tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post5507380126877960066..comments2023-11-23T03:04:09.881-08:00Comments on a $10,000 wedding.: #459: money honey.Ten Thousand Onlyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09731426268019406064noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-14213674336571777542008-12-17T15:28:00.000-08:002008-12-17T15:28:00.000-08:00Hi There! Love your blog. My fiance and I have bee...Hi There! Love your blog. My fiance and I have been sharing finances for a while since I started grad school more than a year ago. We were both very "separate but equal" people but now we are down to one income. We use mint.com to track bills & spending, ALL of our spending goes on one CC (Amex has great rewards) we pay off each month, and we use google docs for an ongoing tally of spending. We also sit down 1 - 3x a month to see what's going on. It took us a good year to find the best solution since we calculate finances differently. <BR/><BR/>Oh -- we also check our credit reports together every 3-5 months. It's good for financial health but also leaves out the possibility of any financial infidelity. <BR/><BR/>Good luck!Annalisahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01844568283100141541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-84090858091267499332008-12-17T11:09:00.000-08:002008-12-17T11:09:00.000-08:00maggie--Savings accounts are extremely important b...maggie--<BR/><BR/>Savings accounts are extremely important because they give you a place to segregate and park money to be used in the short or midterm (or possibly in the short to midterm, as with an emergency account that would cover living expenses in the event of job loss or illness) that gives you a better interest rate than a checking account. Because they are inherently risky, money should only be invested in equities for longterm goals (10 yrs+), like retirement, a child's college portfolio, or for other distant goals or general wealth building. And keeping that money in a checking account will generally get you a crappy interest rate that comes nowhere near keeping pace wit inflation, and the easy access to it by check, atm or debit card can tempt a lot of people to spend it rather than save it.<BR/><BR/>10k only, you might be eligible for a spousal IRA, which lets spouses without income have accounts in their name that are funded by the earnings of the other spouse. If not, then a Roth IRA would be another great option for you. They are really easy to set up.<BR/><BR/>I blog *a lot* about relationships and money, if you couldn't tell.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-59352187839325251122008-12-17T09:01:00.000-08:002008-12-17T09:01:00.000-08:00I'm with Kristen. We'll have a joint account for a...I'm with Kristen. We'll have a joint account for all bills, but we will transfer a set amount (regardless of what each person is making) into seperate accounts. Allegidly those accounts are so that we can buy each other gifts, etc, secretly, but on a more practical basis they will give us personal spending money. That way if he wants a fancy new tech gadget or I want clothes, we don't need each others approval. We save for it out of our own accounts, and ta-dah, it's ours.<BR/>Also, worth thinking about: I've read that each person should keep one credit card in their own name (not joint). That way in the case of death or divorce, you still have an indivdual credit history, which is a god send.Meghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09526722516550185150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-91975780988828716292008-12-17T07:46:00.000-08:002008-12-17T07:46:00.000-08:00Yes - I've read that money is the cause of so many...Yes - I've read that money is the cause of so many marital problems. Whenever I mention that to the Cub he just laughs and thinks it's silly that we'd ever fight over money. Anyway, though we have frank discussions about our debts, assets, investments, etc. all the time, I still want to get some sort of structure for our future financial decisions in place. Thanks for the reminder. Now maybe I should go return some pants to Anthro that I don't really need.....ThickChickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01933349763585424365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-91228467147979261112008-12-17T06:32:00.000-08:002008-12-17T06:32:00.000-08:00money is not the most important thing in the world...money is not the most important thing in the world. but when you don't have any or it becomes tight, it can definitely feel like it. i think its good you are thinking of this now. the brokeassbride turned me onto mint.com. i'm obsessed! hoping it'll let me visually see where i'm spending that i shouldnt' be :)AmyJean {Relentless Bride®}https://www.blogger.com/profile/10648725099262152263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-67123840845564332192008-12-17T06:16:00.000-08:002008-12-17T06:16:00.000-08:00I really think this is one of the most important t...I really think this is one of the most important things that couples should figure out before marriage!<BR/><BR/>On a separate note, I don't really get savings accounts. Either money should be accessible, or it should be invested. Though maybe these last few months scared that opinion out of me...Maggiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04548578181174543021noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-82290634087929727962008-12-17T01:19:00.000-08:002008-12-17T01:19:00.000-08:00um, did you say you're looking *forward* to talkin...um, did you say you're looking *forward* to talking about money?east side bridehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06206689296805893265noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-91741681598435311272008-12-16T20:25:00.001-08:002008-12-16T20:25:00.001-08:00I strongly believe open communication about money ...I strongly believe open communication about money is one of the best things you can do for your marriage. Looks like you have a system that works for you!laura @ so alaurablehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14151079325709361962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7906032051076130258.post-51525391253232776522008-12-16T20:25:00.000-08:002008-12-16T20:25:00.000-08:00It's good that you two can talk money. My husband...It's good that you two can talk money. My husband and I each have separate accounts that we transfer a set amount to each paycheck and the rest goes into a joint account from which we pay all our joint bills (which is most of them). We decided to do a set sum rather than a % because he's a grad student and makes waaaayyy less with his work study job than I do at my full time job, but we each wanted to be able to do our own thing. It works really well for us to do it that way. <BR/><BR/>I will say this though, even with open communication you'll probably still argue about money at least every once in a while. Just make sure that when you do argue, the problem actually gets resolved. :)Kristenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02313514292158313183noreply@blogger.com