How do you earn your crust?

[luckynumber]

Ladies,

Just wondering what all of you do for a living?

Do you do the same job as your other half?

Does one of you earn much more than the other, and does that that cause friction?

I''m nosey as usual!!!!

 

[vc10um]

I''m a Patent Examiner at the USPTO.

FF is also a Patent Examiner, but he works in an entirely different area of the office than me.

I make more than him, but that''s due to a combination of starting with my Master''s Degree and being at the office longer than him. And we each know *exactly* what the other makes because government employee salaries are posted for the world to see.

It doesn''t cause friction between us because, in the end, he''s able to save more than I am due to exorbitant student loans. While most of the savings I have right now I already had when I started working, he''s saved most of his money since he started working.

 

[purselover]

I''m an assistant buyer and FI''s in law school, right now I''m the only one earning money so I obviously make more but once he graduates he will make almost 6 times my salary. I doubt it''ll cause friction before he started school he made much more than me in banking and right now I''m supporting him and neither situation has caused problems. Plus we''ve always been very open with how we feel about money.

 

[lilyfoot]

I am a legal assitant at a products liability/personal injury firm.

My BF is a supervisor at a big-box electronics store

He earns a little bit more than me. However, my paychecks are a little bit larger, due to deductions in his paycheck. We merge all of our money, so it really doesn''t matter who makes more.

 

[caribari]

I''m a consultant at a large company. I''m hoping to go back to business school in a year or so and really figure out what I want to do.

SO is a lawyer.

We do earn different salaries, and he makes a little more than me. I''m pretty crazy about money (read: really conservative) so we don''t combine at all, which works well for us.

 

[Lauren8211]

I have an admin job at a law firm. DH is a web developer.

I went to college. He did not. He makes twice the money I do. Literally.

Life is cruel!

We combine our money, and it does not cause friction.

 

[lilyfoot]

Oops, typo, legal assiStant, not assitant

Date: 11/12/2009 9:41:31 AM
Author: caribari

I''m a consultant at a large company. I''m hoping to go back to business school in a year or so and really figure out what I want to do.

SO is a lawyer.

We do earn different salaries, and he makes a little more than me. I''m pretty crazy about money (read: really conservative) so we don''t combine at all, which works well for us.

Just curious, caribari, are you saying your SO has different spending habits than you (so you''re not comfortable combining finances)? Sorry, hope it''s not too personal of a question! I''m not usually on the "combining finances before marriage" team, but it just works in our situation. I''d honestly be surprised if the majority of couples did it though, lol.

 

[winelover23]

I work the corner and BF is my pimp.

 

[Lauren8211]

Date: 11/12/2009 10:56:13 AM
Author: winelover23
I work the corner and BF is my pimp.

How much?

 

[winelover23]

Date: 11/12/2009 10:58:24 AM
Author: elledizzy5

Date: 11/12/2009 10:56:13 AM
Author: winelover23
I work the corner and BF is my pimp.

How much?

For you honey, it''s on the hizouse!

 

[Lauren8211]

Date: 11/12/2009 10:59:55 AM
Author: winelover23

Date: 11/12/2009 10:58:24 AM
Author: elledizzy5

Date: 11/12/2009 10:56:13 AM
Author: winelover23
I work the corner and BF is my pimp.

How much?

For you honey, it''s on the hizouse!

Hahaha! Woo hoo. Something I can cross of the Xmas list.

 

[caribari]

Date: 11/12/2009 9:46:37 AM
Author: lilyfoot
Oops, typo, legal assiStant, not assitant

Date: 11/12/2009 9:41:31 AM

Author: caribari


I''m a consultant at a large company. I''m hoping to go back to business school in a year or so and really figure out what I want to do.


SO is a lawyer.

We do earn different salaries, and he makes a little more than me. I''m pretty crazy about money (read: really conservative) so we don''t combine at all, which works well for us.

Just curious, caribari, are you saying your SO has different spending habits than you (so you''re not comfortable combining finances)? Sorry, hope it''s not too personal of a question! I''m not usually on the ''combining finances before marriage'' team, but it just works in our situation. I''d honestly be surprised if the majority of couples did it though, lol.

I’m happy to share…Thinking back to when we moved in together, the possibility of combining finances really never came up. I guess I consider it a step you take when you are legally bound to someone, though I do have unmarried friends who combine.

