Splitting Finances as a Married Couple

Married and independent. I'm a believer in yours, mine and ours. We both have our own checking accounts and we have a joint account. The credit cards we had before marriage remain a separate responsibility. He has one CC and keeps it done. I have several and they fluctuate. We split all household bills and he hands me the money every month and I make the payments. We both put a set minimum into the household account but contribute more when we want. The rest is ours to spend as we please. DH is on my health insurance and I just pay it. The auto insurance is in his name and he just pays that.

We've lived together for the last few years. He is quite a bit more liquid than I am so he pays our living expenses out of his account as they're due and I just wrote him a check at the end of the month that covers half the mortgage plus a few hundred to cover groceries, electricity, etc. Its worked out well so far but idk if we are going to continue that system once we are married.

ETA: we each pay both of our "own" expenses. We have have our own vehicles and anything we charge to our own credit cards we pay ourselves.

We live together but aren't married yet, and we do not have a joint account. We split living expenses 66/33, with FH paying more because he makes more. Since he moved into my house, I pay all the bills out of my account, and he transfers me a flat fee every month.

Once we're married, we will put most of our money into a joint checking account, and keep separate checking/savings accounts. We've discussed 80% of each of our incomes going into joint, 20% keeping for ourselves.

If your insurance is going up to $150, why don't you suggest splitting it equally and each paying $75? He only winds up paying $25 more, and you get a small break. That seems more fair to me than you paying more!

My ex and I split most bills 50/50 despite him making significantly more. We paid our own personal expenses individually but had joint checking for joint expenses (rent, cable, renters insurance, etc). It worked but, since he had insisted on where we lived ( and the price tag), I was frequently strained financially.

Now:

My FH owned his house prior to being with me and insists on paying all of those bills on his own since, in his own words, "he was paying them on his own before I was there and will pay them on his own if I should ever leave." We each are responsible for our individual bills. I do most of the cooking while he usually pays for groceries.

After marriage we will set up a joint account (though he is still, by far, the primary breadwinner) and just take joint expenses from there, though we plan to maintain our own small personal accounts.

Like another poster, I will also likely be a SAHM within a few years and all of the bills will be exclusively his to pay. I'm torn on being financially dependent on him and it isn't an easy decision to make. Best advice is to list pros/cons of each method. Be honest with your spending habits (i eat out for lunch waaaayyyyy too often while FH can spend hundreds on car parts). If it doesn't work, change it.

FH makes a significant amount more than I do. He currently pays the mortgage, garbage service, heat, taxes, car payment and insurance for our vehicles, and day to day expenses (groceries, gas, if we go out to eat, etc.). I pay the electric bill and for our son's childcare. We each pay our own credit card bills and our own student loan bills. We each have our own checking/savings accounts. It works well for us. We plan to open a shared savings account with any gifts we may receive from our wedding. We will each contribute to it and use it only for emergencies. I think we will keep our system going the way it is now.

My fiance and I have a joint account, as well as our separate accounts. We designated a certain amount that each of us put into the joint account each month. It covers rent, groceries, and bills, as well as extra for a joint savings for vacations or in case there are surprises.

Then, we have our separate accounts to use for ourselves. We like this because we both make our own money, and we don't feel like we should have to "ask" the other to buy something for ourselves. (Clothes, toys, etc). Or feel bad about it. Also, gifts to each other really are gifts and not from the other persons money!

As we grow in our careers, we will adjust the amount that we put into the joint account to increase our combined savings.

Of course, if one of us is struggling during a particular month, there is NO hesitation to pay for dinners or share money from our fun accounts. "What's mine is yours" absolutely still holds true for us. But we do like to have the freedom to splurge on ourselves without feeling bad... "honey, I just bought a $400 fishing rod when I already have 3... with half of your money"

Right now we split our bills. I pay the mortgage, and he picks up everything else and pays child support for his son as well. It works out to the close to the same amount.

After the wedding we are going to have an account for bills, and account for saving and we will each get a certain amount every month for our own personal use. We don't use credit cards so debt is not an issue at this time. Our joint entertainment and travel will come from the bills account since we include it in our budget, but we will use our own money when we go out or on vacation separate.

Post marriage, we did a joint savings and checking. DH and our baby are on my insurance (since it is the better one). We have a budget and big ticket items we talk about before hand and check the budget to see if we have extra floating around.

Starting in 2017, I need to have him open an Roth so fun money will decrease after that. This has ended up working the best for us.

eta: My insurance increased almost $200 when I added DH and more after our son was born but because we have one pot, it doesn't matter. I also make about $20k more then he does.

