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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask - does your partner/husband know how much you earn or what you have in savings?

243 replies

MerryPinkCritic · 17/07/2025 17:13

I’ve been thinking about how open people are with their finances in relationships. Some couples share everything, some keep things separate and some… don’t even ask.

So I’m curious, does your partner know what you earn or how much you’ve saved? Do you think it’s healthy to be totally transparent or is some financial privacy important?

OP posts:
TwoFeralKids · 17/07/2025 21:02

TheGentleButFirmMadonna · 17/07/2025 20:06

When we married, he had the income and a bit of savings. Two home moves and him being self employed left him paycheck to paycheck if that's what he's claiming. I started working and saving it all because all bills are on his name. So I'm having not a bad deal but he knows I'm not going anywhere with it ...a bit random I know but we aren't rich and the marriage is functioning so well keep it that way

That doesn't seem fair to me?

Glittertwins · 17/07/2025 20:56

Yes to both, he knows what I earn and I know what he earns. He knows how much money in savings as they’re also joint although a lot is technically in my name because I used to pay less tax.

KPPlumbing · 17/07/2025 20:52

Yes. We've been together 20 years. It would be absurd to me if he didn't know what I earned. I have £30k in savings from before we fully shared our finances. I had saved £80k, but paid off a chunk of our mortgage and paid for my husband to retrain, plus bought him a van and the equipment he needed for his new career. He's aware that the remaining £30k is my running away fund/mental health fund if I ever want a year off of work.

Wowwee1234 · 17/07/2025 20:35

Everything in joint accounts, but hubby avoids all financial knowledge (ASD).

Bunchymcbunchface · 17/07/2025 20:33

Mine doesn’t have a clue. He earns it that’s it.
he has no desire to know as he doesn’t want to deal with anything financially. He knows we have multiple accounts but doesn’t know with which banks or the amounts in them.
He has his own account and I put money in it for him for fuel and lunch each week.

Parker231 · 17/07/2025 20:21

Complete transparency. He has always known my salary and I his. He has access to my bank accounts, savings and investments and vice versa.

Barney16 · 17/07/2025 20:21

No to both. And I don't know what he has. Neither of us are interested. We have and always have had completely separate finances. Only joint thing we have is the jar we chuck our change into.

BrickBiscuit · 17/07/2025 20:17

We have every account separate, but are completely chaotic. We just pay for things haphazardly. We go through each others' post, phones and devices, and only have to ask to see each others' accounts (not that we bother except to do admin) because we forget the logins. I have to clean up social media fortnightly because we both make fat-finger mistakes on each other's. We do plan to make our current accounts joint in case one dies.

SaulHudsonDavidJones · 17/07/2025 20:16

Yes, everything to the last penny is pooled together, my money/income/savings are his and vice versa. A payrise for him is a payrise for me and likewise in reverse. Has been for 20 odd years without issue.

OnARainyDay2012 · 17/07/2025 20:14

We only have joint money (pensions excepted). I manage the finances but DH could see what we have if he was bothered to. Rule is that purchases over £100 have to be jointly agreed. We both work full time, I earn slightly more.

caringcarer · 17/07/2025 20:13

DH and I have separate finances and both pay same amount into joint account every month. This is because when we both worked we earned roughly the same amount. We go halves on gifts we buy for people from us both. We go halves on holiday cost. DH knows roughly what I have in my savings but not the exact figures. I know roughly what he has in his savings but not the exact figures. If he needed to borrow money from me he could and vice versa.

Fifthtimelucky · 17/07/2025 20:13

Yes. We have been married over 30 years and have always been completely transparent about money. In the early days our salaries went into a single joint account and we also had a joint savings account. Over the years there have been periods when my husband earned more than I did, periods when I earned more, and periods when we both earned about the same amount.

We are now retired and our pensions go into the same joint account that our salaries used to go into. We still have some joint savings, but we also each have ISAs and Premium Bonds, which cannot be held jointly.

We consider all money to be shared equally, irrespective of who earned it or whose name it is in.

Blarn · 17/07/2025 20:13

Savings yes as they are joint (apart from a save the change one I have which I use towards Christmas stuff). Earnings also roughly yes. I don't think either of us know exactly but rounded up or down a thousand. I think dh sometimes does forget how much lower my earnings are than his though!

TheGentleButFirmMadonna · 17/07/2025 20:06

When we married, he had the income and a bit of savings. Two home moves and him being self employed left him paycheck to paycheck if that's what he's claiming. I started working and saving it all because all bills are on his name. So I'm having not a bad deal but he knows I'm not going anywhere with it ...a bit random I know but we aren't rich and the marriage is functioning so well keep it that way

RuthChrisSt · 17/07/2025 20:05

Yes, we have complete transparency although we have separate accounts/finances. It works well for us.

lifeisacat · 17/07/2025 19:55

Yes he does and always has. We have a joint account, all money goes in there and then split into savings and we each get “fun” money into our own accounts. He maybe doesn’t know what’s in my fun account but could find out if he wanted to

Meadowflower2023 · 17/07/2025 19:55

Totally separate finances, married with DC and no joint accounts. Both came to the relationship with assets and savings and earn well. It’s never occurred to us to put it all in one pot or even some of it as it’s just not necessary for us. I sound like a broken record on these types of posts but what works for one relationship doesn’t work for all. I can’t understand why people think all marriages should be the same financially with joint accounts. We never argue about money and its swings and roundabouts when it comes to spending on holidays etc. Big purchases like cars we generally go 50/50.

