Will be walking the plank soon enough...question regarding finances though How did you set up joint finances? Did you do it as a one big pool with everyone contributing? Or separate bank accounts for each, with one joint one? Or some other way? Won't be doing a pre-nump, even though it was suggested. Advice?
1. One common bank account where her pay check goes in and you can track 2. A separate bank account for yourself (your pre-marriage account) where your pay check goes in and you get to spend on bottles and models with no questions asked
Easy peezy. Spend a few hours at the bank and they'll get it worked out for you. Joint everything, I recommend at least a checking for payments and a savings account where you can deposit some extra. We just opened a money market account as well, because whytf not? The interest is still doodoo but it's better than any other accounts. I've also shied away from credit cards for years but recently found a chase one that works well for us. We keep it paid off but use it to get some 5% cashback purchases because whytf not? Build that credit amigo. Also congrats. People who rag on marriage are always divorced or on their way to it. Be happy, shout that **** from the tops of mountains.
Joint bank account. There is no more "my money and her money". It's all both of y'alls money. The quicker you get on the same page with finances, the better. This should be a conversation BEFORE marriage, as money and money issues are the #1 cause of divorce. I highly recommend y'all get on a written budget TOGETHER. Literally write up a budget. The vast majority of people DON'T do this. However those that do..say they feel like they've gotten a raise. If you track and actually know where every penny goes, you can start to make your money work for you instead of watching your bank account drain. If you pm me your email, I can send you a great pdf of a tracking sheet to use. Or, there are many websites that will help you with this like https://www.mint.com Good luck and best wishes with the marriage.
Depends on the relationship. We had a joint account only for years, because my wife had issues bouncing checks out of her separate account, so she closed it. Back then she only occasionally worked, so she didn't bring much in financially. That was stressful, and I did not work well, but was really a necessity for me to protect her from herself. After she became an RN, we setup an agreement where the first $1250 of her check went to joint, and the remainder went to her separate account. Now she has 2 jobs, one goes into her account, the other into the joint. We use the joint to pay all our bills. I use my business bank account to infuse the personal account for large purchases and to pay off debt beyond our regular payments.
No idea, but finance stuffs is the #1 reason for divorce. Make sure to get it settled super well before walking down the aisle.
Good System Joint for the BIlls and Joint Items and Personal account for daily life BS like Gas, lunch , etc. IF you have any personal bills it comes out of here Rocket River
Sounds like you have decided the prenup question, which is fine. I was married once without our own prenup and am about to get married again without our own prenup, so I don't necessarily think you need your own. The reason for the word emphasis is that people don't think clearly about prenups - everyone has one - it is the one the state has already decided for you and that a judge who doesn't know you may interpret for you. If you decide to agree on your own prenup, you are only deciding that you and your future spouse would rather decide important questions about money and custody in the event of a divorce, rather than have the state and some judge who doesn't know you decide for you. Just a different perspective; something to think about. One other thing. Assuming you trust each other (!), you should each keep at least one separate credit card. You each should have your own separate credit if you divorce. Good luck!
You definitely need to talk it through with your SO. We talked about it way before we got married and established what money goes where and how much should go in it. Then we would adjust how much goes in the joint account depending on bills or salary increases or vice versa. We have a shared bank account and our own separate ones. Majority of our paychecks go to the shared. Since we already established our monthly costs/budget along with putting money towards savings, we've allotted ourselves a little extra spending money for ourselves or for each other and that stays in our individual accounts. Shared bank account covers: bills/groceries/vacations/house related/savings/going out to eat/anything "joint". Basically the pool of money in the shared is far more than what's in my individual account. Individual account is easier to hide that my ****** ate Whataburger when we "tried" to go vegetarian.
Married for 22 years... We've always had joint accounts. I've known other couples who have had separate accounts and didn't experience any problems (I think. Ya never really know what goes on behind closed doors).
Thanks guys! My POV is that everything becomes one, so it should be one account (even the I make several times more, it's just my philosophy).
There's still going to be some things you might not want her to know about though (not in a cheating-on-your-wife way). I would think it smarter to have a joint account that each contributes to -- if you ever need to get buy something off the radar, you will still have that ability.
She wasn't working when we got married, so I just kind of started adding her to my accounts. I still have a savings that she doesn't have access to (because I'm a bigger saver than she is), and she rarely even looks at the accounts. She just kind of assumes we have the money. I'm a CPA, so I kind of naturally take over that aspect of the marriage. I've gone over the budget and stuff with her before (and showed her how to look at everything), but she hardly does. I didn't marry her for her money skills, so this was kind of expected.
There is no right answer. Different strokes for different folks. Some people need their own private account(s). Something they can say is their money that they can spend as they see fit. I will say that you should especially be careful with credit cards. Credit cards will let you get into a world of pain (part of their business model). Husband and wife need eyes on all credit card bills. Good luck.
When I got married both of us moved our money into a joint account and only used that for everything. When we got divorced we split what was in there and went back to our own accounts. During the marriage we were both responsible financially and lived within our budget. I am not sure how I would handle it in the future if somehow I got married again. I would probably keep the existing single accounts as is and just create a joint account. Question is how much of my income should I contribute to that account. Just to cover bills? What about vacations? Seems like too much of "you pay for this..i will pay for that.." Maybe backwards..take X % out and put that in my single account and contribute the rest towards the joint.. What if she makes double what I make or vice versa? how does everyone handle that? My ex made slightly more than me and she didn't care.
Depending on you and your Mrs. Joint seems to be safest way. I converted my account into a joint. We share everything. Honesty is the best policy, we talk about everything before purchases that aren’t food, gas, necessities.
