Best way to pay for things as a couple ? Joint accounts ect?

Sestrooper on 22/01/2017 - 15:59
Last edited 24/01/2017 - 18:00

**not married, young professionals who are taking the next step of our relationship and moving in together **

Just moved in with the missus! Just wanting to see how people in similar situations are managing funds. We're trying to work out how to pay for things roughly 50% each (like groceries, things for the house ect).

Now the simple option, which my partner is wanting to do is to just open a Joint account and pay everything with that eftpos card that we use. However I have always paid with my credit cards (amex and visa) to maximize points/savings, so naturally I dont want to miss out on this!

What I have thought of so far…

  1. For woolworths shopping: Buy bulk amount of woolworths giftcards through cash rewards with one of our amex cards to get points and save some $$, and divide this by 50% (simple bank transfer to pay for this)
    2 For non woolies stuff: Use my amex and have her as a supplementary holder to still get points and go through the statements (she doesn't have her own amex yet).
    3.For places that don't accept amex, use our own visa cards to pay for this and again keep a trace of the payments and divide by 50%. (unless there is another joint visa credit card to use?).

She has suggested using an app like splitwise to make it easier to work out payments which would be using our own cards and paying each other at the end of the month.

Any thoughts? Not sure there is any easier way to do this other than one person having to transfer the other to pay off an account if we dont just purely use a savings account.

Cheers!

Edit
- we are not at the point of putting our funds together into one account. This would be a couple years down the line. For now just wanting to roughly contribute equally to living expenses.
-both on similar incomes so no issues there.

Financial

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 26/01/2017 - 09:05

    Have a joint account and stop looking at who spends more. Me and my partner dont restrict each other with anything. We have a mutual respect of telling each other if we are buying something expensive.

  • clement1986 on 26/01/2017 - 17:17

    Mate,

    Get a marriage certificate and use joint account……Easiest

    Or take turns to pay bills monthly, provided the bills tend to be similar. As to who should pay the first month, there is something called 'flip-the-coin' strategy.

  • Lord Ra on 30/01/2017 - 13:49

    Follow the 50-20-30 rule, as a guideline. Works well.
    What I intend on doing (just got married, she isn't working yet)is to take the total paycheck, minus all overheads, put aside some for savings/rainy day/future, the balance is split in half & we both get 50\50.

    Here's one from Forbes

    Hmmm, can't get the code to work.
    But just my two pennies.

  • boostpak on 31/07/2018 - 13:46

    So what happened in the end mate? how did it all go

  • danielh on 31/07/2018 - 15:37

    What I do with my wife is that I have a CC from my home loan (NAB) which I gave her a subsidiary to. Any expenditure for 'us' is via those cards and personal expenses are via our personal accounts. I also created a joint account that we both can access which is used to pool the provided cash (and provide a small emergency float). This joint account is then used to pay off the NAB bills each month.

    At the end of the month we cross check to see that every expense on the NAB account is correct and then pay it off 50/50 split.

    It gets slightly more complicated if one of us has a new personal CC and we need to do $3000 in a particular timeframe but the system works for us.

    FYI, we both earn a reasonable amount and so we are happy to do the 50/50 thing. Situations will of course change if one person is looking after children etc but this works for my DINK situation.

    • boostpak on 01/08/2018 - 08:21

      that sounds so over complicated, how long are you going to keep counting the correct 50/50 split? till you are 70 lol it wont work

      • danielh on 01/08/2018 - 11:55

        Been 10 years so far with no issues. As a DINK it makes things easy for us.

        Basically:
        1. Look at the Nab CC bill (to make sure that there are no incorrect transactions), see that it is X amount
        2. Divide that by half
        3. Pay it into the joint account for auto payment

        • boostpak on 02/08/2018 - 09:59

          yeah wait till kids come into the occasion and you have a 2 year old 5 year old and 8 year old are you going to be chasing up 50% equal share each month lol

        • danielh on 02/08/2018 - 10:42

          @boostpak: Yes, agree but that is why I specifically mentioned that I am (as with the OP) in a DINK situation. If there are any kids then the financial situation will most likely revert to the traditional one person bearing 90%+ of the finances until the other party gets back on their feet but then again it will most likely stay at the 90%+ zone anyway.

          As for my personal situation, we do not intend to have children and are at the age where if we DO, it would be a pretty good medical miracle. The 50:50 option will most likely be still working for us up until we retire.

  • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 10:51

    Can easily spot the people on this thread who have too much trust in people. Bills and shared costs are 50/50. Anything else is kept in that person's own savings account which the opposite party doesn't have access to. Living together doesn't mean I need to hand over all my hard earned $.

    Just remember men, the more she knows you have, the more she'll try to take if she leaves you.

    • syousef on 01/08/2018 - 12:22
      +1

      If you have kids you give a damn about, there's going to be more to be depressed about than losing your $. Nothing in life is guaranteed. How well you choose your partner, and how lucky you are that you and your partner continue to get along and work at the relationship despite the crap life throws at you is key to happiness.

      • [Deactivated] on 01/08/2018 - 13:53
        -1

        Exactly, so why not take the extra steps to ensure what you've worked for is at least partially protected.

        • syousef on 01/08/2018 - 16:21
          +1

          Because that protection is an illusion.

        • IMadeYouReadThis on 02/08/2018 - 11:51

          @Nurries - Everyone speak from their experience or from what they have seen - no one is right or wrong here. Do what you believe is good for you, your spouse and your family (nothing else matters).

  • shags21 on 02/08/2018 - 18:09

    We’re getting paid at a ratio of 3:2.

    We each deposit 75% of our earnings per fortnight into a joint offset account which pays off our credit card and supplementary card which pays for bills and meals and entertainments.

    I take care of the 75% and how it’s split into savings and bills.

    We keep the 25% for ourselves each fortnight for our own shopping and presents to each other etc.

    The % changes depending on your combined income. And this was only calculated after a year of living together and determining our spending and budgets.

    Don’t have to split things 50/50 but since you earn the same it’s pretty much 50/50 when u deposit this much. But with this it feels like you’re both contributing equally. And because we’re both health professionals we pick up more overtime and calls and it feels nicer knowing we get some spending money for ourselves for the extra work we put in.

  • donbot on 03/08/2018 - 08:51

    We're getting paid at a ratio of 2:1. Fixed income - no overtime.

    We each deposit 100% of earnings into joint offset account, which pays everything (mortgage/savings/rates/insurance/car maintenance/grocery/holidays via credit cards) except discretionary (personal) spend. For that, we each take a fixed figure into personal debit card each week to spend on whatever we like. Fuel is the only 'living' expense paid for individually… dunno why, just is.

    I dont see what she spends it on and dont care - and likewise for me. If she wants to blow $300 on a pair of shoes she's saved for, then so be it. She doesnt feel bad like she's spending all our money, and I dont care cos its her cash to do what she wants with.

    Our incomes are never going to be equal, so splitting 50/50 is rubbish IMHO. We both work equally as much (me maybe a bit more OT). But doing it this way means we we're both rewarded equally for our work efforts.

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