When he moved in, I continued to pay my mortgage, because he had a rather high alimony payment. He paid utilities. About 6 months before we were married, he got a new job and we started a joint checking account and closed all other accounts. We pay for everything out of our checking account and have a joint savings account as well. We each have our own credit cards, so I don't know every $1 he spends and he doesn't know mine, but we talk about purchases over $100. Over the course of our relationship, our job situations have changed, so it just makes sense for us to put everything together and be a team about it all as opposed to have a "mine" pot and a "yours" pot. Regarding insurance, we just go for the best option for us as a family (we also insure his 13 year old daughter). A PP made a very good point, just because the difference in insurance is $100, it's pre-tax so his paycheck isn't cut by $100...you will only be able to tell when he gets his first paycheck after adding you to the policy.

Not married yet but just moved in. We are slowly navigating finances. FH pays rent , utilities, and all of "his bills". I pay the cable/Internet bill and my stuff. I am also saving our cash and paying down our credit cards (hopefully debt free by Nov 1!). He pays some down too but the majority of his check goes toward the huge rent bill (courtesy of living in San Diego). We share the burden of food and entertainment. We would like to eventually combine accounts next summer after we marry and can re-set our direct deposits.

We bought our house more than 2 years before we got married but we waited to open any joint bank accounts until we were married. Right after the wedding we opened a joint checking and joint savings account (we put all the wedding money in our joint savings account). We also opened up a joint credit card, and now have 2 joint credit cards. We put all of our joint expenses (groceries, toiletries, home items, home repair, vet bills/cat care, vacations, etc.) on the joint credit card. When we get paid we transfer a specific dollar amount that we have agreed on into our joint checking account. He transfers slightly more than I do because he makes a bit more than I do. The amount is what will cover our mortgage, utilities, and the credit card bills. If we have unexpected expenses (like when our hot water heater went up 2 weeks ago) or for a special occasion (like a vacation) we put in additional money from our individual accounts. So far this system has worked really well for us! We have already talked about that when we have a family, we will transition to a system where we deposit our pay checks into the joint account and transfer out a % to our own checking accounts for personal spending, since we will have kid expenses to consider as well!

ETA: DH is now on my insurance, so some of the extra he pays is to cover the increased premium cost of having him on my plan. Its still WAY better than the insurance he had from his job!

I moved into FH's house, and he pays the bills (rent, taxes, utilities). We both ave our cars paid off, and he has a small amount of student debt (will be paid off this year or early next). I don't work full time, so my paychecks go into savings, and to pay for incidentals - like wedding deposits, doggy day care, etc. We're planning to combine finances either before or shortly after the wedding - so it's really all pulling from the same pot of money anyway.

DH pays his and our joint bills (rent, utilities). I'm a full-time student, so my school loans and part-time/work-study earnings pay my car insurance, gas, tuition and school-related expenses, plus my health insurance because it was cheaper than adding me to DH's. I am also *trying* to pay off my bar prep course. We will probably have to take some money out of DH's savings to pay all the other bar-related costs.

My fiance makes much more than I do, but we split it 60/40. For us we can have nicer things that way.

I am not married yet but we do have a joint checking account. Basically all the money goes in and we pay our bills. I make quite a bit more than him but I figure it's just our money now. What is the point of splitting it all up?

When we get married and I go on his health insurance we will definitely split it...right now I'm paying nothing (still on my parents, as is our son) so I think that splitting it equally for us would make sense...I'll just add it to the money i give him for bills..

We have a joint account as well. We pay everything from this. While I was unsure about doing this at first it has cut back on my unnecessary purchases. We agreed to ask before purchasing anything not deemed vital. I don't buy a lot of crap I don't need now, because I take that second to think 'do I really need this?'

Were putting a certain percentage of our pay in a joint account and paying joint expenses that way, while also building a touch of a joint savings. We both have car loans and student loan debt that we don't want to pull from joint money for, so this way we can do both.

We aren't married yet either but have a joint bank account. We talk about purchases over x dollars. But I mean it is all our money.

We split everything, and will continue to do so after we get married. He pays the mortgage and utilities, I pay for the groceries and things the kids needs. Personal bills are kept separate. It's worked for us, why change it. I do also give him some extra $ since his portion of the bills is more than what I pay.

Also, I will be putting him on my insurance once I start my new job in October, and he'll be giving me some $ towards that.