I earn a fair bit more than my partner. We have a joint account we pay into for groceries, mortgage, bills etc that I pay a higher % into for day to day / household stuff. This covers off the "required" payments.
We do this so she has enough left from her salary to do what she wants to do (save, shop, splurge), keeping independence is important so we otherwise keep finances separate for the most part and neither of us really needs to be involved what the other person buys (unless it's a big purchase for the house (sofas, beds etc) where we will jointly buy it (again % difference) - everything is considered "ours" in the house). The law would consider it that way anyway.
Works well for us, we both get to "treat" each other which feels better when its your own money for a meal or a break away etc, she treats me often too, if it was one big pool of money I am not sure it would feel the same, besides no one needs to be questioned over a new $1000 pair of shoes or why they spent $850 on cologne haha
We don't budget other than required expenditure, we don't have kids (nor are intending to have them), we save a lot and spend a lot - its there to enjoy and you can't take it with you :)
With my wife, all our accounts are joint accounts, so we don’t need to ask to “borrow” each other’s money (there’s nothing more annoying than getting a phone call in the middle of a meeting with your spouse asking for 20 bucks). My wife and I have flip-flopped on who has the most money over the years. We still treat each other. However 95% of each other’s income basically goes in the central account for each of us. We have our own money to spend on whatever we want, and each a “secret” savings account for surprising each other for birthdays and Christmas.
Oh, and another thing about having our personal accounts being shared. One time, my wife was flying somewhere and I saw her card being used illegally. I was able to have her card cancelled for her, a new one shipped to where she was staying, with cash waiting for her at reception, before she even landed. If I couldn’t see her account, she would have landed with an empty bank account, and a huge stress bag to deal with. Instead she got texts as soon as she turned her phone on with a whole debriefing of the situation and details on what assets she had access to.
We do this so she has enough left from her salary to do what she wants to do (save, shop, splurge), keeping independence is important so we otherwise keep finances separate for the most part and neither of us really needs to be involved what the other person buys (unless it's a big purchase for the house (sofas, beds etc) where we will jointly buy it (again % difference) - everything is considered "ours" in the house). The law would consider it that way anyway.
Works well for us, we both get to "treat" each other which feels better when its your own money for a meal or a break away etc, she treats me often too, if it was one big pool of money I am not sure it would feel the same, besides no one needs to be questioned over a new $1000 pair of shoes or why they spent $850 on cologne haha
We don't budget other than required expenditure, we don't have kids (nor are intending to have them), we save a lot and spend a lot - its there to enjoy and you can't take it with you :)