When Max was made redundant last year, the couple's long-standing policy of splitting everything 50/50 was suddenly put to its severest test. With only Hannah's salary of between £40,000 and £60,000 to fall back on, the shock was immediate. "There was shock and panic initially," Hannah says. "But we sat down and really looked through where we could cut things out."
Hannah and Max – who married after two years together – had always pooled their finances, even when Max was earning £70,000 a year in tech while Hannah, who works in the charity sector, earned considerably less. "We've always wanted to do things 50/50," Max, 31, says. "We made a commitment to each other that what's mine is yours, and vice versa."
“Couple who split bills 50/50 faced 'shock and panic' after redundancy, cutting gym and Sky TV.”
Their salaries are paid into a joint account, from which mortgage, bills, food, petrol and other household costs are deducted. Each month they take the same amount for personal spending, so one can buy clothes or go to the pub without feeling watched. "It means we aren't accountable to each other for those things," says Max. They also divide money into different pots – savings and smaller funds for predictable spending like haircuts.
The couple came from very different money backgrounds: Hannah's family discuss finances openly, while 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." Buying a home forced honesty about earnings, deposits and affordability – including surprise costs such as stamp duty and solicitor fees.
Now Hannah and Max say 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.
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 these conversations.
After the redundancy, Hannah and Max took "drastic measures" to cut spending, cancelling gym memberships and Sky TV. They went through their finances to ensure they could still cover mortgage and bills on the reduced income. Their system of sharing money remained unchanged.