Should I pay for this from my savings?

[Mumtofour1]

Posting here for traffic really. Situation is I need to have 1.5k worth of dental treatment. Those who have had dental treatment recently know it doesn't cover a lot. It's for restorative work so necessary but not impacting.my health as such.

Question is due to cost my DH suggested I should use my savings but I disagree, it should come from joint savings. We are financially stable with good savings etc so no problem here.

What do others think?

It depends. Do you both have the same amount from the joint pot to spend or save each month or are you at a disadvantage because the bulk of the childcare is left to you?

All our savings are joint, so this wouldn’t really be an issue for us.

You clearly have designed ‘rules’ between you for individual/shared savings to have set this system up. What are the rules?

I don’t. Why shouldn’t people have their own pots of money, to spend on what they want? And loads of women on here find themselves massively disadvantaged by not having their own money or savings - especially when they want to leave relationships.

For the OP, it really depends what you agreed the joint savings were for when you started them.

I’d never pay out of my savings for something g like that, but put it on an interest free credit card and divert my usual monthly savings amount to the credit card til it was paid off. Always good to have cash in the bank just in case.

Unless there is a massive dripfeed use savings.

but i feel there is a massive dripfeed..

Really depends on how you and DH manage your finances as well as perhaps the dental treatment.
If it’s purely cosmetic, then maybe pay for it yourself. But “cosmetic” can also be something like teeth implants that whilst, yes, dentures are possible instead, they can be really uncomfortable and detract from the enjoyment of food etc. so whilst it’s not directly impacting your health, it is impacting your quality of life/wellbeing.

Just be grateful you have the money to do it. Many people are in agony with dental problems they can't afford to get fixed. It's a non problem.

There's always one. 🙄

If you're not planning on splitting up in the next few months, why would it make any difference?

There's no right or wrong because it depends on how you structure the family finances. Just make sure if it comes from personal savings that DH's dental work also comes from his personal savings, even if it's four times as much!

His and yours - if you do it that way - those pots are for fun.
dental is health (unless veneers etc) so it’s joint
Is your dh usually mean and is his saving pot bigger?

That would be a joint cost in this house as we tend towards believing that marriage is about being and team for each others mutual benefit and wellbeing so anything health related is both our problems to fund.
Saying that, if DH or I suddenly decided we needed to go to Turkey for a full set of radioactive gnashers, that would be on us personally 😁

It depends. What other things have come out of joint savings over the years?

If you’re married, surely all the money if all of yours.
Whether it comes from savings or current account, yours or his, surely all your money is both of yours?

I just don’t understand how married people can keep separate accounts to use separately for stuff like healthcare.

If you have a healthy amount of joint savings (12 weeks worth of expenses) then I feel it should come from family money if it’s affordable. Is there any reason why your DH has suggested your own savings instead? Do you have more personal savings than the household savings? I suppose it all depends.

If you don't share finances then it should come from your money not his. My family share all finances so it would come from family pool but no point splitting if your going to take the shared money for yourself

We have both joint savings (substantial but we are retired) We also have personal savings which cover hobbies and non essentail clothes. When I needed major dental work pre retirement I paid the difference between the cost of NHS dentistry and the private treatment, Our money has always been joint and I have been married for over 40 years

Similar situation here, paid from my savings. Would not even consider that a " joint savings" issue!

If I needed £1500 of dental work, I can't imagine having a discussion with my DH about where the money would come from. Similarly if DH goes to the dentist, he's a grown up and can handle the decision and pay for it.

We have never had a joint account. I have always had my own money and we have always respected each other's decisions.

This is our system too. So the dental expense would come out of joint money.
Our fun money is for individual hobbies, frivolous purchases etc

Sorry to derail but how did that go? I would like mine done! Do they look good?

Technically it’s all joint money anyway. I don’t understand why people get married and keep their finances separate. Surely you’re a team?

I can understand if you’s didn’t have much money and you said you want to spend £1.5k on a holiday with the girls and there wasn’t enough left to cover bills, but it’s your health and you’s sound fine financially.

@Notamum12345577 same here..i am surprised every single time.
where is the line when joint savings should or should not cover personal, medical, but needed, treatments? If you loose a leg and need a prosthetic one, do you pay by yourself or from joint account?

We would use family savings for this. Yes they’re your teeth, but what joint savings goal could be more important or valid than someone’s health? I wouldn’t dream of denying my husband family money for this if we were in your situation.

All health care is joint with us. So glasses, teeth, laser eye surgery, chiropody, even gyms. We want both of us to be as well as possible.

Agree with you. The work I'm having done is a result of insufficient funds whilst pregnant with DC and clinically they were unable to carry out the work so I had the best possible option at that time. As a result these teeth now need restoring so I feel it should come out of joint funds. I previously had an implant and this came out of my savings.