How We Manage Money As A Couple - How We Split Expenses + Combine Finances

[@stephandden]

How do you manage money with your partner? Let us know! 👀

[@bruuh8693]

Abstinence ;) No partner yet

[@daeshaallen7443]

Basically the same as you guys, we communicate a lot about finances, we do rent, groceries, utilities 50/50. Because our salaries are different the amount we have for saving/investments differ but the allocation amounts are the same.

[@olgac5516]

We don’t split every item 50/50, but we cover expenses 50/50. For example, my husband pays the rent which is the highest fixed monthly expense (we live downtown Toronto btw), and I pay for our child’s daycare and utilities, cellphones, internet and groceries. It ends up being roughly 50/50

[@JeffreyReiber]

Just discovered you guys! Thank you for the amazing content and hope that I can also save and quit my day job. Do you offer budget help?

[@w1zent91]

Dennis you gotta wife up Steph bro lol Keep it up the great work guys

[@Lz-hb2ci]

Great Video. Stephen, when are you going to propose to this beautiful queen?

[@saram2606]

To each one's own. Do what works for your unique circumstance. Hubby and I have a pretty big difference in salary so we split things according to percentage of income as opposed to 50/50.

[@stephandden]

Agreed! Thank you for sharing - that makes sense 😊

[@smallmj2886]

We've been married for 25 years now. I have always been the money person, but in the last few years I have made a concerted effort to make sure that my wife is fully aware of our finances. I don't want her to have any nasty surprises if something happens to me. We've had a joint bank account and credit card ever since the early days of our marriage and that works for us, but it doesn't necessarily work for everyone.

[@stephandden]

That's great to hear! Thanks so much for sharing 😊

[@bruuh8693]

I LOVE how you are telling us that this is what works for YOU. Of course, knowing both of you, I am not surprised everything you shared makes total sense, given your unique situation. Too many people out there want to give you a formula, a cookie-cutter technique/recommendation/advice that just does NOT apply to your situation. I love how you are able to break down every decision with a combination of different factors, and then sharing with us that reasoning. Thank you sooo much for what you are doing! I am going to move out this month from my parents' home, at 25 (Pretty old I know, but in my culture, it is considered young still, can you imagine!) , so thank you for sharing this advice! P.S. I can't believe you are almost at 100K subscribers! Super proud of your journey Steph, Den :)

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much for this comment! We really appreciate it 😊🙏🏿🙏🏻

[@joshuahankins2613]

Where do you live? In Canada most live at home at 25 nowadays.

[@ornela2]

Dream team. Financial transparency and literacy is 🔑

[@stephandden]

🙏🏿🫶🏻

[@stanleyokpara2704]

Nice piece Steph and Dennis. Been consistent lately in following your videos and have really learnt a lot from it. We are salaried employees and been paid by-monthly. And we have a separate family account where we put in 1 paycheck each into the account for strictly Immediate family expenses while the other paycheck we use for savings, Investing, extended family and charity.

[@ram2224]

I love how you guys explain everything. Me and my wife we do things a little different. I cover all the expenses my self and we invest and save all my wife income. Its been working for us for a year now and we like it. It works for us and we have been able to budget and control our finances this way.

[@stephandden]

Thank you for sharing! We also love that you prioritize saving and investing 👏🏿👏🏻

[@ChrisRampersad]

I was in a relationship and heard that "roommate"comment. It was a way to get out of paying a portion instead of 50/50 or some % . No money communication because talking about money was stressful, couldn't transfer $ if I bought groceries because it was more convenient if I went. Have your money work for you, talk about, plan and set goals. Ps that relationship ended and I'm happily tracking my own money. You guys are awesome.

[@stephandden]

So glad to hear where you’re at now!! Thank you! 🙏🏿🙏🏻

[@marcst-gelais9761]

Love the vid, thanks for sharing! On our side, we can't split 50/50 since one has significantly more incomes than the other. We do not think going 50/50 is the solution for us, since the one who makes higher earnings will be able to save/invest much more than the one who makes less earnings. So it's pretty simple, we decided to go with %. Each pay, we put around 55-65% of our income in the joint account to pay for the basics. In that 55-65, there's always some savings at the end of the month for family trips or anything needed out of budget. We can do whatever we want we the rest (investing, etc). On paper the one who makes higher incomes seem to put a lot more than the other. But you always want to take a look at this in % and not in $. In the end, it is really more equal and we feel better about it. I can't imagine split 50/50 when my wife is doing 1/3 of my income. This would be cruel IMO. Now at least she can invest for her retirement and have sort of a financial liberty. Anyway, great vid, thanks again!

