Joint Account

chases0102

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice. My OH and I are expecting in March, and, after lots of pleading on her behalf, we are looking to get a joint bank account.

I was just wondering if any other posters do this with their better halves, and if so, generally what % of income per month do you contribute?

MarkR

We worked out our combined outgoings for shared stuff, mortgage, food, utilities etc, and each transfer in half of the required each month, broken down weekly.

Ayuntamiento

All our income goes into the one joint account. Once bills, etc are paid, everything else is split 50/50. If we go out for dinner, it comes out of the joint account, etc etc. Makes life very easy.
We're equal in everything and completely transparent with each other.

chases0102

Cheers for that.

I guess I'm coming to terms with having to (finally) relinquish some financial independence! Although I know it makes sense.

tracey turnblad

If your not married don't get a joint bank account - judge judy

Ayuntamiento

tracey turnblad wrote: »

If your not married don't get a joint bank account - judge judy

They're having a baby together....if that's not a lifelong commitment, what is?

helimachoptor

These threads pop up and the responses are hilarious.

Op while you're not married, I dont see the aversion to having a joint account.

i know friends that even after getting married and having kids keep completely separate finances, one friend doesnt even tell his OH how much he earns.. mental stuff.

You need to be piratical here, you are having a child (are you living together?) as a father of 2 young kids.. firstly it's expensive and secondly you get a lot of stuff cropping up.

What if you buy the kid something non essential, should your OH be paying 50% of that aswell?

tracey turnblad

its not a question of commitment it's a question of where you stand under the law...

emeldc

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

They're having a baby together....if that's not a lifelong commitment, what is?

You'll have all the single mother's along in a moment to disagree with you

bee06

I'm married but no kids. We have a joint account that we use to pay the mortgage but most of our money is kept separate. Our view is it's shared money and we usually split costs or one of us pays depending on the situation but it's never been an issue. As far as I'I concerned, it's all "our" money. Maybe this will change when the kids come along but I think at the start we'll keep going the way we're going at the moment unless it becomes unwieldy.

fits

My husband and i have a joint account and at the moment just use it for household expenses eg rent, utility bills, health insurance. We pay for groceries, meals out etc from our personal accounts.

Im expecting and will have no income at all soon, so things will change unfortunately ive worked out a detailed budget so we can plan to live within ourmeans until i can get back working. The joint account will be used more when im not workong.

Ayuntamiento

How does keeping accounts separate work if one of you earns €100k and the other earns €20k? Would the higher earner not feel slightly guilty when buying themselves expensive things which their partner could never afford? Would the higher earner compromise and live in a cheaper property than they could afford so that the lower earner can afford their half of the mortgage?

Not being argumentative, I'm just genuinely curious.

bee06

fits wrote: »

My husband and i have a joint account and at the moment just use it for household expenses eg rent, utility bills, health insurance. We pay for groceries, meals out etc from our personal accounts.

Im expecting and will have no income at all soon, so things will change unfortunately ive worked out a detailed budget so we can plan to live within ourmeans until i can get back working. The joint account will be used more when im not workong.

That's a good point, where one partner has limited/no income then it would make sense to have a joint account.

Dial Hard

Absolutely makes sense to have a joint account but I still think people should have their own money too. My ex and I both got paid into our own accounts and transferred an equal amount into the joint account every month. Mortage, bills, groceries, meals out etc came out of that. Everything else came out of our own accounts.

ted1

We've three kids and am married. She is a stay at home mum , Her only income is the gold benefits that everyone gets.

I cover everything mortgage , bills , clothes , holidays , etc

We don't have a joint account as she would empty it so I just transfer house keeping and general spending money 1 a week

chases0102

Cheers for all the responses, folks.

We do live together, but are not married. We have a very strong relationship, earn relatively similar amounts, but yet my OH would be a lot more frivolous with money than I would.

Plan would be to use the Joint Account for rent, groceries, utility bills. We would keep some money for ourselves independently, and we are also saving for a mortgage in the next 24-36 months.

