Let's Talk Money: You've Worked Hard for It, Now Make It Work for You

by Monika Halan

You need three bank accounts when you are starting out. As you get more used to the cash flow system, you can use just two. Your salary account is your income account where all inflows drop. The Spend-it account can be a joint account with your partner or parent or child – whoever shares the routine household expenses with you. It is a good idea for both partners to contribute to running of the house. It is usual for a woman to use her salary to run the house and the man his to build the assets. Unfortunately, in a divorce situation, the law awards assets to the person that paid for them. So share the routine expenses and build assets in both names. The third account is the Invest-it account into which you move either the leftover money from expenses as savings or the amount you target each month towards investments.