Joint decision
Question
My partner and I are going to open a join account. He earns three times more than I do, so what proportion of our wages should we be putting into the account?
Answer
There's no right or wrong answer to this question because different couples decide on this individually. Some people might put everything that was earned into a joint account whilst, at the other end of the spectrum, some people might not have a joint account and just split the bills evenly. So the best thing to do would be to sit down and discuss things with your partner.
As the person who earns the lower salary, you might want to bear one thing in mind: your housing costs. If your partner owns the house and decide to split your housing costs then you might be directly contributing to the mortgage payments. If this is the case it will be easier to show you have a beneficial interest (a financial interest) in the house. You may even want to go as far as getting some sort of agreement drawn up about the house and the percentage stake you each have in the property.
Updated: 30/03/2005
Question answered by CAB
