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?

We’re the same. No joint accounts here until very recently. Now we have a joint savings account - for ease of access - with the price of a funeral in it.

Dental treatment is a personal cost in our house. Although DH would help if I asked, but your DH doesn’t seem willing to pay towards it.

I think it's different if it is associated with pregnancy but you didn't mention that so might sway people's opinions.

Check and fillings etc are joint money. If I wanted something cosmetic I would use my own money.

I’d pay for it on my credit card then take out a card that gives zero interest on balance transfers for the longest period I could find then just pay it off monthly. Then your savings are intact

What miserable sod would quibble about the cost of their DW's dental care? Jesus.

It’s health for me, so that’s a joint pot.

Annoyingly DH never needs dental work while I’m never away from the dentist (it’s not my oral hygiene I promise!), so I do benefit from this I guess. However, I’m the bigger earner in our family, so contribute more to the pot so we both have exactly the same disposable, and I’d be a bit hacked off if that meant I was struggling to pay for dental work etc. If I wanted to do something purely for cosmetic reasons then I’d pay for it myself though.

Anything pregnancy related should be joint. If you had put that originally I think you would have had very different answers. He should be thanking you for putting your body through pregnancy, not expecting you to pay for the damage it caused growing him your joint child.

What are the savings for? I’m struggling to understand what you’re saving for that would require separate savings? Doesn’t your OH have savings of his own?

Yes this. A bit like you wanting a designer bag really.

YANBU

This is medical and should come from joint funds.

What are your joint savings usually for?

Why? We have joint saving to cover the house, holidays, car etc or nothing joint but we also have our own saving for things we want. My husband bought a £1200 watch, I wasn’t paying for that. It came from his savings

I should have mentioned this in my initial post.

I know. We have a pot, we have separate accounts dating back to pre-marriage with a bit in. But we consider it all “our” money. Like when buying a new car (for example) just gets shifted over. They’d be no discussion here. We’d just take the money from wherever it was. I’m glad we’re not like this!

I suppose I trust my DH with money. Both of us have similar values. I have met couples where their values aren’t aligned so I understand but I wouldn’t marry someone who had such dissimilar views. What about retirement? Will be eating beans and you steak?

I’m surprised by all the answers saying it is a personal expense not a joint one.
In my family all money is family money, there is no his and hers, all one pot. I thought mine was a pretty standard set up.

Personal savings all day long unless you’re broke / can’t afford it etc. I’m a regular at the dentist - last time around I needed the endodontist alongside another filling which was £2100 worth. Put it on the credit card and have paid it off myself. I am able to pay and earn good money so no way I’d expect my other half to contribute to it. If I couldn’t have paid I’d have had a hundred quid tooth extraction and be done with it. Only thing we spilt in our household is the mortgage. I pay all the bills and run the car etc as I earn substantially more than the other half. Works for us. I guess if you are used to having joint accounts and everything pooled then splitting your dental costs may seem more logical.

Anything medical, dental, eye test, new glasses comes out of joint money here.

I find it really strange that married couples don’t share one savings account and have separate too. I understand separate current accounts but you don’t you both save together for the future? Or is it the norm on here to live life separately. I feel grateful DH would offer to pay for things like this regardless.

We have completely separate accounts. We don't have children though, so our only joint outgoings are bills which we split based on our incomes.

Personal savings - also on the basis that if DP had a similar situation it would come from his personal savings too

Speaking from experience here - I had a bad accident and as a result had to have a breast implant replaced (yes stupid to have them in the first place) used my own savings and I wouldn’t have dreamt of having DP essentially pay half.

This should come from your personal savings for sure.

If it’s cosmetic your savings, if necessary joint. It can be both! I had a root canal (necessary) and had it crowned (cosmetic). Dentist gave me a v. Detailed invoice so could break down.

Teeth are health and so a family expense in my books too.
The only exception would be cosmetic work- ie Turkey teeth.

I don’t think a crown is cosmetic. A root canal is like digging a well through your tooth to the nerve. The crown is putting a cap on the hole so it doesn’t get infected again.