[@stephandden]

Thanks so much! + thank you for sharing - we love that you've found what works best for you. 😊

[@adventurousbec]

I like how you divvy up your main shared expenses and how that works for you!

[@stephandden]

Thank you! 😊

[@irtifakhan17]

We have been married for 7 years now and knock on wood never had any major fight regarding money. We both keep 300 to 800 for our personal expenses. Everything else goes into the joint account. Now we have similar income but even when one of our incomes was significantly lower we did the same. For any big personal purchases we use our personal fun money. Food, house, car, eating out, vacay and savings all goes from the joint account.

[@stephandden]

Thanks for sharing this! 😊

[@nursebondemcanada]

Transparency and communication is very important

[@stephandden]

Agreed! 🙌🏿🙌🏻

[@christinemitchell6210]

Hi guys! Thanks for touching on this topic!!! My husband and I have been married for almost 10 years. We have kept our finances separate this whole time but our money is ours combined regardless of where it lives. I am the budget nerd and I take care of both budgets ran through YNAB. My husband takes care of all of his work expenses, student loans, personal expenses, our household, and the majority of our groceries and eating out. I take care of my personal expenses, childcare and activities for our son, and all our holiday sinking funds. We feel that every couple has a specific job for each paycheck regardless of whether it is deposited into a joint or separate account. Let’s keep this topic alive! I feel that there are so many couples out there with their own strategies and I would love to hear about everyone ❤

[@stephandden]

Thanks so much for sharing! We agree, it's not always a topic people open up about, but it can be very helpful to hear what other couples do 😊

[@NetomaMusic]

🔥 Great content as always Guys 😍

[@stephandden]

Thank you! 😊

[@barettmac]

Great video and important topic. My wife and I each have our own credit card for personal purchases and expenses, we also have a joint credit card (in my name with a secondary card holder) for all of our Joint purchases and expenses. We also have our own bank accounts and a joint account for similar reasons. All Joint expenses are split 50/50 as we both have good jobs, we also have target retirement savings each month. I save more because I make a little more than she does and she contributes to a pension.

[@stephandden]

Thank you for sharing this! 😊

[@Aman1818]

Great video. I followed 75/15/10 goal to reach where I am. I have been doing that for a while and now I am comfortable for my emergency funds. I have started moving 25% of my monthly income to investing. You seem to be at 50% almost which is great. I just bought a home so it's hard to come at that level.

[@stephandden]

Thank you for sharing - it sounds like you're doing great! Congrats on buying a home 😊

[@FinGrear]

I didn't become financially independent till I was 40 ,in addition to buying my second house, I'm also making money on a monthly basis through passive income, and I've also met some of my goals. I really hope this motivates someone to know that it doesn't matter if you don't have any of these things yet; no matter your age, you can start today. Investing can help you change your future! By participating in the financial market, I took a significant decision.

[@emilyboulter5978]

I like hearing what other couples manage their money. My husband and I have lived together for 6 years. I pay our rent (this includes utilities) and tenant insurance and he pays for our food and internet. For us this is close enough to equal and I don’t mind paying a bit more because I make more. My income is also the same every month and his is variable so he can decide what we eat based on his income.

[@stephandden]

We like hearing about it, too! Thanks for sharing 😊

[@Jibril_Abdulkadir]

Another informative vid from u guys 🥰

[@stephandden]

Thank you! 🙌🏿🙏🏻

[@imanekaroumi7050]

Hey Steph and Den, I absolutely love your content and how organized you both are!! I have a question regarding this particular video in this case scenario : What if one of you was unable to work for a while for some reason, how would you manage the expenses ? Would one of you take in charge everything in the meanwhile or would the person not working use her emergency fund ? Thank you so much for your reply!!

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much! 🙏🏿🙌🏻 Good question! In general, I think it depends on the couple and what you can afford (and how long the person isn't working for) - maybe a mix of both would work best, but it definitely depends on the situation.

[@zuhawk15]

Nice! You guys are the best.

[@stephandden]

Thanks so much! 😊

[@HouseOfBurgz]

Keep the videos coming. Thank you for the content!

