[SSharon]

With marriage coming up soon it is time to really organize my finances. Rather than start from scratch though, I figured some of you organized folk must have some excel templates you can post.

Any suggestions on how to go about discussing this with my fiance? I would like to have a list of items and then decide with her how much money to allocate.

How did you go about transitioning from managing your money personally to sharing the responsibility with your spouse?

If you have a template of any kind (remove all personal figures of course) that you want to share, please do so.

[Big Mac]

Mazel tov, SSharon.

I cannot speak from experience, but the plan that sounds prudent to me is to keep separate credit and bank accounts and then to open joint credit and bank accounts for the marriage. That way you both still have some independence to purchase the things you want individually. As for debt, it would make sense to allocate funds equally between the two of you, unless you'd rather focus on helping the one with the lower credit score.

[SSharon]

Thank you.
We opened a joint checking account already and will likely keep our separate ones for the time being. She doesn't have any debt and my debt is all student loans. I am not so worried about controlling spending though, what I was hoping to do was find an example of someone's monthly finances (without the numbers) just to get an idea of the new expenses I will have that I haven't even thought of yet. No children planned for the immediate future by the way.

[Mithras]

You might check out
Wesabe

which is a Web 2.0 type site where, astonishingly, people share their financial lives and goals. You can see how much other members spend on various categories, get their suggestions on saving at particular places, etc.

[RAILhead]

When I arried my wife, I eliminated "my" money and "her" money and "my" accounts and "her" accounts. We share everything.

As far as what to plan for, if you both kept good records, you could simply take your monthly bill amount and add 1/2 of hers to yours. This will give a rough over-estimate of changes. WAAAY over compensate for a while, and you'll eventually get a firm idea on what your month-to-moth electric, water, etc will be.

Lastly, I would seriously consider trying to take a Financial Peace University course. It'll change your financial life forever -- and now's the time to do it: Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover Plan.

[macroy]

I have a friend that documents his spending to the penny. I also have a few friends that started out with tools like quicken and stuff.. and end up not doing it because it just takes too much work. I think the bottom line is to understand your baseline.... as a % of your monthly income. i.e. I know that my bills (mortgage, electric etc...) is x % of my monthly income. I also save y %.... with that, I know that I have the leftover to do whatever.

That % will change of course, but its easier to track that (even in your head) if you have a good understanding of your baseline. I know I was a bit shocked with my current gas bill after moving to a new home.. but you would simply adjust for the next month. The key is to pad things a bit... so you have something to fall on in case things get out of hand (like a gas bill that is 4x what you were used to).

[RAILhead]

Quicken is too hard? YOu keep your receipt, you get home, you launch the app and enter in the receipt. I (heart) Quicken.

[RAILhead]

Also, I don't believe in padding any longer. I know how much everything will cost, and in about 15 minutes, I can have an entire month or 2 weeks planned out, no questions asked. Sure, it takes a bit of time and discipline, but I k now 100% where all money should be going, when it's going there, and how much I have to go around. To each his/her own, though.

[Macola]

Another vote for Dave Ramsey. It's not easy by any means (no lifestyle change ever is) but well worth it if you can do it.

[Mastrap]

When my wife and I got married we put all of our money together. It works well. We both spend money as we see fit, but do have a quick chat before making larger purchases, pretty much anything above $300.

The goal, we're about two months away from this, is to put her entire salary into investments and savings, then live of my income.

[RAILhead]

@Mastrap: Good plan -- it works great! I don't now if you already have any investment, but I've been a fan of Vanguard retirement accounts and such for years -- and my extended family has, too.

Also, it's important that everyone setup a Roth IRA for retirement. The sooner you start, the better off you'll be!

[macroy]

Originally Posted by RAILhead 

Quicken is too hard? YOu keep your receipt, you get home, you launch the app and enter in the receipt. I (heart) Quicken.

Never used it. I was referring to my friends. I really don't have the discipline to track that, nor do I find it necessary.

Originally Posted by RAILhead

Also, I don't believe in padding any longer. I know how much everything will cost, and in about 15 minutes, I can have an entire month or 2 weeks planned out, no questions asked. Sure, it takes a bit of time and discipline, but I k now 100% where all money should be going, when it's going there, and how much I have to go around. To each his/her own, though.

I was simply suggesting that the OP pad to ensure he doesn't come up short. Of course if you use an organizer and account for every transaction, you won't need to pad .. .then again, things pop up on you.

I just basically round things up and go from there. Like I said, I really don't have the discipline to get into the details... but I know approximately what my expenditures on a monthly basis.. and I'm fine working with that.

[mac128k-1984]

Me and my wife still have separate bank accounts but we share the expenses. Its not like its my money or her money its ours. We plan on setting up a joint account but laziness has prevailed. We both believe having separate accounts is making life difficult as its more difficult to gauge where we are financially. My recommendation is to setup a joint account, go through the bills together and share the burden.

Good luck.

[SSharon]

Thank you for all the suggestions. We will be sharing everything in the future. I already opened a retirement account for myself and I need to make sure she has as well.
It isn't as easy as just combining our expenses though. Things like health insurance for example will be different since my temporary coverage will expire soon and I want to get added onto hers through whatever board of education she works for.

Other bills, like utilities, I don't think I can estimate yet. My current rent includes all of them and my parents help me out for some other expenses I have.

[RAILhead]

Amazon.com: The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness: Books: Dave Ramsey

http://www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com/

Both have great documents to assist in tracking and figuring out the numbers you need.

[SSharon]

So what % should I expect to go to the wife's shoes?

just kidding, thanks for all the resources.

[torsoboy]

I don't really think it is as difficult as you are thinking that it is going to be. Basically you get married, move in together, write down which bills each of you has individually (student loans, etc.) and which bills you now share (rent, utilities, etc.).... once you have your lists you combine them together and you then know the rough estimate of your budget. Add in the food/clothes/dining and you should be all set.

My wife and I use Quicken and it works great for tracking everything... have month where you spent more than expected and you can just look up where it went. At the end of the month/year/whatever you can run some reports and find out where all your money actually went.

It's pretty basic stuff, but both of you will probably have to get used to spending less on yourselves until all of the bills are paid.