Comments on: Mindful Money: Yours, mine, and ours http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/ Having it all with less. Sun, 01 Aug 2010 02:45:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: » Have You Met Mir? ConstantChatter: It’s All About the Chatter http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-72549 » Have You Met Mir? ConstantChatter: It’s All About the Chatter Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:48:10 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-72549 [...] A week or so ago she did an interesting post regarding joint funds. I know this isn’t a new topic, considering it’s frequently discussed here on CC. As Mir puts it “I don’t care if you work or you stay home; I don’t care if your spouse is a jerk or up for canonization; if you are married, you still need to have at least one bank account and one credit card in your name only.” [...] [...] A week or so ago she did an interesting post regarding joint funds. I know this isn’t a new topic, considering it’s frequently discussed here on CC. As Mir puts it “I don’t care if you work or you stay home; I don’t care if your spouse is a jerk or up for canonization; if you are married, you still need to have at least one bank account and one credit card in your name only.” [...]

]]> By: Fabulous Financials v2.0 » Fab Picks of the Blogosphere: Week 2 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71950 Fabulous Financials v2.0 » Fab Picks of the Blogosphere: Week 2 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:05:32 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71950 [...] And finally, I ran across this interesting article titled, Yours, Mines, and Ours. My commentary won’t do it any justice, so I’ll just quote pretty Mir, “I don’t care if you work or you stay home; I don’t care if your spouse is a jerk or up for canonization; if you are married, you still need to have at least one bank account and one credit card in your name only.” Can the church say amen?!? [...] [...] And finally, I ran across this interesting article titled, Yours, Mines, and Ours. My commentary won’t do it any justice, so I’ll just quote pretty Mir, “I don’t care if you work or you stay home; I don’t care if your spouse is a jerk or up for canonization; if you are married, you still need to have at least one bank account and one credit card in your name only.” Can the church say amen?!? [...]

]]> By: Tracey http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71798 Tracey Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:17:14 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71798 We have a joint checking and savings, but we also each have our own separate "allowance" accounts that gives us the freedom to make small purchases and such without consulting the other person. I googled joint checking and death of spouse and found the term "Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship." In the event of spousal death, your joint checking should still give you access if you have the joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Divorce or separation would be another matter. We were married right after college, so we've always had a joint account. However, many of my coworkers and friends who were married in later life or remarried have separate finances. The allowance account is a nice compromise for us. We have a joint checking and savings, but we also each have our own separate “allowance” accounts that gives us the freedom to make small purchases and such without consulting the other person. I googled joint checking and death of spouse and found the term “Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship.” In the event of spousal death, your joint checking should still give you access if you have the joint tenants with rights of survivorship. Divorce or separation would be another matter. We were married right after college, so we’ve always had a joint account. However, many of my coworkers and friends who were married in later life or remarried have separate finances. The allowance account is a nice compromise for us.

]]> By: JB http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71795 JB Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:04:31 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71795 Steff-- The 'fancy math' I've seen people use which seems to make sense is to make the amount each person pays match proportionally to their income. For example, if one person makes $25k/year and the other person makes $50k/yr (using nice round numbers here), then the total income for the household is $75k/year. Person #1 is making 33% of the total household income ($25k divided by $75k or one-third). Person #2 is making 66% of the total household income ($50k divided by $75k or two-thirds). When splitting the household bills, person #1 would pay 33% of the total bills and person #2 would pay 66% of the total bills. This way each is taking the same proportional chunk out of their income. Make sense? Steff– The ‘fancy math’ I’ve seen people use which seems to make sense is to make the amount each person pays match proportionally to their income.

For example, if one person makes $25k/year and the other person makes $50k/yr (using nice round numbers here), then the total income for the household is $75k/year.

Person #1 is making 33% of the total household income ($25k divided by $75k or one-third).

Person #2 is making 66% of the total household income ($50k divided by $75k or two-thirds).

When splitting the household bills, person #1 would pay 33% of the total bills and person #2 would pay 66% of the total bills. This way each is taking the same proportional chunk out of their income. Make sense?

]]> By: Liza http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71791 Liza Wed, 16 Jan 2008 15:05:57 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71791 We have a setup similar to Mir's, but with one "in case of disaster" difference. Each of us is technically the joint accountholder on each other's savings & checking accounts, so that if something happened, we would already just have access to that money. But for practical day to day purposes, we have separate accounts. Of course, the fact that we can't legally get married leads to all kinds of other complications and expenses, like the fact that we're each earmarking half our bonuses this year to pay for a lawyer to help my partner legally adopt the next baby as a second parent. And until that happens, said baby won't be able to go on her insurance with our toddler, so both of us will be paying family rates for our insurance for a good chunk of this year. We have a setup similar to Mir’s, but with one “in case of disaster” difference. Each of us is technically the joint accountholder on each other’s savings & checking accounts, so that if something happened, we would already just have access to that money. But for practical day to day purposes, we have separate accounts.

Of course, the fact that we can’t legally get married leads to all kinds of other complications and expenses, like the fact that we’re each earmarking half our bonuses this year to pay for a lawyer to help my partner legally adopt the next baby as a second parent. And until that happens, said baby won’t be able to go on her insurance with our toddler, so both of us will be paying family rates for our insurance for a good chunk of this year.

]]> By: Cindy http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71786 Cindy Wed, 16 Jan 2008 13:34:40 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71786 Just a side note to the whole joint account issue. This can be handy when filing your taxes. In order to have a direct deposit (the quick-cheap way to get your money) on a joint return, the IRS requires a joint account. And they highly prefer that the primary on the return (usually the guy) is the primary on the account. I've seen this cause unnecessary delays in getting refunds. Just a side note to the whole joint account issue. This can be handy when filing your taxes. In order to have a direct deposit (the quick-cheap way to get your money) on a joint return, the IRS requires a joint account. And they highly prefer that the primary on the return (usually the guy) is the primary on the account.

I’ve seen this cause unnecessary delays in getting refunds.

]]> By: saucygrrl http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71779 saucygrrl Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:01:48 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71779 Mir, Thanks so much for all of this. You're helping out tremendously on a topic that I know that I'm kind of embarrassed that I don't know more about. Have I told you lately how pretty your hair is? 'Cause seriously, it stops traffic, girl. ;) Mir, Thanks so much for all of this. You’re helping out tremendously on a topic that I know that I’m kind of embarrassed that I don’t know more about. Have I told you lately how pretty your hair is? ‘Cause seriously, it stops traffic, girl. ;)

]]> By: Dorothy http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71778 Dorothy Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:42:31 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71778 Thank you Laura for the website. Love it. Thank you Pretty Mir for all the other info. Thank you Laura for the website. Love it.

Thank you Pretty Mir for all the other info.

]]> By: Steff http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71776 Steff Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:29:09 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71776 oops..not split the bulls...split the bills!! oops..not split the bulls…split the bills!!

]]> By: Steff http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71775 Steff Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:28:23 +0000 http://wantnot.net/2008/01/15/mindful-money-yours-mine-and-ours/#comment-71775 Did you use any fancy math to split up the bills? I would love to split the bulls but some odd reason "fear" not being fair! Did you use any fancy math to split up the bills? I would love to split the bulls but some odd reason “fear” not being fair!

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