Reasonable people on both sides of the, “combined finances” debate have valid reasons why combining your finances with your significant other is a good (or bad) idea.
Right now the boyfriend and I have completely separate finances. Because we’re not married, we both have our own bank accounts and we don’t “mingle money”. Last year we bought a condo together, but other than the condo, our financial lives are not cohabiting.
- I Pay: The condo fee, the storage bill, and the grocery bill
- He Pays: The gas bill, the electric bill, the cable/Internet bill, the garage fee and car insurance (the car was his, but it was ruined during Sandy ugg)
- We Pay: Each of us pay a percentage of the monthly mortgage payment. Each of us pay our own cell phone bills, credit card bills, and personal expenses/anything extra we want to buy.
The bf makes more money then me, so his percentage of the mortgage payment is higher than mine (our own version of an income payment plan-my budget is here). At first I felt kind of weird about this. But we’re both OK with it, and I think it makes sense. If I made more than him, I’d be happy to pay the larger percentage. He’s much more established in his career and I expect that my income will come up a lot of the course of my career.
Right now we’re both fine with keeping our finances separate. Maybe when we get married we’ll set up a joint bank account, but for now we’re both OK with having our own accounts.
Do you share finances/have joint accounts with your significant other? Do you think we should combine our accounts when we get married?
Image: Tax Credit