Meow

Very much so. Many people still do not know what happens on the death of a husband (accounts frozen, cars impounded etc) and you may be surprised how many people have much of their cash in local accounts in joint names.

Meow

Your experience isn't the only experience...

Millhouse

Anyone who keeps more than a months salary onshore is pretty daft really. We only ever keep enough to cover the next rent cheque at all times just in case so that I don't go in the slammer... coincidently that is one month salary.

Meow

Or if people want to keep more money here (& some do) then it should be an a separate account in the wife's sole name. All married women should have access to monies that are either in their sole name in the ME, or out of the country.

Spugsy

We have seperate bank accounts and are happy enough with that, wouldn't fancy a joint one to be honest.

lullabelle

back at home we had separate accounts but were responsible for separate things. House purchase/car etc were joint decisions but mostly me arguing for what we ended up with.

Since being here I have been in charge of Everything. I hate it. Because I'm the sposnor and the one with the job (for all of two days more) everything is in my name. I hate it. I don't know how guys with that sort of traditional scenario cope. Too much bloody pressure. I would really like to get it back on an even keel - the husband isn't bothered as as long as he has enough money for cabs/bits n bobs etc he's happy. He's not materialistic and so never buys stuff or wants to buy stuff. He's quite happy. I hate it.

Welivehere

Ditto; the common expression in our house is "its one big pot". I put it in the pot, she takes out.....

The boss does not work but has total visibility on what I earn, bonuses, allowances etc. We agree / review a montly budget that includes all household bills, savings, investments, and personal spending. Each month I transfer a fixed amount to my wifes account and she then splits it out the various parties as per the budget.

- Again ditto but there normally revolve around joint wants / requirements so tend to be based on consensus.

Again ditto inc the cock up. The cock was as a result of younger us naively trusting one of the firms of well known Dubai based financial advisers (that we all know and love)....

mummy2dolly

We have had completely joint accounts since we got married. When in the Uk, I 'looked after' all of the financial side of things, paid all the bills, allocated what was to be paid of the credit card, kept the monthy spreadsheets for the bills account and social account.... dh just presented me with reciepts and I'd tell him what he running total was..... Here, because needs must, the bills are in his name and he pays them, but I still do the spreadsheets and the 'how much do we need to be paid here and how much in the Uk' sums..... I also still tend to all the Uk money stuff....

Dh jokes that I could have stashed myself a nice sum over the years, as he pays very little interest into what's coming and going. Every time he says it I wonder if I should perhaps start.... I haven't as yet......

All major purchases are jointly decided, it is usually me that sets the budget though as I have more of an idea about how much we have. The mortage is joint, as are the savings accounts.

I don't think it's necessarily a gender thing but more of a personality thing for us, I am a bit of a control freak and dh is as laid back as is humanly possible..

Millhouse

you're kidding right?

The Dean

Precisely why you need a joint account - both of you can see the credits, debits and current balance.

mummy2dolly

haha, Nope!! Every cash withdrawal, debit card spend, projected expense is on that spreadsheet......... I like to know exactly how much we have spent/have left for the month........

Alexa

I don't even know what a spreadsheet is....

But, I always DO have money left at the end of the month...so I can't have been missing that much

typical

Wifey manages herself her money that she earnt, and allows me to manage her money that I earnt.

We have separate accounts for a number of reasons.

al dente

Monthly salary comes in and gets divvied up immediately. Half on shore - half off.

Everything here in Dh's name BUT we have off shore accounts in my name.

He earns 99% of the money (I do some freelance stuff) but we both have access to all the accounts. We make join decisions on big purchases (houses, cars, investments, holidays etc) but otherwise i spend it how i like to 'run the house' (my mother's awful expression). He pays the bills here, because they're in his name but i do it all for our overseas stuff.

We have a lot of spreadsheets floating around, as i love a bit of Excel porn, but not for each transaction made!

Hello.Kitty

hehe - we've got the behemoth that is Microsoft Money. Not entirely sure how it works, even now, because it seems even more optimistic than Mr Kitty! Still, I've had to abandon it for the moment because it has a spazz when you have a cash-flow issue... and boy does salaries not being paid on time send it into a fit!