[@stephandden]

Thanks for watching! 😊

[@seburgh]

OH this is interesting! with my partner as soon as we moved together we started using same credit card (PC financial card was perfect for us as no fees) and we were paying everything with it and end of month we paid 50/50. after couple of years and got our common law, as we had a big gap in between our salaries, we took the decision to have common account and not looking at 50/50 anymore, my money is his money and vice & versa (old fashion haha) we place both our salary in same account and we handle the budget as if we have just 1 big salary for both of us. been now 10 years we are together and it works so well as we can do things together instead of having one not having enough money to follow the second one. we feel it equitable and never had an issue with it (I am also a psycho haha and keep a clear budget spreadsheet month to month but also doing yearly forecast to make our saving grow in the correct way)

[@stephandden]

Thank you so much for sharing! Love that you're a super on top of it budget-er, too! 😊

[@mariap2481]

You guys are such a beautiful couple. Not many couples are that open about money. I love your videos. Thank you for such wonderful information! 🤗 Can you please make a video on starting to invest with Wealth Simple, how it works and how safe it is.

[@stephandden]

Thank you! We're glad that you found value in the video 😊. You should checkout our 'How To Invest' playlist - we have the video that you're looking for in there. Also, if you havn't already, you should sign up for our newsletter cause we've got something planned that will answer all of you investing questions coming soon (moneyconvos.stephandden.com)

[@CanadianDividendInvesting]

Awesome video, great stuff!

[@stephandden]

Thank you! 🙏🏿🙌🏻

[@theresaantonio6789]

No pressure or anything, but what’s keeping you from getting married? :)))

[@elizabetha7753]

Some couples just prefer to just be long term partners instead of married. For example, I don’t want to get married but have a long term committed partner. It’s just preference I think honestly depending on the couple.

[@stephandden]

Nothing! You guys will be updated when the time comes 😊

[@Abhijeetonroll]

Can you make a video on how to setup an business for content creators in Ontario and BTW , I met steph at the friends experience last year at Yorkdale. Nice meeting you steph! :)

[@stephandden]

Thank you for the suggestion, we'll definitely add it to the list! And yay, that's so fun - I remember! Nice meeting you, too 😊

[@lin__vinooo]

Right now we each have our own checking/savings/investment accounts, but have a shared checking and savings account to pay for big (like rent) and small (like a night out) shared expenses and save for our joint goals. I wonder how this will change when we’re married though and don’t know how to best ensure equity in the relationship if someone loses their job or stays home for a period of time.. we’re not sure yet but it’ll definitely be a joint conversation :)

[@stephandden]

Thank you for sharing this! + for acknowledging that your set up may change over time 😊

[@ashbreault4474]

We are currently trying to decide what we want to do with our money. There’s this idea that if we combine our investments, the growth will be bigger because the amount is larger? Haven’t fully decided how we feel about that. Another talking point is groceries… I’m a small girl I eat a lot less, whereas my partner buys a lot more meat, protein, which is expensive these days so we’ve always just bought our own groceries. But I love cooking a family meal so it’s been confusing on how to handle those costs. We have a lot of thinking to do!!

[@stephandden]

We love to hear that you're thinking about it! A lot of the time people don't think about the decision making period - we skip right to what the final plan is. It can take a while to decide what will work best for you 😊

[@gabrieladagenais6665]

how do you automatically transfer your pay from your business account to your personal checking account on the first of the month? or do you do it manually?

[@tardogra]

Thank u 🎉

[@stephandden]

Thank you! 😊

[@tredegar4163]

I have to admit it would be weird to me live with my business partner, but anyway if you both get a shared asset more expensive than a microwave make sure to have a contract

[@stephandden]

😂 not the microwave

[@franckoliver1899]

Are there any reason why you guys do not have a FHSA account(s) at all? Some recommend to max out their FHSA account before investing in a THSA. Your thoughts on that take?

[@stephandden]

Hi! Good question - for now, we're focused on maxing out our TFSA's first. After that, we may open an FHSA next - we'll talk about this more in an upcoming video, too 😊

[@franckoliver1899]

Any financials reasons or otherwise why you aren't married yet?

[@stephandden]

No, there's no specific reason other than we aren't quite at that stage yet! We'll share on here when we are 😊

[@sandramadu4977]

How has your rent not increased in 5 years? Especially in Toronto.

[@stephandden]

We've been lucky that our landlord hasn't chosen to increase it 😊

[@autobotdiva9268]

$1950 rent! Chilllleeee i wud pass out lol Keep talkn about finances 💵📶

[@stephandden]

Ha! Thank you! 😊

[@claudiac4145]

Does Dennis still invest in XEQT?

[@stephandden]

He does!

[@paulpoco22]

​@@stephanddenare you guys on Blossom?