Where is til debt do us part

For example, if you earn 70 per cent of the household income and your spouse earns 30 per cent, it would not be fair to split the living expenses into two equal halves. Often, the lower-income spouse uses credit to cover their shortfall in that scenario. The first is to pool both incomes into one account, which you will then use to pay all the expenses as well as set money aside for the agreed-upon savings goals.

This allows for more transparency around where your combined money is going. If all expenses are going through one account, it can provide valuable info about what life costs. It is also important to decide who will be responsible for physically paying the bills, even if it is just to set up automatic withdrawals. In our house, I realized early on that the best way to ensure the bills got paid was to designate one person as the household bill manager.

It helped us avoid unnecessary finger-pointing caused by an overdue payment notice. The second option is to keep your finances and bank accounts separate, with each spouse contributing to the shared expenses and savings goals. Whether this means that one spouse pays the mortgage or rent and the other buys groceries and pays the utilities, or you divide each expense by the predetermined ratio, this should be decided long before those bills come due.

The challenge of this approach is that accountability between the couple only happens with ongoing communication. Secret spending can be viewed as financial infidelity and the result can be an unmanageable amount of debt as well as broken trust.

The third option is a hybrid of the two options above and tends to work well for many couples. This allows each person to spend from their separate account and maintain their independence and freedom without jeopardizing the household finances. The expenses are covered without any confusion or missed payments.

Having access to a shared household account provides both, if desired, with details about what life costs. It is essential to have clear, honest and open communication around money when it comes to organizing your finances with a new spouse or partner. Sandra Fry is a Winnipeg-based credit counsellor at Credit Counselling Society, a non-profit organization that has helped Canadians manage debt for almost 25 years.

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Register Now. FP CryptoDecoded: Join us at our free crypto and blockchain events. Manage Print Subscription. Main Menu Search financialpost. With ninety percent of marriages breaking up because of money problems, it's no surprise that many couples are in desperate need of help tackling their financial issues. In Til Debt Do Us Part, renowned financial author and columnist, Gail Vaz-Oxlade takes a tough-love approach to getting couples in financial crisis to face reality.

With the sensitivity of a therapist and the toughness of a CFO, Gail asks hard questions and pushes couples to face each other and reality. Some couples are on the verge of bankruptcy - others are just getting by, but headed for disaster - either way, they all learn how to work their way out of debt and get the skills they need to plan for their financial future. How can you get out of debt and back on the road to recovery?