We are both in healthy financial situations, but SO and I have pretty different spending habits. I’ll admit I’m conservative and need control over my money, while I would call his spending habits more “normal.” In the end, I think it saves us arguments. I don’t care if he wants to eat lunch out everyday because it’s his money, but it would bother me if he was doing it out of our shared finances.

We had a joke for a long time that our only shared purchase in our apartment was our Trivial Pursuit game

I know this is something we are going to need to really sit down and talk about if we do get married, but for now being independent works well.

 

[misskitty]

I''m a grad student (and freelance designer) so B makes quite a bit more than me right now. Once I''m done with school and get a job, we''ll either be at about the same income, or I''ll make a bit more.

 

[girlygirl29]

I am a IT Program Manager at a large IT security company. FF is the CIO of a Healthcare Software company. He makes slightly more than I do at the moment, but in a c-level position has a much larger income potential with ownership in the company.

We have combined finances at the moment and separate accounts. When we get married we will actual separate them more formally. This was a point of heated discussion for a while, however I feel that he is this way because of the way he was brought up. I on the other hand are more traditional. Since we both make very good money I have agreed to keep a mutual account and separate accounts that have our extra money. Mutual accounts would be our mortgage, cars, bills, anything for our daughter including tuition savings, vacation money, etc. I am actually getting more comfortable with the decision since I don''t want to explain why I spend X and Y on shoes and purses!

 

[Bia]

Date: 11/12/2009 11:01:00 AM
Author: elledizzy5

Date: 11/12/2009 10:59:55 AM
Author: winelover23

Date: 11/12/2009 10:58:24 AM
Author: elledizzy5

Date: 11/12/2009 10:56:13 AM
Author: winelover23
I work the corner and BF is my pimp.

How much?

For you honey, it''s on the hizouse!

Hahaha! Woo hoo. Something I can cross of the Xmas list.

LOL!
gotta love freebies

winelover, show me the ropes? I need to make more money

 

[Bia]

btw: I'm an admin at a university by day. By nights/weekends, I'm a grad student.

I'm also a full-time job seeker - so far, nothing!

oopsie: FI is an engineer - he makes much more

 

[winelover23]

OK in all seriousness -

I''m a jack of all trades accounting administrator, payroll, etc etc...Oh for an aerospace company. BF works for a very large communications company (Can you hear me now?) as a Fiber Network Technician something or other and he makes about double what I make. He would prefer I be the bread winner so he could open a fishing store and just fish all the time.

Bia - Yes I will help you supplement your income. First we need to find you some super slutty clothes...

 

[vc10um]

Date: 11/12/2009 11:26:05 AM
Author: girlygirl29


We have combined finances at the moment and separate accounts. When we get married we will actual separate them more formally. This was a point of heated discussion for a while, however I feel that he is this way because of the way he was brought up. I on the other hand are more traditional. Since we both make very good money I have agreed to keep a mutual account and separate accounts that have our extra money. Mutual accounts would be our mortgage, cars, bills, anything for our daughter including tuition savings, vacation money, etc. I am actually getting more comfortable with the decision since I don''t want to explain why I spend X and Y on shoes and purses!

GG, this is exactly what we plan on doing. We''ll have a joint checking account and a joint savings account, while still maintaining accounts of our own. He''s offered to take on my student loans as combined debt after we get married (the saint!), and to that we''ll add the rent, utilities, things for our residence, family trips, etc., and savings for a house and other big purchases. Everything else will be ours to keep and spend as we see fit.

 

[Princess_Dreamer]

Date: 11/12/2009 10:56:13 AM
Author: winelover23
I work the corner and BF is my pimp.

hahaha, winelover you are hilarious! I get a kick out of all of your responses!

I am (soon to be past tense) a consulting analyst for a big firm, but as stated in an earlier post, I recently was told that they are going to let me go (after I finish this project of course ) and I have just received an offer this week from another large company!! Yay for finding a new and better job. I will soon be a program manager!! SO is an aerospace design engineer. We make about the same, I''ll be making slightly more than him with my new job, unless he gets a raise this year (which he totally deserves). But it doesn''t cause friction. We are going to wait to combine money till we are married and live together.

