New bank account queries (and budgeting for good measure)

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › New bank account queries (and budgeting for good measure)

Disrespective

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#142441 13-Mar-2014 11:00

So i've recently started a new/proper/recorded budget with the help of YNAB software. I can confidently say that i'm hooked and am really enjoying the freedom/restrictions that the budget has set me. Does anyone else use YNAB and have any tips? Their forums are pretty good but often hard to follow. I'm open to looking at alternative software (I used to have an excel spreadsheet but it was too hard to get my partner interested when it looked so technical). Does anyone use anything alternative they like?

I am also in the market for a new joint account for my partner and I. She and I each have our own bank accounts, and another (under my name) which we use as a joint account but it only has one Eftpos card. We would also like a joint Credit Card so we can cancel our individual ones now that we're getting them down to zero with the budget. Can you get joint CC's? Is there any con i'm blatantly missing?

We'd like to abolish my old 'joint' account and get a new one.

If we move to a new bank (or even just get a new account at the same bank) can they automatically transfer my direct debits/payee's etc over for me or do I have to set these all up again?

FWIW, we have a son and have been together 9 years, I trust her and she trusts me. We don't own any property (yet) but that's the midterm goal. Neither of us have any burning desire to use one bank over another so are completely unbiased in our decision at this time.

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bazzer

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#1004782 13-Mar-2014 11:22

As soon as my (now) wife and I bought a house together we pooled all our money (we'd been together for 7 years at that point). We've only ever had a joint account and joint credit cards and I've never had a problem with it.

We don't have a budget and while we (me?) could probably benefit from one we're doing alright so there's no real need.

The only benefit I've seen with regards to maintaining separate accounts is that it allows each party some independence with regards to spending. A good example is birthdays/presents etc. When it's joint, you're essentially using each other's money to buy them. Also, the entries come up on your joint statements.

I quite like the idea, and it probably fits into the whole budgeting thing, of having all the money coming into the joint account and then each party gets a budgeted amount transferred each week/month whatever. You can use that money for whatever you like (clothes, presents, surprise dates) etc. without any feelings of guilt/judgement and whatnot.

It sounds like a good idea, but I probably wouldn't bother. Maybe I should look into a budget but I think it would (unusually?) affect me more than my wife!

Kingy

395 posts

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#1004789 13-Mar-2014 11:32

My partner and I both have our own accounts at ANZ and 1 joint account (was used for flatting purposes originally) at Kiwibank. Basically we both get paid into our own accounts and then have APs set up for our household bills/couple spending. We've also just recently added a joint credit-card to the joint account.

The good thing about Kiwibank is their Heaps! app which basically lets you see what you spend your money on etc etc. It automatically picks up purchases from supermarkets and puts them down as food, does the same for power and sky. The only manual thing you need to do is go through those 'other' purchases and categorise them (which with the joint account we don't have many of). So at a glance I can go in and see that we're over/under spending, spending X% on food, power, going out. No need for budgeting software when you have this.

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Disrespective

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#1004791 13-Mar-2014 11:36

Yeah, essentially, my income (and hers when she goes back to work later this year) comes into our individual accounts, and then it is transferred to the joint account where it is pooled and then divvied up by the budget. We retain an amount each to use as our 'allowances' but essentially everything is centralised. I like the separate accounts idea. It allows a centralised savings pool (more money means more interest) but reduces individual savings goals. Secrets and whatnot.

Another option we toyed with was to only transfer the same percentage of each of our incomes into the pool. This would mean we were 'fair' partners in our joint expenses but might mean one gets paid by the other to increase their 'allowance' to cover the difference to make each party have an equal amount.

I imagine when she's working again we will re-evaluate and move to individual savings goals as well as the joint savings goals. YNAB has the ability to have multiple bank accounts registered but they don't all have to affect the budget.

YNAB has essentially become the point where we check what is available for spending on different categories rather than just looking at the available balance in the checking account. This assumes I/we update the budget with the transactions very regularly.

