As a couple do you split the costs down the middle for bills and vacations. How do you handle your financial?

Natalie: As a couple do you split the costs down the middle for bills and vacations. How do you handle your financial?
arrangement? We take turns paying the restaurant bill. Even if it is a cup of coffee we split that. We split everything despite our income levels, vacations, all of it is split evenly.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Pearl
That all sounds a bit like score-keeping.

All our money goes into one pot, it has since we moved in together 21 years ago and everything is paid from it.

We have never had an argument over money.

Answer by Darcy
We put all our money into a joint account and pay bills etc.. from that account.
It’s not about his money and my money…we are a couple and we share..

Answer by Me Me
We are married. It all goes in one pot and we share nicely.

Answer by Love Life
everything is together. All money goes into one pot, all bill paid from there. all savings investments are done together except we have separate Roths

Answer by Liliukalana
Jesus Christ that sounds awful. Why are you nickel and diming each other? Are you a couple or a transaction?

If you’re married then that is the craziest, stupidest way to run a marriage I’ve ever heard of. Create one bank account, deposit your paychecks into it, and make joint decisions about how to spend and save your money.

If you’re not married then it is less crazy, but still, I would never date someone who kept such strict tabs on who paid what for when how and why. Seriously, what a way to kill my love. For big ticket items like vacations, I could see writing one person a check for my half, or even better saying “I can only afford this much for a vaca this year, so either we stay home or you pay more than half.”

Answer by Jonny B
There is no right or wrong answer to this. It all depends on how wealthy you are, but since wealthy people have better things to do with their time, I will assume that you aren’t rich.

My wife and I just put our money into one pot.
My sister and her husband split everything. They even had separate savings.

Whatever works for you is the right answer. Just don’t try and hide things. The judge at your divorce will hang you out to dry.

Answer by Dove
It all depends on what you two decide. Personally the more that makes the most money should pay more. It sounds like the both of you are not ready to be a couple.

Answer by A74M98A00
For me this was a big mistake…
The way it was intented by God is for man to provide for his home and the woman to be a homemaker… Okay, times have changed but i can tell you that i have friends and know of couples where the man takes the lead financially and if the woman works they put it in to a single account that they both share and discuss the needs as they come.

This is part of my ruined marriage, he got used to it and after a while it was more like a roommate than a marriage, so bad that in the end i provided for the kids and me and he just spent on him.

Answer by Connor
I am good with money, my partner is not. I even enrolled him in some money management courses he just isn’t good with money. We each have our own separate checking and savings accounts and one joint one at a different bank. This joint account pays all of the household expenses.

Answer by Mike
As a couple we put everything in one account. Whats mine is hers and whats hers is mine. When I want a few bucks I take it out and she does the same.

Answer by Al B
You should each have your own money and a checking account and them perhaps an account in both of your names for money you put in for things like bills and vacations and the like. Look online and you can find a free home budget that will help you track who is spending money for what. You will drive your selves crazy trying to worry about who pays for what but a good balance sheet will make it easier to see who should pay for what as far as major things and you can keep your separate money for personal expenses.

Answer by Evil Penguin
Regardless of how much each of you makes, I would say combining everything is the best and fairest way to go.

My husband has a huge student loan but our combined money goes toward it each month. Car payments are joint, the car is ours, not mine or his. We pay rent on the home we share from our joint account.

The point of being married is to be together and to be willing to share everything you have. In times when one of you might be unemployed, it would be very stressful if you still had to pay your share, even when you had no income. This would undoubtedly lead to arguments!

If the issue is having spends for things you or your partner want to buy, that can be resolved by setting up one joint account, and then a separate account for each of you. This way, you can budget to take a portion of your joint incomes for your separate accounts, meaning you can still buy stuff for yourself (or Christmas presents for your wife/husband) without taking from your joint funds.

Being able to completely share everything with your partner is half the fun of being a couple, and in the long run, combining your accounts will make it much less stressful!

Answer by dvnt1
No, we don’t. We view my money and his money as OUR money. So in the end, no matter who picks up the tab, it was still paid with our money.

We’ve never had one fight about money either. But we discuss everything and have a game plan we both adhere to. If you’re not on the same page about finances, doing it the way we do might not work well for everyone.

Answer by rock of ages
As a couple we do that to.