 

[lilyfoot]

caribari, thanks for sharing. I'm just nosey sometimes

If you are comfortable with the way you guys are handling your finances, there may not be a need to change after you get married. I know it's extremely common for married couples to have seperate finances. To each his own!

Our specific set up is, a joint checking, joint savings, and we each have our own seperate checking. We have our paychecks direct deposited into our joint checking. There's a set amount that stays in joing checking for bills/miscellaneous joint expenses each week, a set amount that goes into the joint savings, and then the leftover is split into our seperate checking. We have complete free reign over what we spend our seperate checking account money on. It's like the best of both worlds.

Honestly, I never want to change this system, it works wonderfully for us. It puts us both on the same level financially, and makes it "fair" as far as paying for groceries, dog food, going out to eat, etc. That stuff comes out of the joint checking. It's also super easy to keep track of what we are spending our money on as a household. I never feel "guilty" spending my money because it really is MY money.

I always think it's interesting to hear how other couples handle their finances (specifically couples that live together).

ETA: I guess I should add that we both have no debt, besides our very reasonable car loans. If one of us had major debt, this set up may not work.

 

[Lilac]

I''m a student in the process of applying to grad school programs for occupational therapy and I''m working in an occupational therapy practice right now (but I''m volunteering there to help me get into grad school, so unfortunately I''m making no money right now

).

DH is a financial analyst. He obviously makes more money than me (being that I''m not making any right now

).

Before we got married we had separate accounts, but never really thought of it as "his money" or "my money" - we always just shared the money and expenses - if we went to dinner, whoever had money with them paid for it. When we bought things, whoever had their credit card on them paid for it. We knew we were getting married some day, so it was just "our money" whether it was in different accounts or not. Once we got married we combined our savings and opened a joint account.

 

[Bia]

Date: 11/12/2009 11:47:45 AM
Author: winelover23

Bia - Yes I will help you supplement your income. First we need to find you some super slutty clothes...

let's do it!

 

[Lauren8211]

Date: 11/12/2009 12:15:30 PM
Author: Bia

Date: 11/12/2009 11:47:45 AM
Author: winelover23

Bia - Yes I will help you supplement your income. First we need to find you some super slutty clothes...

let''s do it!

That means no Uggs!

 

[Jessie702]

Well i sell Life insurance and cemetery property, sales. Money can be good, but can be slow too. My true career is acting

SO is a material handler for a local gaming company. Theres only 2 other people in his position. The money is just okay, he just know how to invest it well.

 

[CurlySue]

I''m an HR Director for a manufacturing company, and my BF is a senior advertising strategist. Our income is very comparable, though mine is more variable than his. Our conversations about money started fairly early and, so far, have been open and natural conversations.

We currently live together and have a joint account as well as individual accounts. Unless one of us stops working at some point (which is not the plan), we will probably stick with our current money management approach since we''re both very comfortable with it.

 

[brown_eyes]

I''m an engineer and my SO is a graduate student. Needless to say, currently I make more money than he does. It does not cause friction. Once he''s done with school (PHD is next) he will be making way more than me. We currently do not have meshed finances, but when we get married it will all be blended together.

 

[Kiley]

We''re both attorneys.

 

[Haven]

LuckyNumber--Your avatar is the cutest thing I''ve seen in a while! Oh my gosh, I want one!

I''m not an LIW, I just lurk in this board because I started here and still love it so.

I''m a reading specialist, DH is a muscle specialist. DH earns much more than I, but it''s never caused any friction. We''re both committed to living below our means, and I keep the books. I think it works so well because we have similar ideas about spending.

 

[Squirrly]

I''m currently a student, so i make negative money

i also work at a hospital, babysit, and teach lessons to help offset my negativeness

FI''s a Marine. he makes positive money.

both of our spending habits will have to change once we''re together, and as for what i''ll be doing at that point, I don''t know. I''d like to go back to school after paying off this one, and if so i will be making quite nice money, but at that point so will he

 

[Lekde]

Just wondering what all of you do for a living?

I'm a Criminalist/Serologist.
Do you do the same job as your other half?

FI is an Environmental Scientist/Hydro Geologist.
Does one of you earn much more than the other, and does that that cause friction?

We both earn within $10k of one another. It's further on down the road where I will be earning 2x+ what he will. He's excited about it because he wants to open a bar. So, no friction at all.