Can anyone recommend any institution with which to open a JA? Or is it much of a muchness?

fits

They're all crap!

Ours was with kbc initially but we got fed up with their customer service so switched to BOI. KBC's rates on regular savings are much better than anyone else though.

By the way (in response to the she'd empty it coment) I would never have everything running through joint account. I think its better to keep some finances separate and have wages into your own account.

Eric Cartman

chases0102 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice. My OH and I are expecting in March, and, after lots of pleading on her behalf, we are looking to get a joint bank account.

I was just wondering if any other posters do this with their better halves, and if so, generally what % of income per month do you contribute?

contribute an equal share thats manageable for both of you, rather than percentage work it out on what your total shared (bills, food, house) etc is and put maybe 50-100 a month each (if you can) extra into it, cover yourself in the event of an issue, or left over money for christmas / holiday / whatever if you don't need it.

get one card for it and leave that at home locked away when not in use. Stops either of you being tempted to spend some cash on things the OH shouldn't be paying for.

Stheno

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

How does keeping accounts separate work if one of you earns €100k and the other earns €20k? Would the higher earner not feel slightly guilty when buying themselves expensive things which their partner could never afford? Would the higher earner compromise and live in a cheaper property than they could afford so that the lower earner can afford their half of the mortgage?

Not being argumentative, I'm just genuinely curious.

Split the contribution proportionately based on net income if on takes home 3k and the other1k then 3k contributes 75% and 1k 25%

Eric Cartman

Stheno wrote: »

Split the contribution proportionately based on net income if on takes home 3k and the other1k then 3k contributes 75% and 1k 25%

I really don't think thats fair, it creates dependance and can cause massive problems down the line if the higher earner loses their job. I think an equal share encourages both partners to strive for higher incomes to provide better for their child , have a better life etc.. , if one person is soaring and contributing most then it can also lead to resentment.

fits

Income isnt the only contribution one can make!

Eric Cartman

fits wrote: »

Income isnt the only contribution one can make!

in terms of a joint bank account it is. Also in the event of a separation, a court has never taken into account who did the ironing when determining dependance.

Similar to income, equal share of the housework and child care is the best way.

eviltwin

Never went for a joint account. I'm the finance person in the house and we've always done it by ratio so the person earning most contributes most. That's the fairest way for us. As Fits said money isn't the only contribution a person makes, in our case the low earner has either not been working or working part time so they do more at home and that balances things out.

Stheno

Eric Cartman wrote: »

in terms of a joint bank account it is. Also in the event of a separation, a court has never taken into account who did the ironing when determining dependance.

Similar to income, equal share of the housework and child care is the best way.

Where are you getting that from? How do you think spousal maintenance awards are decided?

fits

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Similar to income, equal share of the housework and child care is the best way.

In a pergect world. Real life sometimes doesnt work out like that unfortunately.

Fian

My wife and I have a joint bank account since we were engaged, never mind now we are married with four kids. All of our joint income goes into it. We each have a credit card, the account is in my name and she is a second cardholder, the credit card bills get direct debited out of the joint account at the end of the month.

As far as each of us is concerned all of our money and income is our money, none of it is hers or mine.

when we first got the account she had started her career and I had minimal income so the bulk of the money going in was coming from her income. Now she job shares (which means she has more time to help our kids with homework etc.) and I earn about four times her income.

TBH if it is a partnership, it is a partnership. To my mind it is an inherent part of marriage or any other form of life partnership that you share everything. Plus it is just simpler, the bills all get direct debited out of a joint account with no need to allocate or need to worry about who buys the groceries.

Neither of us ask the other to account for any spending. Anyway she never gets to an ATM so alot of her spending comes from money she has taken from my wallet. That can irritate me occasionally, but only because I find myself opening my wallet expecting to pay for something and finding i don't have the cash i expected in there, not because I would for an instant think she is not as entitled to the money as I am.

