spending ratio between the working couples

At my home, we run the home with my salary and keep husband's salary for investments. All cheques are issued from my bank account. This is like this since our marriage, as my husband had to leave his job from a reputed organisation because of the frequent transfers. He has a joined in a good position but in a small company in order to live with the family.

Though we are using his money for tax savings, I find mostly 0 balance in my account. He never interfers in money matters but I want to find out what should be the ideal rdeal

Hi Tanmayi!

I was taken aback for a moment with ur question! Does it really matter?
In fact when I heard abt. couples (Americans) shelling out equal amt. of money for month to month exp. I was suprised!
In our case, we just spend, his, mine, all the same I guess! Ultimately, its ours, right?

Hi Tanmayi,

When you have complete trust, you do not differenctiate as my money and your money as long as you know that Money is not spent by your spouse in unwanted ways.

The best option is to have joint accounts and manage them together.

Regards
anu

Originally Posted by anukvs

Hi Tanmayi,

When you have complete trust, you do not differenctiate as my money and your money as long as you know that Money is not spent by your spouse in unwanted ways.

The best option is to have joint accounts and manage them together.

Regards
anu

Hi,
I agree with Anu, it is better to have a commom 'operational' account.
You can fix a % of salary to be taken from ur hubby's and ur account and put it in the common account after budgeting on how much will be required for house hold expense as well as all other investments/loans.
The remaining % of money in ur account as well as ur hubby's account can be used for ur personal expense like buying something u like which does not come into the house hold expense. In this way, u will keep a check on what u buy personally so that u dont spend all the money remaining in ur account. And also apart from the house hold and other expense, the remaining amount in the operational account can go into savings.
Also, after some months if the money in ur personal account keeps mounting, then u can put that also as savings.

My hubby always complained that i am not a proper money manager. So just now started following this and he is happy that i am matured enough to handle money

This is a good way to keep a check on ur personal shopping and also a way for good savings. Hope u find this useful!!!

ANK, perhaps I did not put it right. As I said my husband has left all the money matters to me and it is how I am actually handling considering my job security and more importantly to give him more flexibility on his career front. My husband is very intellectual but not interested in money dealings so I keep introspecting myself on the decisions.

Ofcourse, I also feel bad at times, when I have to request him repeatedly to sign a particular cheque, which he keeps on postpone due to his tight schedule during the weekdays and lazyness during the weekends.

It is actually a question asked with curiousity and ofcourse not actually to differentiate.

Tanmayi

hi all,

i too agree with others..in my house too everything is joint....we deposit the cheques in diff accounts..take and spend from diff accounts...all investments are in joint names...it was my husbands decision right from the time of our marriage...

mindi

Originally Posted by tanmayi

ANK, perhaps I did not put it right. As I said my husband has left all the money matters to me and it is how I am actually handling considering my job security and more importantly to give him more flexibility on his career front. My husband is very intellectual but not interested in money dealings so I keep introspecting myself on the decisions.

Ofcourse, I also feel bad at times, when I have to request him repeatedly to sign a particular cheque, which he keeps on postpone due to his tight schedule during the weekdays and lazyness during the weekends.

It is actually a question asked with curiousity and ofcourse not actually to differentiate.

Tanmayi

No Probs. dear! All of us have different thought process. And I can understand ur confusion, as to whether u r handling it right. My advice would also be to create a joint account, transfer a part of ur earnings and hubby's earnings into it, and do the bill paying from there. All this should be done (I feel) depending on how hubby dear takes it! All men are not the same, and its important to know how he thinks before u suggest anything. Do not hurt his ego if he is a sensitive soul! If he is an understanding and open natured person, it might go well with him and he will take it in the right sense. But if he is not that open and has a diff. attitude, then...... So do think and take a decision!

Originally Posted by tanmayi

At my home, we run the home with my salary and keep husband's salary for investments. All cheques are issued from my bank account. This is like this since our marriage, as my husband had to leave his job from a reputed organisation because of the frequent transfers. He has a joined in a good position but in a small company in order to live with the family.

Though we are using his money for tax savings, I find mostly 0 balance in my account. He never interfers in money matters but I want to find out what should be the ideal rdeal

I do agree with other ladies that keep Joint acct is good Fin mgt. Bcoz, see in my case it is not the prob of trust but v both wanted a financially organized plan for our family. before i started working, its only single income, there is no way to save atleast certail % of money.in addition to tht all Credit card usage and payments like wise....
When it came to 2 incomes, obviously in order to utilize and cut down unnecessary expenses v planned to save 1 income and all expensed shud be from 2nd income. In this way u plan and manage paying CC bills, expenses by end of the month atleast v know saving one's income.
If u doesn't care neither income seperately, there is no way u know where is all money going and tht may sometimes may increase monthly unnecessary expenses also...

Having preplan all the time definately work if v implement correctly....

Chitti.

Tanmayi, since both of you are earning...i think you should plan accordingly that you get the best benefit of tax. In our case...some cheques go from my husband's account and some from mine. Also since the salary is depositied directly in our personal account we don't have any joint account.

Almost all the finance things are handled by my husband not only ours but the entire family i.e my in-laws too but we also maintain a log on all the cheques issued from each account...so whenever i wnat to i can know from the log where my finance has been utilised.

Using one person's salary for all the expenses and the others for all investments is not a very wise decision. All the outgoings should be equally divided or proportionately divided.

Also, it is important to be worldly wise while dealing in finance. This dosen't mean that you don't trust your spouse...but it is always better to play safe...we don't know our future.

A very nice topic : what i do is - we have a joint operational account though our salaries goes to different banks, I am now married for 2.5yrs and am able to somewhat manage money ..+ monthly expenses
I follow this :
1. Arrive on a monthly budget, some of line items are fixed ( like your Home EMI some credit card dues, SIP's etc)
2. Always keep aside some % money for monthly for unexpected expenses
3. shop 2months for grocery this way i save money ..
4. read a lot of Money control magzines to get me educated on investment etc, my husband also helps me in this.
5. we also yearly plan for our travel ( like keep aside every quarter some little X% for our leisure vacation travel within india
5. any extra incentive that my DH gets it goes onto the Bonus fund for repaying our loans etc. or buying gold etc. this way i have been planning and its seem to work good for me..

with all this systematic routine, yet some time you miss the budget line .. so the mantra is keep your goal strong..

keep your mails flowing .. on this , its very informative for most of us .. and any advise from the senior Ilites will help..

best ,
Meenags