When Max was made redundant last year, he and his wife Hannah did not change the way they split their finances. They had always pooled their money equally, even when Max earned £70,000 a year working in tech and Hannah, in the charity sector, earned considerably less.
"We've always wanted to do things 50/50," says Max, 31. "We made a commitment to each other that what's mine is yours, and vice versa." The couple married after two years together and now pay all salaries into a joint account, from which mortgage, bills, food, petrol and household costs come out. Each month they take the same amount for personal spending, so neither feels watched. "It means we aren't accountable to each other for those things," Max explains. They also divide money into savings pots and smaller funds for predictable spending like haircuts.
“Couple who always split bills 50/50 cut spending after redundancy, cancelling gym and Sky TV to cover mortgage.”
The pair came into the relationship with very different attitudes to money. Hannah's family discussed finances openly; for Max, "money was totally taboo." He says: "We never spoke about money so as an adult I was left without any knowledge of things like what's a good salary or how to negotiate my pay." When buying their home, they had to be honest about earnings, deposit and costs like stamp duty. "As first-time buyers, there are costs you don't think about, like stamp duty and solicitor fees, so it was important we both knew exactly how much money we had," Hannah says.
Now they make money an everyday conversation. "Just this morning we were talking about what we can do to help improve our financial situation in the future," Hannah says.
When Max lost his job, they relied on Hannah's salary of between £40,000 and £60,000. "There was shock and panic initially," Hannah says. "But we sat down and really looked through where we could cut things out." They cancelled gym memberships and Sky TV, and checked they could cover their mortgage and bills on a lower income.
Research from wealth manager Quilter suggests almost half of couples do not share financial planning equally, with 46% acting alone in some way and more than one in 10 leaving one partner solely responsible. Relationship expert Karen Doherty has three pieces of advice for starting the conversation around financial planning.