But where's the cut-off? 20k, 50k, 100k?
So would you/do you pay an allowance to your partner if/when she takes time off to have kids etc..?
I think that would come under the umbrella of family expenses that would need to be paid into the joint account.
Three very different situations being talked about in this thread though, relationship, marriage, and kids.
I have been married for coming on 14 years and even before we were married my wife and I always shared our income.
In short it all went into one pot. We each had a debit card and could access the funds as easily as each other.
I did not keep tabs on her spending, and she did not on mine.
When I was employed I always earned a lot more than her but our view was that it I was poor, so was she, and if I was rich, she was as well.
After we had children my wife had to leave her work to become a FT mum and we still maintained the same viewpoint, despite her income being ZERO.
It is clear though that for some couples that there is a 'mine and yours' mentality. Both partners would have their salaries go into differing bank accounts which only they could access, then they would both standing order an amount into a 'house' bank account. This amount could be the same as each other, or they could decide how they want to split financial responsibility.
It always seemed a strange setup to me, but I have enough friends and acquaintances who do the 'split' thing that makes me think that perhaps it is my view that is out dated?
Interesting to get a few views on this.
I guess it comes down to your definition of "shared expenses". It doesn't have to mean equal.
I'm not sure what you mean - by shared expenses I mean bills, mortgages, food etc.. i.e. spending on day to day things that are shared by both.
I got the impression that when some where talking about shared bills they were referring to 50/50 split of costs.
I'm talking about one partner who ends up without an income and asking what happens in the scenario of them both having maintained joint accounts and a shared account for shared expenses etc..
doe the other partner pay an allowance to the one without an income (due to kids, redundancy etc..)?
The one answer I've had so far is that they'd pay into the joint account though I'm not sure what that means in terms of disposable spending - does the joint account then get used for more than shared expenses?
If we were in that situation I would pay the joint account and my wife separately. Currently I transfer more to the joint to ensure we both have (give or take) the same disposable each month.