Kingy

395 posts

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#1004792 13-Mar-2014 11:40

Yeah my partner is pushing to completely get rid of our separate accounts and go all in on one. Right now though our spending outside of our household bills/couple spending is a lot different. Every month I pay for my train ticket, car loan, car insurance, petrol, gym, occasionally lunch etc. Whereas she only has petrol, gym, occasionally lunch. Would be a total mess if it all got combined right now.

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kingjj

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#1004812 13-Mar-2014 12:07

My wife and I have separate personal accounts (including a personal CC, savings and checking) as well as a joint account (mortgage, CC, Savings and Current). We each pay a set amount on pay day into the joint account to cover all budgeted expenses and enjoy freedom of spending on our own accounts. For us it works a treat and we are not looking at combining our finances any further.

When we were shopping around for a joint account ANZ were our front runner. Not only were their fees reasonable but as we had our mortgage with NBNZ it seemed the logical choice. We also got a good deal on banking through a professional association (which included an ANZ Airpoints Visa Platinum with no annual fee). When ANZ merged fully with NBNZ it was easy enough (but by no means problem free) to merge the joint account in with my personal online account while still keeping separate access to the joint account for my wife.

I'm not sure what you do for work but if you are a member of a union or professional association check to see if they have an arrangement with any banks for discounted services. In regards to joint CC's when we got our joint card the bank would only give the account to one of us while the other was given an extra card on the account. Most banks offer a free transfer of all existing auto payments and direct debits as part of the new account setup.

davidcole

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#1004823 13-Mar-2014 12:24

We have everything together.....joint credit cards bank accounts etc.

But we also have an individual credit card that gets $50 a fortnight for "supplemental" spending. that's not household related.

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Geektastic

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#1004825 13-Mar-2014 12:25

My wife and I have had joint accounts since ages ago - within 3 or 4 months of meeting, I think.

Since we are both self-employed, all our earnings go into the company account. We just transfer the minimum required (e.g. to our trust to pay the mortgage, a small amount for non-company bills etc) to either our joint account or the trust's account as needed.

My budgeting system is my wife....and how much of a telling off I feel like getting for buying something she doesn't feel she was 'consulted' about!

nzkiwiman

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#1004852 13-Mar-2014 13:02

Being single all my money is mine, but when I changed jobs in 2012 it was a huge shock going from weekly to monthly pay. It took me a good part of a year to set a defined budget, breaking down what I earned in the month verses what I needed to spend in a week or the month and also accommodating the months that had 5 weeks in them.

As a result, I check each month on pay day before I use any funds to make sure I am dividing correctly. It means that I am putting cash aside a lot earlier for bills than I used to and I am not able to save as much as I thought I could when I started the job.

But it works :-)

Kingy

395 posts

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#1004881 13-Mar-2014 13:17

nzkiwiman: Being single all my money is mine, but when I changed jobs in 2012 it was a huge shock going from weekly to monthly pay. It took me a good part of a year to set a defined budget, breaking down what I earned in the month verses what I needed to spend in a week or the month and also accommodating the months that had 5 weeks in them.

As a result, I check each month on pay day before I use any funds to make sure I am dividing correctly. It means that I am putting cash aside a lot earlier for bills than I used to and I am not able to save as much as I thought I could when I started the job.

But it works :-)

Monthly pay here also. Best thing to do is identify all your key bills and set up APs to go out the night you get paid. I then give myself ~$100 a week spending money and put the rest in savings. Didn't take me long to get used to it. Although I find if I overspend during the month, that last week-10 days can be painful.

Web development blog: http://www.devhour.net
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davidcole

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#1004891 13-Mar-2014 13:24

I found the best thing to do with monthly pay was to keep a buffer in your account, at least one pay packet (or more if you can) then the output of bills is not a consideration.

bazzer

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#1004892 13-Mar-2014 13:26

Kingy:
nzkiwiman: Being single all my money is mine, but when I changed jobs in 2012 it was a huge shock going from weekly to monthly pay. It took me a good part of a year to set a defined budget, breaking down what I earned in the month verses what I needed to spend in a week or the month and also accommodating the months that had 5 weeks in them.

