How do I really work out our finances?

[Bubble00]

Hello

I want to know how you all work out your finances.

What bank accounts do you have - savings account -bank account - should we have all our accounts in both our names?

A baby savings account? What do I need to look for in a bank?

I think your questions a bit big, what is the problem you want to solve?

If you want more control over your finances generally have you started by drawing up a budget?

Everyone takes a different approach depending on their set up especially with joint family finances and individual spending.

We have 3 bank accounts, although only use 2 of them regularly. We use 1 for day to day transactions and the other for one off spends/saving.

We use YNAB, an envelope budgeting tool, to budget, so we always know how much we have for what type of spending.

Thanks - It is quite a big question - I guess I don't really know where to start properly and everyones situation is different.

I think the important thing is to have a bank account and savings account, but I wonder if many of you have joint or separate accounts and what about a baby- should we set us a savings account?

We have a joint account. DH uses his old bank account as our savings account but we dont earn a lot so we only really save into that if we have something to save for.

The kids have a bank account each into which any birthday/christmas money goes. We also have a "copper" jar which we split and bank when it gets full.

We each have our own current account, where our salaries go in. DH tends to pay the mortgage and childminder. I tend to pay most other bills (utilities, afterschool club, house insurance). I usually do the groceries but DH will do those, or sometimes pay if we've both done it together. We used to each pay the costs of our own cars, but we now share a car so I pay the insurance while DH has paid the tax this year. (I let him sort out maintenance generally of the "big car", but I used to organize my own when I had a smaller one).

We each have separate savings accounts. I have a credit union at work, so pay into savings (shares) there as a salary sacrifice, before I get paid. I have some other savings on a monthly basis. DH has his own pension and a few different savings too. (I have a work pension so it's sorted through paycheque).

When it comes to DD, I tend to be the biggest contributer, as I tend to be the organizer. I work in town, so have a chance to pick up clothes when she needs them. I tend to be the organizer of clubs and activities too. But DH will organize some or give me a cheque while I am sorting others. And if we are all shopping together, he'll often get the clothes, especially shoes.

DD has a money box, where she puts money from relatives, leftover pocketmoney, and we tend to throw our coppers into that too. She also has a post office account when the box gets reasonably full, and a bank account where her 1st Communion money went. She does buy some things for herself, and has been known to offer to buy all 3 of us the icecreams on a walk, for example.

DH has long had a spreadsheet so that "Biddy will know where to find things" in case the need arises (he worked overseas in a couple of hot spots for a while). I have put together a similar version recently as I was losing track of bits and pieces - but he'd have to get IT in work to give it to him. I should bring a copy home.

We're happy though to let the other know if we need extra if there's been a heavy spending period, and we tend to split things like meals out (not literally, but taking turns to pay for them depending on who has cash or who's card is in better shape). It works out ok overall for us.

Once there are children I really can't see any way to do it other than everything being joint. I know others do, but I just can't see how that works.

We have a joint current account where both salaries go, bills are paid and anything left is informally shared but we don't count to make sure we each have exactly the same every month.

Joint saving account and discussions had before anything spent.

The most significant thing to know right now is that current accounts offer better interest rates than any savings account - an odd concept I know.

We have a joint account with our bank where both of our salaries are paid into, and some direct debits come out of.

In addition we have a Santander 123 account because it pays 3% interest on balances up to £20,000 and also pays cashback on a bunch of monthly direct debits like gas and electric.

We opened a Junior stocks and shares ISA for our daughter when she was born and contribute £100 a month to that. It's 100% equities so technically 'risky' but over the course of 18 years should ride out most of the bumps in the stock market to generate a nice sum for her. It's her money, we can't touch it, and when she turns 18 it's hers to do what she wants (with very strong guidance!!).

Our savings are spread between multiple Santander, Lloyds, TSB, BOS and Tesco current accounts to get the best interest rates.

It's getting a bit complicated with all the current accounts but our view is that it's worth a bit of effort of moving money around each month to get double the interest it would get sitting in a savings account.

We have separate accounts - I have 4 current accounts, 3 savings accounts, several ISAs, DH has 3 current accounts, ISAs, 3 savings accounts. DS has 2 current accounts and 3 savings accounts. DH is the breadwinner on a good salary, I'm a sahm and DH's salary gets paid into one of his accounts where the mortgage and all bills come out of. I get some unearned income paid into one of my accounts, and DH transfers a chunk of money a few times a year into another of my accounts. He does the same for himself and does his daily spending out of that account. I shuffle money around my various accounts for interest and to separate my spending. We just like having various accounts with different banks in case there are ever any problems with cashpoints, having to wait for a card to be replaced etc.

We don't have any rules about how much we're each allowed to spend. We tend to build up surplus money in the mortgage account and then overpay the mortgage/max out ISAs through the year. Neither of us spend extravagantly, we spend less than half our income and whenever one of our spending accounts gets low DH just tops it up from the mortgage account.

Check out YNAB, there's a great forum and it really has made everything clear for me.

Thank you!!!! YNAB is interesting and I've never heard of it so much Thanks.

We always had joint everything and ultimately I earned 10x what he did.
You just need to do what works best for you. The only thing that matters with money is whether you all spend more than you earn.

We have a current account each and a joint savings account. One joint current account where all of our bills, DD's etc. come out of. We both transfer around 30% of our wages into this to cover the basics and leave a little for emergencies. The rest of our salaries remain in seperate current accounts are to allow us to spend/invest how we wish.