% to savings, from gross or net ?

[disneysteve]

And I do not like attempting to manage finances separately from your spouse

I agree. I meant to say this earlier. Spouses need to work TOGETHER on the household finances. You need to function as a team, taking all income and all expenses and all savings goals into account together. Keeping things separate really isn't the best way to do things. Put it all into the same pot and then figure it out from there.

[eeyoresmom]

Ideally, we would put it all together and pay from one pot. For several reasons, we have been doing it this way for 25 years and very rarely have marital stress related to money.

[disneysteve]

Ideally, we would put it all together and pay from one pot. For several reasons, we have been doing it this way for 25 years and very rarely have marital stress related to money.

Glad that it works for the two of you. 25 years is quite an accomplishment. DW and I are working on 19 ourselves.

[scfr]

Regarding how spouses choose to handle their finances:
- It is up to each couple to decide what works for them. There is no right or wrong way.
- Just because a couple chooses to keep finances seperate and divvy up payment of expenses, that doesn't mean they aren't working together. It sounds like OP and her husband have a system that works well for them, and they DO sound like team players. They each know what their responsibilities are, they know what the other earns and has saved, etc.

My husband & I combine our finances, but I can imagine why some people would want to keep their finances seperate. The organization I volunteer with recently helped a woman in her early-60's who woke up one morning to good-bye note from her husband and completely emptied bank accounts. I would be willing to bet that if that woman ever remarries, she will insist on having her own bank account.

[eeyoresmom]

Regarding how spouses choose to handle their finances:
- It is up to each couple to decide what works for them. There is no right or wrong way.
- Just because a couple chooses to keep finances seperate and divvy up payment of expenses, that doesn't mean they aren't working together. It sounds like OP and her husband have a system that works well for them, and they DO sound like team players. They each know what their responsibilities are, they know what the other earns and has saved, etc.

My husband & I combine our finances, but I can imagine why some people would want to keep their finances seperate. The organization I volunteer with recently helped a woman in her early-60's who woke up one morning to good-bye note from her husband and completely emptied bank accounts. I would be willing to bet that if that woman ever remarries, she will insist on having her own bank account.

ITA. All couples are different, in personalities as well as finances.

[Guest]

Gross/Net

Wait, what? All this time I was under the impression the percentages were based on real income.

So if needs/wants/savings is broken down into 50/30/20, would paying taxes be part of the "needs"?

The way I read the book (All Your Worth) that uses this method, 50/30/20 is after tax income. So if your gross is 10k per month, get paid monthly, you claim 0 married, and you live in a state with no income tax, your net (after just taxes) is 7539.67. So you would base your 50/30/20 off that.

Breakdown:

• $3769.84 per month on needs
• $2261.90 on wants
• $1507.93 savings (and lets say 15% to retirement and 5% to general)

So if you are doing 15% of savings to retirement, your company matches 6%, you would want to contribute 6% to 401k which is $600 a month leaving you $907.93. If you want to contribute 5% to general savings that leaves $376.98 a month for that. So the remaining $530.95 goes to Roth up to the max, then back to 401k.