As a result, I check each month on pay day before I use any funds to make sure I am dividing correctly. It means that I am putting cash aside a lot earlier for bills than I used to and I am not able to save as much as I thought I could when I started the job.

But it works :-)

Monthly pay here also. Best thing to do is identify all your key bills and set up APs to go out the night you get paid. I then give myself ~$100 a week spending money and put the rest in savings. Didn't take me long to get used to it. Although I find if I overspend during the month, that last week-10 days can be painful.

Actually the best thing to do is probably live off last month's income. That way you're never caught short. What happens if your pay ever gets delayed (it happens)?

Kingy

395 posts

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#1004899 13-Mar-2014 13:31

Kingy:
I then give myself ~$100 a week spending money and put the rest in savings.

Overtime I have built up enough of a buffer if required. Not to mention there is enough in our couples account to provide for us in an emergency. Either way, so far it's been >2 years without a bad payment so it's all good.

Web development blog: http://www.devhour.net
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alasta

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#1005049 13-Mar-2014 15:54

I started using YNAB late last year as a replacement for the soon-to-be-discontinued Xero Personal. I think YNAB is excellent, and you would be hard pressed to find anything better.

My tips for YNAB:

- Do your bank reconciliations, at least for your on-budget accounts! Non financially savvy people hate doing this sort of thing, but as a financial analyst I know that you can't have confidence over your figures if you don't do these basic checks.

- Make sure that you end each month with all of your income allocated to something, otherwise you will have 'loose change' floating around in your accounts that are not reflected in what YNAB shows as available to spend.

- If you don't spend all of your income in a particular month then make sure you put the unspent balance to a savings category. Either have a generic 'savings' category, or consider having seperate categories for 'new car', 'overseas holiday', etc. Remember that the true value of your savings is the sum of these savings categories across your on-budget accounts, plus the balance of any off-budget savings accounts that you may hold.

vexxxboy

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#1005055 13-Mar-2014 16:02

i have a joint account with my wife and she has a separate account all linked on internet banking, we dont budget we just have autopayments that go out weekly, have 7 set up, and what money is left we can spend on what we want, works well and you end up with excellent credit.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

MaxLV

656 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1005225 13-Mar-2014 21:36

Disrespective: So i've recently started a new/proper/recorded budget with the help of YNAB software. I can confidently say that i'm hooked and am really enjoying the freedom/restrictions that the budget has set me. Does anyone else use YNAB and have any tips? Their forums are pretty good but often hard to follow. I'm open to looking at alternative software (I used to have an excel spreadsheet but it was too hard to get my partner interested when it looked so technical). Does anyone use anything alternative they like?

I am also in the market for a new joint account for my partner and I. She and I each have our own bank accounts, and another (under my name) which we use as a joint account but it only has one Eftpos card. We would also like a joint Credit Card so we can cancel our individual ones now that we're getting them down to zero with the budget. Can you get joint CC's? Is there any con i'm blatantly missing?

We'd like to abolish my old 'joint' account and get a new one.

If we move to a new bank (or even just get a new account at the same bank) can they automatically transfer my direct debits/payee's etc over for me or do I have to set these all up again?

FWIW, we have a son and have been together 9 years, I trust her and she trusts me. We don't own any property (yet) but that's the midterm goal. Neither of us have any burning desire to use one bank over another so are completely unbiased in our decision at this time.

Your current 'joint' account can be changed to a proper joint account by getting your partner added as a signatory on the account. That may be easier than closing the account, and opening a new joint account. Both options will most likely require a branch appointment as both your signatures will be required, and the signing authority for the account will need to be updated.

Once it is a a 'proper' joint account both of you will be able to have your own Eftpos card. This will also save you the hassle of getting your current direct debits/payees/and any automatic payments transferred to a new account. If you open a new joint account, you will (most likely) have to set up your current direct debits again with the companies you are paying, as they cant easily be transferred to a new account.
Contact your bank to confirm how easily they can make this change to the existing account.

WRT credit cards, your bank should be able to arrange to have a secondary credit card issued to your partner, and make you the primary credit card holder. Again, contact your bank for information on how they can do this for you.

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