To ask if you and your DP/H earn hugely differing salaries, how you manage money?

[RedHareWithBlondeHair]

My partner and I earn very different salaries. Currently this isn't an issue as we pay/spend relative to our earnings but I wonder about the future because we talk about certain big purchases/spends that one of us will only be able to contribute something like 10% to, if that, leaving the other to pick up the 90%. It's not an issue at the moment but I do see it becoming one.

I earn nothing. Joint account. No personal spending allowances.

I earn loads less than dh. We both pay most of our pay into our joint account each month, leaving each of us a similar amount of personal spending money in our own accounts. All family expenditure and bills are then paid from the joint account.

Pah sorry since I updated my phone it’s been running slow. That should read,

When we were both working full time and for seperate companies we worked out things in percentages. So we equally paid the same percentage of the bills and whoever was earning more paid more.

Worked okay really, it seemed the fairest way for us.

We split bills and mortgage etc proportionately (e.g. two thirds to one third) and take a small monthly personal allowance each. Whatever is left is deemed household money for maintenance, hols, clothing for the children etc and therefore goes into one shared pot. Big spends over and above our personal allowance and odds and sods require joint decisions. Unless its something that clearly needs acting on (e.g. heating up the spout, knackered cars etc).

I earn more than DH

It's all family money - all goes into the same pot with equal access

If one of us wants to make a large purchase or spend outside of the day-to-day stuff we will raise it with the other and discuss if we can afford it.

Never caused any issues

Joint account. I'm the main earner, but also the one at highest risk of impetuous spending. I also rarely look at the account balance. Any big spend we both ask the other though, just mutual respect.

Its all family money and despite me earning about 3% of what DH earns I am in charge!!

Basically its in a joint account and I do the transferring to savings, pensions, lump sums to mortgage overpayments etc and we spend what we need too from the rest.

Joint account. I earn substantially more. We both just spend as needed whether on ourselves or the kids. We would run large purchases past each other as a matter of courtesy and to ensure we don't end overdrawn if we both did this. We're both pretty sensible though so that means it runs smoothly.

DP earns four times my salary. We live together with separate bank accounts but I have a credit card for his account.

I pay a quarter of the mortgage, we take turns on smaller purchases and he pays for most bigger things. I earn well so I have a decent amount left every month to spend on myself.

We've never once rowed about finances actually. DP has always said he wants me to have as much disposable income as him as he'd feel terrible otherwise.

It's very easy to call it childish if you have plenty of money to spend on going out, golf, haircuts.

Not so easy to be blasé when money is tight.

I find it hard to imagine how the "personal allowances" set-up could work if you have DC. So many things are done as a family - e.g. lunch out. Do you take it in turns to pay? It must be a headache.

DH and I have never even thought to question who spends more on themselves in a given month. I would have no idea. I buy more clothes, haircuts etc, he buys bikes and all sorts. I tend to buy most of the kids stuff - I can't imagine how that would work if it was coming from two accounts. As long as we can afford it, I don't care what he buys and vice versa.

OH earns more than four times my income. All money is family money.

If you have children together then everything goes into a joint pot.

Pre marriage and kids finances were separate (at that point I earned more so we didn't jointly do anything he couldn't afford unless I was happy to pay his share. Since we had kids he earns more but we have a joint account and pretty much all our outgoings are family costs not individual ones anyway).

DH earns all our money, I earn nothing.

All our money is joint or equal. His salary goes into joint acct, then a DD takes a small amount each from that into each of our personal accounts. This is our personal fun money to be spent however we like - basically on anything that's not an essential.

We do still make personal purchases out of the joint money, but as I'm a saver and he's a spender we liked being able to do whatever we wanted with a little bit without consulting each other.

We have our own accounts and a joint account. But it's all family money. All accounts are transparent. I earn a good wage, but my DH earns quite a bit more. Is not an issue for us.

my DP earns more than four times what i earn, i buy the food each week, he pays the rest of the bills ,rent etc, and whats left over of each of our wages is our own to do with what we want, when it comes to entertainment we go halves on holidays days out etc

DH earns £15k more a year than I do. Both our incomes go into one account and all expenses come out of it. Purchases we decide on together and one of us wants to buy something like a pair of jeans etc, we just buy it. If one of us wanted a new phone or something else expensive we'd discuss it.

There is no "my money/your money". It's just household money and I'd feel the same if I were the higher earner.

Ours is just family money. As it started off life as my money mostly, I used to feel a bit funny about DH spending it freely, but 15 years down the line I don't even think about it anymore. It makes life a lot simpler I find.

When we lived in the UK, the house was mine and all the bills were mine. We had a joint account, and I still had my personal account out of which all the bills came. DH's salary went into the joint account so that I could transfer out what I needed while I was on mat leave, and he could spend what was left. If we'd been going to stay in the UK, I'd have probably moved the bills over to the joint account, but I knew we weren't, so this worked better for us.

Got to Australia - DH got a job, I stayed at home to look after DS. My self-employment in the UK would have been difficult to start up here with a small child, and my qualifications would have needed validating etc. etc. blah blah.
DH got a credit card, I couldn't get one. He gave me his. I could spend whatever I needed/wanted to on it, but I also needed cash access. So he put money into a savings account in my name (that I could have).
Then his account was made into a joint account and I have online access to both - but I still only take cash out of my savings account, because then I can do what I like with it.

I'm still a SAHM, DS2 is starting school next year and DH expects that I will be getting a job - but he also doesn't expect to have to take on any of the school run, lunch making, after school activity runs, sick days etc. - so I'm not quite sure where he thinks this 10-2 job that gives me unlimited annual leave is going to come from!

So going back to the money - DH earns it all at the moment, it all goes into a joint account, I get a set amount per month into my savings but have access to all accounts should I need it. And a credit card.

DH earns more in a month than I do in a year but it's never been an issue. Both salaries go into a joint account and we just treat it all as family money. We check with each other before making big purchases

We share money, always have. Doesn't matter who earns it, we have equal financial power.

Everything into one pot since marriage.
Direct Debit each month into our Savings, then once all the bills are paid we buy/spend what we want. Discussion before big purchases only.

We worked out a monthly budget and split it so we are each left with the same amount after paying our share. I pay 700 into joint savings for car and house maintenance type costs, OH pays 1700 to cover monthly bills leaving us both with 700 ish to spend or save.

DH earns much more than me. Like many others here, we have a joint account which both salaries go into, and to which both of us have full access. We will both spend up to £50 on something unusual (so not the weekly food shop) without clearing it with the other. More than £50 we discuss.

However we are are fortunate that our outgoings are less than our income. DH would have to play an awful lot of golf (say) before it impacted my ability to pay for a hair cut.

Friends whose finances were an awful lot tighter used to have £20 (yes, only £20) a month each to spend without discussing it with the other. I can definitely understand doing this if things are tight. All their income was still family money though.

OH earns 2x what I do.

Never been a problem here. We both work hard, 12 hour shifts. Just his job pays more and always has!

All money goes into same account, I pay all bills from this anything left is fair game, but we would never make a house purchase without agreement from both sides, and if a personal purchase came to more than £30/40 we just kinda run it by each other.

I saw these nice winter boots, theyre £60 bank account reads £XXX, water is due out but otherwise we're good. Did you need anything this week?

I need to take £50 out for work day this week and a few drinks after, are the bills all paid?

Never really been an issue for us. We both have access to account/credit card/statements.