How do you split your finances

[Jamie8671]

Was reading another post and thought it was interesting how unmarried couples split their money.

I earn 90k and partner 28k. Our net salaries all go into one pot for ‘bills/savings/life’ and each person spends as they like. We don’t keep our money separated but have been together 8 years and whilst we’re not married we share all else. No DCs.

The one difference is that my pension contributions are much higher as both of us are % of salary rather than £ amount.

What do you do? Genuinely interested as lots of people are talking about seperate finances

Married. All money goes into one account for bills/savings. We both also have a set personal allowance to spend without question (this is the same amount and is transferred into our personal accounts). We never argue about finances and this has always worked for us.

All money into one pot

By the way, we have never ever argued about money. Not once. It's not a big deal to us, despite not having a lot of it. It's philosophically in 'a big pot', despite the fact that I manage most of it.

We're married and we put a percentage of our earnings into a joint account to cover the mortgage, bills and food etc. My DH earns twice as much as me so he puts more in. We each then have an equal-ish amount left each thats our own

@TurkeyTrot

Why do adults think that "pocket money" is ok, when you earn a salary? I get that it means a small amount to spend, but is it ok to have a salary of £25k, but only having control of pocket money of £200 per month?

Well if that £200 pm is all that is spare out of a £25k salary, after paying for essentials, then of course it would be OK to only have 'control' of that amount as adult personal spending on non essentials is a low priority in a sensible budget.

Many people find it useful to have a defined amount that they know they can spend on themselves, without risking spending the rent money for example.

Married with 1 DC.
I used to earn the most, now DH does. In fact he earns almost double what I do.
Always shared it all.
Pay all the bills and food etc and what’s left is the family money for going out/hol savings/clothes. DH has gym membership and a car loan that we both pay. But in normal circumstances I spend a chunk on girlie weekends so all works out pretty even. It’s never really been an issue as we both tend to make sure neither of us are selfish about it. There’s been times (years) when we had nothing spare so I think we are just grateful to be able to buy luxuries now we are a bit older

All income is shared.

Unmarried, 2 kids.
A central pot and we both spend what we need to.
No questions asked.

All into one pot and then bills come out. We also have 'pocket money'. Discretionary spending has to be budgeted just like everything else.

Married with children. One joint account, everything in and everything out of that. We would discuss with each other for big purchases or holidays with friends but we don't have to ask each other. If there's a decent amount left at the end of the month it goes into savings

Everything goes in one pot. Spend what we like, although larger purchases are discussed. Don’t really have a set pocket money each month, so some months he may spend more, other months, I may. We’re not big spenders.

We're married, 1DC and I'm a sahm at the moment. One joint account and everything in and out of that. Any big purchases we would discuss. We don't have lots of money at the mo so the majority is just essentials but neither of us are big spenders so it's not a problem. When I go back to work then will continue on the same. Don't feel the need to make sure that we spend the same on ourselves, some months DH needs things, other months I do but it seems to be fairly even over the year. It works great for us. On the other hand DSis (also a SAHM) has an allowance from her DH, I know the first time I heard this I thought it was a bit odd but she just can't stop spending, needs to have new stuff all the time so I think a joint account is a risk for them and seems to work ok.

Married. We both put £1000 into the joint account for bills. We keep everything else to ourselves.

I bring home about £1’300 a month.
DH brings home about £2’700 a month.

All £4’000 goes into the joint account.

£400 then gets sent to my personal account and £400 gets sent to his personal account. We use this money to spend as we wish.

The remain £3,200 in the joint account is used to pay for everything.

Married.

I have my money. He has his. Both higher earners.

No mortgage. One shared savings account - income from a rental property.

I pay for holidays, kids stuff, food, broadband, own phone, presents.
He pays insurance, utilities, school fees, own phone.

Works for us but I think it's because we earn roughly the same.

Been together 27 years, married, 2 DC. We still have separate current accounts, he earns 4x my salary. Some DDs come from my account, some his. We have joint savings. We each spend our current account remainder.

Completely joint, he earns more than me, but we put everything we earn into the pot.

I've been thinking about pensions though, as DH recently gone back full time (we each worked slightly compressed 4 days pw to share childcare previously). My pension is much smaller than his, and I'm thinking of discussing whether extra money should be allocated to me to pay voluntary contributions into my pension.

Married with 2 children

Married for 17 years, together 25. 2 DC’s.
He earns 4x my salary.

We save my entire salary & his covers everything else from a joint account. Whatever’s left, we spend as we each need to.
Large expenditure is of course discussed beforehand.

We don’t have out own accounts except pensions, which he is going to take a bulk sum out from his in 4 years time to pay off the mortgage.

Married. DH earns £53k and I earn £55. We get joint income of £22k btl. We both put £1k in joint account on 1st of month plus btl income goes into joint account about £1.8k each month. Joint then pays for mortgage, utility bills, council tax and food and children b'days, activities and Xmas, holiday etc. Also replacing household items. Also 2 adult sons living at home pay £425 and £350 into joint each month.

DH and I pay for our own mobiles, fuel, car tax and insurance, gifts for each other, pensions, day to day spending like coffees, charity gifting, and any thing else we want to spend. We both save a lot each month and invest. Every so often one of us needs s new car or big ticket item which we pay for ourselves.

@Chocwocdoodah

All goes into one big pot. Like others have said, it's a non-issue - there's no "his" money or "my" money. I find it really strange when couples work out precisely what each should contribute based on the difference in their earnings - i.e. one pays 31.6% of the bills and the other, 68.4%. If you share your home, lives, children, why would you not share your money?

Same. Weve always had one account where both our wages go , Its just one pot of our money.

Married, both good salaries. All in one pot. I do the budgeting. We agree spending but generally keep it moderate, but outgoings are quite high so we need to keep an eye on it.

Interesting thread and In the main interesting how so many people agree ‘pocket’ money and/ or state that large purchases are discussed before buying. A while back there was a thread similar to this where I said the above.

I was told I was financially controlling/ borderline abusive to think that people should have a set amount of pocket money once the bills are paid.
. I was very confused for a while after that thinking ‘do people really spend what they want, when they want, irrespective of earning/ outgoings? And to budget within means is financially controlling?’

My kind was blown.

Married, 2 dc (1 is mine from my 1st marriage but he’s never treated her any different to our dd), joint account, all goes in and we spend what we spend. I manage the finances as in he barely even looks in the account and I keep an eye to make sure we save. Any large purchase we discuss.

@Madre1972

Married, 2 dc (1 is mine from my 1st marriage but he’s never treated her any different to our dd), joint account, all goes in and we spend what we spend. I manage the finances as in he barely even looks in the account and I keep an eye to make sure we save. Any large purchase we discuss.

I meant to add that he is the higher earner (about 50% more than me) as I was a SAHM for several years so that he could focus on travel with his career. The finances were still the same then.

Married 10 years, never had a joint account, neither of us have ever wanted to. I'm usually the higher earner (although not a high earner!) and DH is s/e and income is variable and sporadic. Mortgage and most bills are in my name and covered by my salary and I still have a reasonable amount left over, we have a set amount that DH is 'supposed' to contribute each month but in reality some months it's lower, occasionally it's higher if he's had a good month, and this year it's been very little at all due to covid, he's trying hard to get a job but not having much luck.

Whatever is left over is used for food and other things for both of us, regardless of whose account it's in, food shopping etc we both do and if one of us is a bit skint we send the other one some money. If one of us is feeling flush we'll treat both of us to new clothes or buy something for the house. Nobody goes without and we both live the same lifestyle although technically at some times one of us will be better off than the other if you go by disposable income in our individual accounts. Works for us.