Marriage, finances & credit cards

[windycitymom]

I think all married couples would benefit from doing Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. We just signed up to take it, and we have completed Week 2 (out of 13), but I only wish we would have done this at the beginning of our marriage. Do a search on DaveRamsey.com for Financial Peace University to find a location near you. The first week is free so you can check it out.

 

[marie1203]

When we got married DH didn't have any credit so I just added him into 2 of my cc (just as additional name). Then we got a car in both of our names so he can build his credit. Once his credit was good enough we he got his first major cc. So now he has 2 major cc and I have 2. We have each other as additional names. We been married for 3 years his credit now is really good so is mine. we have just join bank accounts.

 

[girli565]

I just got married in June. We each have our old checking/savings accts and then we opened a joint one. He has no CCs and I have 5. We pay bills with them for the points and pay them off every month. I added him as an authorized user to my Disney visa so he could start building credit bc other than his car he has no other credit.

Now here is where we are a different than other people here. I make about 25-30% more than he does a month so me putting 50% into the joint acct and he putting 50% wouldn't make sense and he'd probably have no spending $$. Instead we look at our household expenses and split them. I pay rent (our largest expense) and he pays all utilities (electricity, water, internet, phone, and the one CC that we do carry a balance on which was from our wedding/honeymoon). We each pay our own cars and we share insurance costs.

In the end I pay about $1700/month in household expenses and he pays about $1100. It works for us because he makes less than I do at the moment.

This will change soon because he will be graduating from nursing school and making much more than my teacher salary.

This works for us but I'm not saying it'll work for everyone.

 

[hambirg]

Just to re-emphasize:

http://www.straightdivorce.com/divorce_articles_prepared_for_divorce.asp

Regardless of how well you think your marriage is going, it’s never a good idea to leave yourself vulnerable and without financial support. A smart woman makes sure that she has money on hand in the event that she needs to hire a lawyer to represent her if divorce occurs. In fact, every woman should plan for her financial future regardless of her marriage situation. They should have cash on hand for living expenses, lawyer fees and other incidentals that always crop up. Women should be prepared to take care of themselves if they are left to their own devices. The following are a few suggestions to help keep a woman financially secure:

* Open your own checking account; if your partner announces that he wants a divorce, immediately move half of the money that you have in your joint account into your own new account.
* If you’re thinking about divorce and you have credit cards in both names, cancel them before you discuss divorce.
* Be sure to have a credit card in your own name; if you aren’t working, take $1,000 out of a joint account and open up a savings account. Follow that by taking out a $1,000 loan and use the money in your savings account to pay off the loan. You will quickly establish a strong credit rating. . .

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/advice/20041022a1.asp

"When you get married, no one talks to you about the practical aspects like money and credit," she says. "I really believe in marriage and never thought I would get divorced, so everything was joint. But now I'm thinking that if I ever did get married again, I'd have a prenuptial agreement that would set out what would happen in a divorce and it might be better to keep the money separate."

Just sayin. . .

 

[wvjules]

Our pre-nuptual agreement specifies how our finances work--we each have our own bank account that we each use to purchase things for ourselves, and one joint account from which household expenses are paid. The pre-nup. also discusses how we will handle raising children, and each spouse's contribution to the marriage finances during childraising.

Wow, does it also discuss how time-outs, temper tantrums, bathtimes, bedtimes, etc are to be handled? If you end up doing something different with child rearing than what the pre-nup says-what happens? Does the spouse that followed the rules that were made years before there were even children get to keep said kids? How does that work? Too long of a time-out grounds for divorce?

 

[cseca]

Your question is on CCs, and I agree with PPs to keep them separate.
Specifically because as one of the PPs said, cancelling a cc will lower one's score.
And if you're working on improving his score cancelling won't work.
The best way is to keep both your cards and have him pay off his debts slowly to increase his score.

And I completely agree with hambirg's post.
Yes, I sometimes live in a fairytale world (I love Disney afterall). But in our marriage we have separate accts and responsibilities. And it works well...
Not the only way to live but it works

 

[bellarella]

Different strokes for different strokes.

I agree that people should consider what they would do in a worst case scenario, but I disagree that there is one "right" way of reacting to that risk. Strong and smart women can choose different paths.

 

[grafxgirl]

We have one joint checking account and one joint savings account. We each have our own personal checking accounts and credit cards also.