our long term savings and adjust the investments if needed.
Edited by ROSSinHD on Wednesday 9th May 09:25
GT03ROB said:
A lot posting on this thread are in a very different position to the OP & myself. In most cases you have 2 people earning, so to those of you that do would you adopt the same scenario if just one of you earned?
What if you didn't both have the same approach to finances?
With my ex-wife we both earned, had similar approaches to money, which made for a far easier solution.
Yes, absolutely. If I earn, she earns, and vice versa. There is no concept of "my money" or "her money" in our marriage. I earn about 5 times what she earns but we have an equal say on what it gets spent on which involves a lot of give and take as we have different views on money; I'm a tightwad and she's a scatter cash What if you didn't both have the same approach to finances?
With my ex-wife we both earned, had similar approaches to money, which made for a far easier solution.
jimPH said:
Open up your own account and pay yourself the same allowance. Open a joint savings account that you offload to every month and start again.
Seems like it makes sense to me. It doesn't make sense than she has a lot of money that is "her money" and yet you don't have any as it is in the shared pot. That then means she can spend the money without worrying about it, and you also get to see what having £500 to spend on stuff is like - if you find it too limiting etc.
Sleeplessnights said:
I am thinking that I will suggest she keeps what she has in her savings, and a part of her monthly £500, then we simply tip everything in a a pot and spend as we like but consult on anything over £1k. She is very good with money, except when it comes to ridiculous ornaments.
That will not end well....... particularly the bit about reducing her 500 quid.....My wife and I earn roughly the same, both of us taking were able to go part time after my son was born. We both pay the same amount into our joint current account, which we use for all bills, except cars/phone contracts etc, anything left over goes into a joint savings account for holidays.
Where we differ is our approach to buying things, I very occasionally buy expensive things, whereas my wife buys lots of cheap things. So it is good not having to worry about what we buy ourselves.
We have discussed what would happen if one of us earned more/less and it very much depends on the circumstances - we know how much we need to run the house and save a bit each month, so that figure will be adjusted so the same is going into the joint account.
Where we differ is our approach to buying things, I very occasionally buy expensive things, whereas my wife buys lots of cheap things. So it is good not having to worry about what we buy ourselves.
We have discussed what would happen if one of us earned more/less and it very much depends on the circumstances - we know how much we need to run the house and save a bit each month, so that figure will be adjusted so the same is going into the joint account.
romeogolf said:
Each have our sole accounts plus a joint account.
Salaries paid into sole accounts with an equal amount from each going to the joint. Joint pays for all day-to-day stuff. Mortage, bills, shopping, holidays, cars, petrol, insurance... The lot.
Surplus into sole accounts is for personal treats. For me it's usually clothes, for him it's usually tech. Sometimes we'll want to make a big 'house' purchase (ie a new TV) and will top-up the joint account with our personal stuff as it's from shared stuff.
Has been this way since we moved in together and the sum going into the joint account has increased in line with my wages as I'm the lower earner.
If you are the 'lower earner' as you state, does it not bug you that you pay proportionally more of your salary into the joint account?Salaries paid into sole accounts with an equal amount from each going to the joint. Joint pays for all day-to-day stuff. Mortage, bills, shopping, holidays, cars, petrol, insurance... The lot.
Surplus into sole accounts is for personal treats. For me it's usually clothes, for him it's usually tech. Sometimes we'll want to make a big 'house' purchase (ie a new TV) and will top-up the joint account with our personal stuff as it's from shared stuff.
Has been this way since we moved in together and the sum going into the joint account has increased in line with my wages as I'm the lower earner.
R500K said:
romeogolf said:
Each have our sole accounts plus a joint account.
Salaries paid into sole accounts with an equal amount from each going to the joint. Joint pays for all day-to-day stuff. Mortage, bills, shopping, holidays, cars, petrol, insurance... The lot.
Surplus into sole accounts is for personal treats. For me it's usually clothes, for him it's usually tech. Sometimes we'll want to make a big 'house' purchase (ie a new TV) and will top-up the joint account with our personal stuff as it's from shared stuff.
Has been this way since we moved in together and the sum going into the joint account has increased in line with my wages as I'm the lower earner.
If you are the 'lower earner' as you state, does it not bug you that you pay proportionally more of your salary into the joint account?Salaries paid into sole accounts with an equal amount from each going to the joint. Joint pays for all day-to-day stuff. Mortage, bills, shopping, holidays, cars, petrol, insurance... The lot.
Surplus into sole accounts is for personal treats. For me it's usually clothes, for him it's usually tech. Sometimes we'll want to make a big 'house' purchase (ie a new TV) and will top-up the joint account with our personal stuff as it's from shared stuff.
Has been this way since we moved in together and the sum going into the joint account has increased in line with my wages as I'm the lower earner.
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