I find it difficult to get my head around couples who don't run their finances jointly, especially if one party has a significantly greater income than the other. How can it work if one of us had more disposable income than the other, we are partners in everything.

ted1

Eric Cartman wrote: »

in terms of a joint bank account it is. Also in the event of a separation, a court has never taken into account who did the ironing when determining dependance.

Similar to income, equal share of the housework and child care is the best way.

I don't think he was talking about the ironing

Dial Hard

Fian wrote:

I find it difficult to get my head around couples who don't run their finances jointly, especially if one party has a significantly greater income than the other. How can it work if one of us had more disposable income than the other, we are partners in everything.

And likewise many people find it difficult to get their head around couples who pool everything. There's no right or wrong answer, just what works for the couple in question.

I personally HATE the thought of not pulling my weight financially and wouldn't let my husband pay for anything over and above what went into the joint account.

harney

We have individual accounts which we are paid into, and a joint account. Most bills come out of the joint account. There are also debit cards on the joint account, so day to day stuff like milk bread etc can be picked up without going into some ridiculous who bought what last week argument. Since our incomes are slightly different, one person pays slightly more into the joint account.

Special Circumstances

MarkR wrote: »

We worked out our combined outgoings for shared stuff, mortgage, food, utilities etc, and each transfer in half of the required each month, broken down weekly.

Similar story, but a ratio relative to income rather than straight down the middle.

shopper2011

I'll throw in my 2cents here.
Joint accounts do work.
They are best if two incomes are coming in. They are entirlly dependant on trust to work. Start by transferring in enough to cover the rent/mortgage first and see how that goes. Leave it at that for awhile. Over time, if it works then inputs will increase as trust grows.

Ayuntamiento

I genuinely think this thread will always be split into those who believe in keeping things separate and those who (rightly ) believe that a relationship is about pooling ALL your resources for your mutual benefit.

I have to say that my mind was blown by the poster who said:
'We don't have a joint account as she would empty it so I just transfer house keeping and general spending money 1 a week'.
I can't believe there are women out there who would put up with being given their little housekeeping allowance and nothing else because their husband thinks that their tiny brain couldn't handle the concept of a budget How insulting!!

blondeonblonde

I've always looked at getting a joint account too but the fees put me off. Hate paying the bank more than I need to but separate accounts, direct debits and expenses become more and more unwieldy from month to month - that's even before expenses for (future) kids are taken into account!

I do still see the benefit of having some financial independence though.

Can anyone recommended an account they use?

Ayuntamiento

blondeonblonde wrote: »

I've always looked at getting a joint account too but the fees put me off. Hate paying the bank more than I need to but separate accounts, direct debits and expenses become more and more unwieldy from month to month - that's even before expenses for (future) kids are taken into account!

I do still see the benefit of having some financial independence though.

Can anyone recommended an account they use?

It's literally just a case of adding the second person's name to an already existing current account. They're not like a separate product.

andekwarhola

Nope, don't like the idea. I earn more than my wife and I pay the lions share of the bills and expenses, and a larger portion of the mortgage though. I don't have any financial secrets nor would we see each other ever short but just never liked joint accounts.

nikkibikki

We had the whole separate current account plus joint account thing going when we first moved in together. We both earned a similar amount so put in same amount. It didn't have a card was just used for paying bills. Hubby was unemployed then for 9 months and then on heavily reduced income so everything was coming from my wages. No biggie, we're a team so no complaints. We had a baby by then. Didn't seem much point in continuing to pay the bank charges for transferring money into the account for it to be taken straight out so we just closed the current accounts and got wages paid into joint account. Both happy to not be lining the banks pockets more than necessary!

Eric Cartman

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

I genuinely think this thread will always be split into those who believe in keeping things separate and those who (rightly ) believe that a relationship is about pooling ALL your resources for your mutual benefit.

