Hi friends, just wanted to know how you maintain household finance. I believed in joint assets, joint accounts and never bothered too much on petty expenses. Never wanted to burden ourselves too much with home loan for years and therefore decided to go for premature closure of home loan account , got cars with 70 percent cash and a small amount of loan. I tell my husband to deposit a fixed amount of money as savings and then never bothered about how he spends the remaining amount. Never check his credit cards, or how much he spends on his friends etc, because I'm not so efficient in handling minute details. I just realized he has ample to spend and is doing so mostly on his freeloader friends. How do you handle your family finance. Is it good to burden them with heavier loan and block available cash?....Is it advisable to check credit cards statements, we never know they might go for n number of credit cards. How to track?
Invest in something big...like property or something that will need a major part of the free money.Since he likes to spend ...make sure the investment is in both your names. Take a loan that will be within your capacity to pay back with a little effort. Also...invest something for the child's education....like a recurring deposit that will at the end of a year be made into a long Term FD. If you don't have pension benefits...then invest in a retirement plan. You can talk it over with husband if he is the kind who will follow a structured plan....if he is not willing...then start these one at a time. Look around for some property that looks good ,practical and within reach after taking a biggish loan. Try to get together with people who have made smart investments...sometimes that helps.
YellowMango is right... - If your DH is a spendthrift, it is better to maintain separate accounts. - Block his money by taking a long term investment like House, property etc and let him pay the EMI. Let him also take the expenses of children's education, Car loan etc. - On the other hand, our savings should be used for savings, annual holidays, wedding gifts etc. Most important is to do these arrangements by convincing him via smart methods and do not drag the subject to long arguments / fights. Mutual respect / understanding shall be there.
We have investment plans, retirement plan’s, mortgages, bills, daycare and education plans. Now, factoring all these, we do not have too much money to play around. Having said that, once you keep aside certain money every month, its OK to spend as you see fit. Just make sure your long term financial goals are being catered to and you are OK. As for me, I do check all the credit cards, not because I don’t trust him but because in the past there were few transactions on the card which neither of us made.
There is nothing wrong in joint assets, joint accounts as long as you are comfortable. and still believe. when believe tends to become believed it is better to be more careful. because that small niggle tends to dampen and rot the basic foundation. If you are a resident indian, a home loan could help in taxes. going by the comforts, the savings and the spending, you seem to be in a comfortable bracket and will have a tax payment. so by investing in a property, you can channelise a part of the income. how do you arrive at the fixed amount. please do check on the income flow, and then work out the expenditures, the monthly and the annual, and then plan your savings. and what savings deposit is it.. and also know what is the remaining amount. to trust is a different and to be aware of things is different. . you don't need to be efficient. not all are born efficient to handle minute details. the details feel huge as long as you don't try. why don't you sit with your husband, bring all the accounts, the cards on to the table. cancel what is more and keep the minimum. i agree that many have credit cards because of various reasons like your company, the points. but you don't need more. i know my husband has just one credit card, and manages his payments to avoid interests. i have a debit card and don't like credit cards (spend only what you have is my policy). going for a heavier loan for what purpose?? just to keep from spending. instead look at how to make smart investments, where you need to pay..make it an ECS, where the cash is debited from the a/c as is the case with other payments. you can have recurring deposits, sip's, fixed deposits, flexi deposits to which you can siphon off some of the excess. Since you feel he spends more with his friends. set an allowance above which he can't spend in a month. all this with mutual agreement without tempers, without any ego clash. there are lots of apps that make your budgeting and keeping track easy. all the best.