money / bank accounts /isa's and shares

hargi

hargi

hargi

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19 Jul 2006
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1,847
Got a few questions so though it better to wrap it all up in one post.

Looking at buying a house so sat down last night and went through what we bring in and what we pay out ( made a spreadsheet and everything) Turns out that we waste a lot of money on rubbish. So we have planned what we can afford to pay on a mortgage and food etc.
At the mow we have a bank account each and we kinda split the bills and pay them from our accounts.
We want to start paying bills from a joint account. So is the best idea to have wages coming into our separate accounts then move all this to a joint account?
how do you guys do it?
Ho do you guys handle bills that come up quarterly or yearly rather than monthly

If our numbers are correct then we should have a bit of spare money that id like to invest rather than have laying about and get spent on rubbish. So thinking about setting up an ISA is this a good idea?

How much money do you need to start with shares? and how much does it cost to buy them admin fee's and that?

TIA
 
Personally my partner and I have a joint account - although I am the sole earner. All my wages go in and all outgoing, including mortgage come out of that account. We do not have seperate current accounts. The money 'spare' each money I would put into a savings account for now until you're familiar with monthly outgoing in your new environment. The trouble with sticking it in an ISA at this stage is that it's not quite as accessible should you get desperate.
 
Basher said:
Personally my partner and I have a joint account - although I am the sole earner. All my wages go in and all outgoing, including mortgage come out of that account. We do not have seperate current accounts. The money 'spare' each money I would put into a savings account for now until you're familiar with monthly outgoing in your new environment. The trouble with sticking it in an ISA at this stage is that it's not quite as accessible should you get desperate.
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This is what I would do.

Other options, amongst my colleagues here, is to have an account each, and then syphon x amount of money per month into a joint account. Everything bought for 'the house' (i.e. bills, food, petrol) comes from the joint account, everything else comes from separate account (make up, dvds, prostitutes etc). Some also have a savings account each, and a joint ISA (greater allowance). Seems a little too anal-retentive for me.
 
Me and the Mrs have our own seperate accounts (which we get paid into) and also a joint account. We put a fixed amount into the joint account each month which covers the mortgage, bills and our savings. whats left in our own accounts we use for our own nights out, take aways etc.

With the quarterly bills we simply divide by 4 giving the monthly value of the bill and make sure that amount is put away in the joint account monthly, therefore covering the bill when it comes out.

Most of our savings are currently tied up in isa's, shares and alike - last week we stuck 5k in a 8% deal that HSBC are currently doing (isa i think). One thing though and we learn't this the hard way, always make sure that you don't tie up all of your savings, its easy to get carried away putting cash in high APR investments and savings accounts where you tie your cash up for 12+ months without thinking about situations where you may need a cash injection.

The last thing you want is a situation where you need to pay out x amount which was unexpected but all your money is tied up in shares, isa's and bonds etc.
 
Hello

look into instant access cash ISA's, you should be able to get 3.2%.

stocks and shares are on a knife edge at the moment so risky imo.

We went for a joint bank account because it's easier to keep track of.

Also, no one seems to have any real idea as to what interest rates and house prices are going to do so err on the side of caution.

As usual, do loads of research and come to your own conclusions.
 
ISA and savings accounts are what you need.
Stocks and shares are for long term savings / planning (10-20years).

What happens if you suddenly find a house that you want, but your shares have dropped 10%, can you wait 1-2 years for your shares to recover.. will the house still be there!

Joint account is a good way to pay the bills, i have a Direct debit to pay money from my acc into it each month, the wife does the same.
 
Thanks for the advice guys,
The stocks and shares option was really a long shot option, think the ISA and savings account is the way we will be going.

It was the bank accounts that was bothering me on how to work through the cash flow with that. I like that idea of setting up a DD from my account to a joint account
 
depends how disciplined you are with money. we went down the joint account route some time ago before we owned our own house and it was a nightmare! we'd work out what we needed to put in it to cover bills yet my mrs would always pop to the supermarket and spend cash from the joint account that would take us over the limit and mean payments were bouncing like a kids at a spacehopper convention. it was a mess.

i got so sick of it that i binned it, and now she pays a set amount of cash into my account every month which covers mortgage, council tax and other bills. i take care of all house expenses basically from my account, whatever she has left is hers to do what she will with.

it's not the most efficient way to do things as my current account effectively acts as a savings account, but it is the easiest way I've found to ensure everything gets paid. with a child on the way we'll (have to) revisit this soon, but I'll still remain in control of it!
 
Basher said:
Just out of interest - why do those that are in serious relationships/married have seperate bank accounts?
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Why not :confused: Just because people have commited long term does not mean they have to be joined in every way. Most couples I know where both work have seperate accounts as well as a joint one. Wages gets paid into seperate accounts and a DD goes from there to joint to cover joint costs.
 
We have separate ones as thats were our pay goes. we do have a shared one which we used to save up for the holidays for.
 
I live on my own, but I have a main account which my pay goes into. On that account I then have a standing order set up into my bills account (same bank, £1000). All my house bills come out of that, which leaves me to decide how much money I put into my ISA/savings (after I have paid my Credit Card).
 
hood1971 said:
Why not :confused: Just because people have commited long term does not mean they have to be joined in every way. Most couples I know where both work have seperate accounts as well as a joint one. Wages gets paid into seperate accounts and a DD goes from there to joint to cover joint costs.
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Ok, I was more thinking marriage. I understand the logistics of having two and one to pay joint stuff, but I trust my partner so I see no reason to have more than one.
 
Basher said:
Ok, I was more thinking marriage. I understand the logistics of having two and one to pay joint stuff, but I trust my partner so I see no reason to have more than one.
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I know some couples use separate accounts to control the flow of money better. Some people seem to be less able to control what they spend so having separate accounts works to help with that.
 
leaskovski said:
I live on my own, but I have a main account which my pay goes into. On that account I then have a standing order set up into my bills account (same bank, £1000). All my house bills come out of that, which leaves me to decide how much money I put into my ISA/savings (after I have paid my Credit Card).
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Is it only you paying into the bills account :confused:
 
It allows me to control what money I have access to on a daily basis as I don't carry a debit card for that account, plus it is another way of building a buffer up for any repairs around the house.
 
We both have our own accounts where our wages go. We then have a joint account where we pay in so much each per month (ratio of what we take home). The joint account is used to pay mortgage/bills etc. We tend to use a cashback credit card for shopping and this is paid off fully each month from the shared account.

If you want to invest then you could have another account and pay so much into that each month. Leave this for 6 mths -12mths to make sure you havent overlooked other bills (council tax, tv licence or holidays) then use this for investing/saving/over paying mortgage etc.

We are married but had seperate accounts before and have just kept them. It makes it easier and you don't feel like you have to run every purchase past her indoors. If your spending mostly from the joint account as well it can provide a bit of a buffer if some other bills crop up.
 
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