332: Handling Finances as a Couple: Individual, Combined, or a Bit Of Both?
BiggerPockets Money Podcast
BiggerPockets
4.6 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 2 September 2022
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Having shared finances, for most couples, is an automatic thing to do once married or after being together for many years. It seems natural to want to combine income, expenses, and investments all in one big pot. This was the norm for most couples over the past hundred years, but as technology has made individual accounts more defined, some couples are finding freedom in keeping their finances separate from their relationship.
We thought we’d put this theory to the test by having Doug Cunnington and Carl Jensen, hosts of the Mile High FI podcast, on the show. Doug and his wife have separate finances, Carl (Mindy’s husband) has completely combined their cash flow, and David Pere (our trusted military millionaire) has walked the tightrope between combined and separate finances with his wife. But which couple is fairing the best?
Unfortunately, we will not be having a couple vs. couple cage match?—but we will discuss the pros and cons of each strategy. Carl, David, and Doug all bring up interesting, and often emotional, arguments as to why they think their money-splitting strategy works best for their specific relationship. If you’re currently in a relationship, married, or about to be wed, this may be a crucial topic worth exploring before your spouse spends $50,000+ on an impulse Tesla order!
In This Episode We Cover
Three couples with three different ways of splitting finances
How to combine monthly cash flow so that bills are paid
The bright side of prenuptial agreements and why every married couple should have one
Respecting your partner's money mindset by building a spouse-specific system for the two of you
Saving for your child's college and whether or not higher education is worth it as college becomes increasingly optional
Advice for couples who will (or already) combine their finances and investing
And So Much More!
Links from the Show
BiggerPockets Money Facebook Group
Finance Review Guest Onboarding
David’s Site From Military to Millionaire
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Subscribe to The “On The Market” YouTube Channel
Listen to The “On The Market” Podcast: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, BiggerPockets
Check Out Mindy’s 2022 Live Spending Tracker and Budget
Why You’re (Probably) Wrong About Prenups
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Bigger Pockets Money Podcast, show number 332, where we discuss three different ways to handle couples finances with Doug Cunnington and Carl Jensen from the Mile High Buy Podcast. |
| 0:11.0 | I think it's very personal and everyone's relationship is different and we have our various issues, communication, trust with finances and all that stuff. |
| 0:24.0 | We have figured out how to get to a spot where we feel pretty good. Finances are one of the biggest issues that we have to figure out and if there's discrepancies or if you're moving in different directions, it could be extremely challenging. |
| 0:38.0 | So, you know, everyone do your best and good luck. |
| 0:43.0 | Hello, hello, hello, my name is Mindy Jensen and with me today is my favorite Marine, David Perez. |
| 0:49.0 | It's not saying much but I appreciate it. |
| 0:51.0 | I know like three more Marines. |
| 0:53.0 | Yeah, but I mean, John, like that's who we're comparing me to and that's easy. |
| 0:58.0 | Okay, I don't know. He doesn't listen to the show enough for me to talk smack. |
| 1:02.0 | I'm going to make him listen to something. |
| 1:03.0 | Today is my least favorite Marine, David Perez. How about that? |
| 1:07.0 | I'll take it. |
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