I have to say that my mind was blown by the poster who said:
'We don't have a joint account as she would empty it so I just transfer house keeping and general spending money 1 a week'.
I can't believe there are women out there who would put up with being given their little housekeeping allowance and nothing else because their husband thinks that their tiny brain couldn't handle the concept of a budget How insulting!!

Well, you know they could get a job for money…
I don't think it has anything to do with 'tiny brains' or anything as sexist as that, but studies show women have twice as much credit card debt as men , and while nowhere near a majority, there are definitely a lot of women who, if given access to all their families joint funds , would spend a lot more than half of the leftover (after expenses) on themselves.

Stheno

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

I genuinely think this thread will always be split into those who believe in keeping things separate and those who (rightly ) believe that a relationship is about pooling ALL your resources for your mutual benefit.

I have to say that my mind was blown by the poster who said:
'We don't have a joint account as she would empty it so I just transfer house keeping and general spending money 1 a week'.
I can't believe there are women out there who would put up with being given their little housekeeping allowance and nothing else because their husband thinks that their tiny brain couldn't handle the concept of a budget How insulting!!

I'd a male partner once who was unemployed who decided I needed a treat and went out and spent 140e on a handbag

Nice thought but we had two hundred before that until payday which was a week away

Ayuntamiento

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Well, you know they could get a job for money…
I don't think it has anything to do with 'tiny brains' or anything as sexist as that, but studies show women have twice as much credit card debt as men , and while nowhere near a majority, there are definitely a lot of women who, if given access to all their families joint funds , would spend a lot more than half of the leftover (after expenses) on themselves.

I don't even know where to start with this one....so I won't even go there!!

Loveinapril

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

I have to say that my mind was blown by the poster who said:
'We don't have a joint account as she would empty it so I just transfer house keeping and general spending money 1 a week'.
I can't believe there are women out there who would put up with being given their little housekeeping allowance and nothing else because their husband thinks that their tiny brain couldn't handle the concept of a budget How insulting!!

I really don't think that's what that poster was implying. Some people are just sh!te with money. I would never pool all my money in an account with my husband because he is terrible with money. We used to have a joint account but now he is in college there is no point as I look after all the bills. I am a big advocate in keeping a personal account but using a joint account for mutual expenses.

Ayuntamiento

Loveinapril wrote: »

I really don't think that's what that poster was implying. Some people are just sh!te with money.

Yeah but those people need to learn how to get better at handling their money. Hiding money away from a grown adult and giving them a 'housekeeping allowance' isn't empowering them to make better decisions.

Eric Cartman

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

Yeah but those people need to learn how to get better at handling their money. Hiding money away from a grown adult and giving them a 'housekeeping allowance' isn't empowering them to make better decisions.

you don't put an alcoholic in a pub and expect them to get better.

ted1

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

I genuinely think this thread will always be split into those who believe in keeping things separate and those who (rightly ) believe that a relationship is about pooling ALL your resources for your mutual benefit.

I have to say that my mind was blown by the poster who said:
'We don't have a joint account as she would empty it so I just transfer house keeping and general spending money 1 a week'.
I can't believe there are women out there who would put up with being given their little housekeeping allowance and nothing else because their husband thinks that their tiny brain couldn't handle the concept of a budget How insulting!!

It's not really insulting she will openly admit that she will spend it whatever is in the account.

Where did I ever say nothing else ? What do you think General spending money is? She has managed to get a weekend away in London in Augest, 2 weeks in Sicily in September, a week in the Basque Country in October and she has a weekend in Portugal in December. I think she's quite happy.

Your looking for an issue when there's none.

The fact is when you have 1 income , three kids, mortgage , 2 cars, house life health and car insurance, swimming lessons ,gymnastics, phones tv broadband etc to pay for somebody has to take responsibility to pay them.

ted1

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

Yeah but those people need to learn how to get better at handling their money. Hiding money away from a grown adult and giving them a 'housekeeping allowance' isn't empowering them to make better decisions.

