Not sure why the 50/50 with seperate accounts or an allowence are getting such a bad rap. I don't think it matters how you do your finances, just so long as you find a way that works for both of you.
My wife and I have 2 other "couples" that are our friends. Both are married. One couple has a completely shared account. The other couple is completely seperate finances. Both of them have their financial issues within their relationships. We do as well, but over the last year since we've gotten ahead and laid done some expectations and such our issues are nearly non existant.
Out of the 3 couples my wife and I make the least amount of money. We are however, the most financially stable of the bunch. We are the only one to own our own house, and carry zero debt outside of our mortgage.
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Originally Posted by Ashartus
For those who keep separate accounts and split living expenses - how would you handle one of you going on maternity/parental leave or otherwise having little or no income for an extended period?
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We already have a plan in place. We realistically cannot survive on just one income. We could but we'd literally have no entertainment money. Gotta have some fun, right? So our plan is that my wife would use up all of her mat leave time and then pick up a part time job. We don't want our children in daycare at such a young age. She'd work as a waitress 2 - 3 times a week in the evening. She's done it before, she's a social butterfly and likes doing it. I come home she goes to work. I get quality alone time with our child, and she goes out and gets to contribute to the family income and gets some time out of the house. Win Win. Don't worry that wont be her only away time from the house. I'm not a savage!
Currently we both make the same amount of money. Obviously our income levels would be different once she is on mat leave and then later working part time. So we've decided that at that time we'll have all our money pool into the joint account and keep an open dialogue about purchases. She says she realizes that when this happens she wont be able to splurge on clothing. I'll have to buy less toys and I also realize that my trips to the casino would be all but done with. I don't gamble huge money but currently I like to go out with the boys about twice a month with $80 - $100 to burn.
Early on in our relationship we were not nearly as organized. She was finishing up her post secondary courses for her career and I was already at the job I have today. So I was making more money at that time and I just kind of paid for more stuff. I paid for most of the gas and groceries and our nights out. She'd chip in every once in awhile when she could, but it wasn't frequent and it didn't bother me to pay more. When she finally got a decent paying job that is when we had to go to the 50/50 seperate money method. She continued to let me pay for most of the gas, groceries and entertainment while she enjoyed nice shopping sprees. I felt jaded so we had to come up with a solution that worked for us.