When you’re in a long-term relationship, money talk can pop up. It could be anything from who’s covering date night dinners, to sharing household costs. After a while of splitting the bills, it could feel easier to start a conversation about bringing your finances together, so that you’re both on the same page.
Whether you’re just starting to think about joint finances, or wanting to make it happen, here’s some questions you may want to think about:
- Why do we want to bring our finances together
? Wil l it make things easier to manage? Doe s it mean we can start saving? Coul d we plan for a better future?
If you’re both on-board, here’s how to get started:
Share your style:
The first step to financial togetherness is to share your income and outgoings with each other, and get on the same page.
Your earnings
The best way to do this is to start an open conversation about your
Your spending
Then it’s time to share your spending style. If one of you is a saver and one is a spender, it helps to understand each other to be able to create a plan together that suits you both.
Set your goals:
When your finances come together so do your goals, so it’s imperative to understand what is important to each other now and in the future. If one of you wants spontaneous holidays, and the other wants a home, you’ll need to work together to
Set-up your accounts:
Now that you’ve discussed what you want from your finances, it’s
Combining everything
Some couples combine everything from their transaction accounts,
Creating a joint account
Other couples create a joint transaction account where they deposit a portion of their salaries to cover shared expenses like rent, bills
Streamline your spending:
Whichever way you chose to merge accounts, you need to think
Plan for a shared future:
Once your day-to-day spending is ticking along nicely, it’s time
We hope these steps help to get you and your partner on the same
For more information you can call: Melbourne Business Accountant
Source: ING, May 2019