Housekeeping is just that , it's the weekly groceries etc being a stay at home parent enables her to shop during the day. General spending money is fun money.

You sound like a right bra burner

I'm guessing you don't have kids, life in a bubble is good

Loveinapril

ted1 wrote: »

You sound like a right bra burner

Ah don't.

soc

Before kids came along, my DH & I had this very discussion - we decided that it would be unfair for one to earn more than the other especially when kids came along and one of us would probably have to stay home with them and take a career break.

So, what we did was put both our wages into the Joint Account, and then each draw down €300 'pocket money' - that we each could spend whatever way we wanted - that way no one is watching who is spending on what. All other joint expenses such as bills, dinners out together, etc, was covered directly from the Joint Account.

4 kids later, I now stay at home & mind the kids, and do admin/accounting work for DH business. DH still goes out to earn the big bucks. But our deal still remains and in my opinion is the most fairest - we both work long days, just he gets paid for it from outside & I don't, yet we both have the same 'pocket money' each at the end of the month to do as we please... I like to save it up and indulge once in a while, while my husband would be a spender - but either way we're not watching each other's spending/judging as we're doing what we want with our own portion of money. Every other cent goes to Joint Account (with €1000 automatically allocated to savings). At the end of the month any remaining money in Joint Account is transferred to savings account, so every month in Joint Account is 'fresh' wages for the month IYKWIM.

We both agreed that this was the fairest way of tackling finances together without penalising one or the other for being a stay-at-home parent, and also to ensure that neither got jealous of other's way of spending money.

Ayuntamiento

ted1 wrote: »

Housekeeping is just that , it's the weekly groceries etc being a stay at home parent enables her to shop during the day. General spending money is fun money.

You sound like a right bra burner

I'm guessing you don't have kids, life in a bubble is good

I wasn't trying to make it into some kind of feminist issue (granted it might have come across that way which really wasn't my intention).
Between me and my husband, he's actually the one who's really awful with money. I was coming from the perspective that I couldn't imagine myself putting him on an allowance. I just nag him until he gets better at it

I can't imagine being a sole income earner who's responsible for 4 dependents and all that comes with it so fair play to you.

GingerLily

Stheno wrote: »

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

How does keeping accounts separate work if one of you earns 100k and the other earns 20k? Would the higher earner not feel slightly guilty when buying themselves expensive things which their partner could never afford? Would the higher earner compromise and live in a cheaper property than they could afford so that the lower earner can afford their half of the mortgage?

Not being argumentative, I'm just genuinely curious.

Split the contribution proportionately based on net income if on takes home 3k and the other1k then 3k contributes 75% and 1k 25%

We're saving for a house and wedding, we put 70% each of our income into the joint account, only bills , rent and approved expenses come out (no groceries). If one of our situations changed dramatically I think we'd review it, but it seems the fairest way to us for our current situation.

GingerLily

Stheno wrote: »

Ayuntamiento wrote: »

How does keeping accounts separate work if one of you earns 100k and the other earns 20k? Would the higher earner not feel slightly guilty when buying themselves expensive things which their partner could never afford? Would the higher earner compromise and live in a cheaper property than they could afford so that the lower earner can afford their half of the mortgage?

Not being argumentative, I'm just genuinely curious.

Split the contribution proportionately based on net income if on takes home 3k and the other1k then 3k contributes 75% and 1k 25%

We're saving for a house and wedding, we put 70% each of our income into the joint account, only bills , rent and approved expenses come out (no groceries). If one of our situations changed dramatically I think we'd review it, but it seems the fairest way to us for our current situation.

Jayop

We put everything apart from the childrens allowance into the joint account and it works well for us. If either of us want to buy something if there's money left over then we just buy it.

HalloweenJack

In my case, we both have our own accounts and put enough for rent, bills and miscellaneous stuff into a joint account at the start of the month. That way there's no debating over how much one owes the other and we both can feel completely free to spend the rest of our money however we want.