@RobertaFirminoyour mother was a wise woman.

Inthemidnighthr · 17/07/2025 19:48

Yeah I agree with @SomeOfTheTrouble . Thing is it doesn’t impact what we can spend - it’s just part of a bigger picture. Passive income streams in the future, school fees, maintenance, nice holidays, all planned out as part of a strategic plan so we can indulge our weaknesses as and when - but we are open with what they are. For example, jewellery for me and watches for him. Both of us have spent thousands quite ‘off the hoof’ because maybe he got a call saying he’s at the top of a list or I have decided I need a new piece for an event. However, at no point is it not transparent and as part of an overall plan.

SomeOfTheTrouble · 17/07/2025 19:46

SouthLondonMum22 · 17/07/2025 19:41

It seems quite popular to have ''pocket/fun money'' of the same amount or we can buy what we want but above say £100, we discuss it first.

That's what I'm more talking about which wouldn't work for me.

No, it wouldn’t work for me either. We’ve never done it like that

SouthLondonMum22 · 17/07/2025 19:41

SomeOfTheTrouble · 17/07/2025 19:38

DH and I share finances completely but I can spend what I want, as can he (obviously within the limits of what we have, but that would be the same whether we shared finances or not. You can only spend what you have)

It seems quite popular to have ''pocket/fun money'' of the same amount or we can buy what we want but above say £100, we discuss it first.

That's what I'm more talking about which wouldn't work for me.

SouthLondonMum22 · 17/07/2025 19:38

Om83 · 17/07/2025 19:21

We completely share everything, all our money is just that ‘ours’. We do give ourselves some ‘pocket money’ each month into our individual accounts for little things/personal items we want/need so we can stick to our budgets but both salaries go into one account then we divvy out from there into other shared accounts for savings/bills/family spending etc.

I can’t get my head around how some couples keep money completely separate but then we have been together from around 18 before either us were properly financially independent so it all just went in one pot - I wonder if you’re used to having your own wages then you want to keep some level of independence??

That's what it is for me. I can't imagine anything worse than 'pocket money' or having to ask if I can buy something with the money I earned just because it's over a certain amount, that just wouldn't work for me in a marriage.

I was 10+ years older than you when I first met DH though and already had my own career.

SomeOfTheTrouble · 17/07/2025 19:38

SouthLondonMum22 · 17/07/2025 19:33

I meant it as I can largely buy whatever I want without discussing it first unless it was something such as a weekend away and I needed him to watch DC so it would affect him. Same goes for him.

DH and I share finances completely but I can spend what I want, as can he (obviously within the limits of what we have, but that would be the same whether we shared finances or not. You can only spend what you have)

SouthLondonMum22 · 17/07/2025 19:33

Inthemidnighthr · 17/07/2025 19:07

I have never understood how couples can say ‘I don’t know or they don’t know unless it affects me’.

Every penny spent, saved or invested impacts you as a family as every penny could be used in a different way and to maybe further joint goals. Saying that, I do all the investing and financial management in our house on behalf of DH and the DC but that’s because I was investing long before I met DH. It doesn’t mean he’s locked out of decisions tho. I talk DH through it all though to ensure we are always on the same page regarding what we are trying to achieve.

I meant it as I can largely buy whatever I want without discussing it first unless it was something such as a weekend away and I needed him to watch DC so it would affect him. Same goes for him.

Bunniemalone · 17/07/2025 19:32

Hatty65 · 17/07/2025 17:24

Probably not - but only through lack of interest rather than lack of openness. We have always had a joint account and joint savings and I've been very open about what I earned, which was usuallly around the same amount as him. He was self employed and I was a teacher. He isn't interested in money. He will say, 'Oh right', when I told him what was coming in each month. Are we getting by on what we earn?' and when I say 'Yes,' he's lost interest. He has equal access to all money, but wouldn't know how to log on to Internet banking.

He lets me deal with all finances.

Same in our house. I earn double DH wage. We have a mad money account each. No questions asked... It's £50 a month😂 so not that mad. But everything else goes in a joint pot, savings split into various savings pots. He has absolutely no clue re bills or internet banking. When we got married, over 25 yrs ago, we knew I would be main wage earner. I do show him the household spreadsheet every few months. All he cares about is, are the bills paid. Do we have enough to continue our nice life. He knows I get palpitations about spending significant money... To be fair I'll uum & ahh over buying a new pair of shoes. We were very hard up when we got together & that feeling of having to be careful has stayed with us both. I fair near had a heart attack a few years back when we moved to a much nicer area & had to add to our mortgage. He did then look at the 'books' carefully & declared we could afford it & was right, we have barely noticed small increase. He says he trusts me implicitly.

EggnogNoggin · 17/07/2025 19:31

Yes. We earn similar and both are financially responsible.

Financial security is hugely important to me and i dont want a relationship with money issues so debt or a lack of transparency and shared goals wouldn't work for me.