$$$ KPO and CZM $$$: Managing Finances As A Couple

Friday, June 23, 2017

Managing Finances As A Couple

Managing your finance is not easy and it becomes even more complicated when it involves 2 people. I do not think that there is a best way to do it but let me share our experiences :)

Interestingly, the majority of the readers (79%) are male and 44% are in my age group (25 - 34) according to Google Analytics so hopefully, this would help you guys out there!


One of the most debatable questions is should guys be paying for everything? As a KPO/guy, my answer is no but I guess it varies from couple to couple. Most/all of our expenses are split equally between CZM and myself except during special occasions such as birthday and anniversary then I/CZM would be paying for everything.

When CZM and I got together, we were only JC students with $200 of pocket money per month ($50 per week). A movie cost $6 (student price) and $10 (weekends) back then plus a meal would probably be around $15 - $30 in total. If I had to pay for everything, that would cost 30% - 60% of my weekly pocket money! When CZM graduated and I was still in university, she was earning thousands but I was still drawing $200 of pocket money. We continued to split everything equally till date.

When I finally graduated and was going to join the workforce, I suggested CZM to combine our savings for common future expenses as we have already BTO and it was more for planning ahead for renovations, etc. The plan is to save 20% of our salary into a common fund every month. She likes the idea too and we decided to give it a name like those professional mutual/hedge fund. One of CZM suggestions was "Happiness Fund" which I rejected quickly because it feels like we would be encouraging ourselves to spend the money. Guess what? In the end, we settled for "KPO Fund".

KPO Fund has 2 components to it - Expense Fund and Investment Fund. Our monthly contribution is split equally between these 2 funds. If you are wondering why does this sound familiar, I got this idea from CPF. lol. There is only one rule - any expenses or investment made must be agreed by both parties. This can be easily done by setting up a savings goal on OCBC ibanking site and tracking everything with a spreadsheet.

Should all the household chores be done by the woman? The answer is no! (CZM would be very proud of me) The same can be said for the finances. A successful relationship requires both parties to be contributing and working hard together for the future.

Do share your thoughts in the comment or let me know how you are doing differently :)

4 comments:

  1. Hi KPO,

    Me and my wife transfers about 50% of our salary to our joint account every month after payday and this amount is used for our joint expenses (bills/groceries/baby expenses etc) and investments as well.

    All these are sent to the OCBC acount, seems like we have a similar system!

    And, not linked to this post but I'm amazed by your expenses as well! Do you not eat out when working and do you not need to travel everyday?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Wife Say I Niao,

      Nice! Glad to know that there is someone who uses similar approach! It seems that our mentality are pretty similar :)

      Yes, I have been skipping lunch (dieting) for our upcoming wedding, hence the food expenses is unrealistically low. I do travel almost everyday but it is probably cheaper because I tap in before 7:45 am (50 cents discount! http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/cheaper-mrt-rides-for-pre-peak-weekday-travel) and I only take 3 stops to a place where my company provides shuttle bus to my workplace.

      Delete
  2. You are really dedicated, gotta respect you man.

    Thanks for reminding me about this 7.45am thing, I totally forgot there's thing thing available. Will try it out! Though you can imagine the look on my wife's face when I mention it to her..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha. I am not doing it intentionally, my workplace is just very far from my home. Takes me more than an hour to commute, easily 2-3 hours spent on commuting to and fro work daily.

      I can totally imagine the face your wife will give! CZM does that too. lol.

      Delete