My SO and I are moving in together. Was planning out a budget (planned to start with a 50/30/20) and as I was combining our income in a spreadsheet I realized, I've been budgeting as if our incomes are going to the same place when we both still have our own bank accounts with no joint account.
So what is the best way to handle this? Should we get a joint account that we direct deposit our expenses (rent, etc) to while still maintaining our separate bank accounts?
If that's the plan, should we just split expenses down the middle for the time being? My income varies a bit, but if the trend of the last 6 months continues I'll make about $3,000 more a year than my SO. (My SO has some debt I will start helping them pay once we live together, so I'd say that probably helps even out the slight pay discrepancy for "fairness" sakes, although I don't foresee an argument of what's "fair" being a real issue between us).
For clarity, we certainly plan to spend our lives together. We've talked about the future/getting married/etc. but don't feel an urgency to do it ASAP. I suppose having a joint bank account before marriage just seems like an odd thing to do (and some would likely say a bad idea), but with me already helping with my SOs debt and whatnot, it feels like maybe that's the easier option?
Submitted January 25, 2018 at 10:59AM by HarvestDew http://ift.tt/2rDoJBv
