We have one joint account, thats it (plus 2 Revolut for foreign expenses).
For investment, it is still in my name, but we have the value at the date x when we got married. Everything else is shared anyway (also legally).
We are more or less on the same page financially, so it is not an issue.
When my wife came from India, she had no income (was not allowed to work until the official date of marriage + intensive Germain classes). Now she earns some but I am still the main income.
We use the banking package for families from UBS which includes personal accounts too. Yes it costs 15 franc but makes the life quite easier for both of us. All the common expenses like dining out, groceries and housing are paid by the joint account. Until now we contributed 50/50 but I will take over more since my wife reduce work to stay with the baby.
I would also suggest the UBS Family package. I know it‘s CHF 180 per year, but it‘s the best thing for couples currently on the market. You get your individual accounts, your joint accounts, as many debit cards (with free withdrawals from any ATM in CH) as you need, both a Visa/MC creditcard and great apps. I know many people that work in a bank and a lot of them are using this package despite having free accounts with their own non-UBS bank. So it‘s kind of telling.
It‘s 6 months for free btw and if they have a partnership with the company you work for (called UBS premium easy), it will be free for the first 2 years.
But maybe that‘s just me. I like to pay more if it suits my needs better. I pay 69.- for my (true) 10Gbits internet from Init7 for example. If you are the 100Mbits 9.-/month guy, then this UBS package won‘t be anything for you.
Our setup (not married but in couple for 11 years) :
That’s all.
We are using ZKB (each one private account + a shared one; makes CHF 1 per month for each account, therefore CHF 36 per year). Savings accounts are free.
We do not use any debit cards but free credit cards only (shared Cashback Amex/Master). Each of us is using additional private credit cards.
If a withdrawal is necessary (or even paying in) we have each a “Kundenkarte”, which is free as well (never used that before, tbh). Since we are living in Zurich, there are tons of ZKB ATMs or branches. But who is using cash anyway.
E-banking is top notch and I know the one from UBS as a former client. Therefore, for us, ZKB is the best solution and has 80% lesser costs than UBS. Obviously, the CHF 180 are peanuts for all of us, but why should I spend this amount each year of my life if I have the identical service somewhere else?
Of course, if one needs debit cards and a credit card from UBS with its benefits and programs, then the UBS package can make sense.
I wonder why noone had mentioned BCV so far. Looks like the best offer for couples to me.
Pro:
I would choose UBS over BCV in any case. UBSs e-banking is probably one of the cleanest I have ever seen.
Anybody have any experience with Raiffeisen?
They offer their own joint account with these conditions:
You get:
You don’t get:
What I don’t know is:
Any experiences?
I have a personal Member account with Raiffeisen. E-Banking, E-bill, Twint, have nothing to complain about.
It is buying shares of respective Raiffeisen Bank. The exact conditions depend on specific bank.
Why bother? In your bullet points the “family” account and credit card would be in your name, and your wife pays a tribute that you fix annualy? That would bother me more than 5 Franks a month.
As a couple, we used to have a joint account which we both funded to cover joint expenses.
Once married, the joint account became the default for all income, and most expenses and savings.
We keep free, mobile-only accounts for personal allowances (“pocket money”) that we transfer monthly and don’t track in detail.
Either way, I think it’s important to clarify what expenses are covered together and that money on the joint account isn’t his or hers, but yours. Independent of who earns what.
What if you have different spending habbits maybe even opposite to income? Is that fair?
That sounds like something you might want to figure out before marrying your partner.
In thas case, these agreements are even more important. You could always reduce the amount available for spending on the joint account.
Depends, obviously. I assumed that’s
I understand some families don’t have combined finances. That’s fine. My point to OP was that an set up where both are happy and don’t feel dependent is more important compared to saving a few Franks in fees.
Not necessarily if you keep the finances separate as far as the law allows for.
My partner and I are unmarried so have legally separate assets but have been cohabiting for many years now. Our approach is:
When we are deciding on anything (e.g. how to split the monthly payments, what the monthly total should be) we usually create a spreadsheet to perform calculations. In that spreadsheet we write down what we decided, the reasons for it, and any underlying principles that this reflects.
I think of this a bit like an “Investment Policy Statement” for our personal finances: it forces us to discuss things until we are both happy, and to write it down so that we can refer to it later. (Now that we have done things this way for a while, I find it kind of shocking when I hear of other couples that just muddle through their joint finances without ever really talking things through fully!)
We each have relatively low expenses outside of the joint expenses, which makes budgeting reasonably easy.
You’re right, the bullet point list was the cheapest way I’ve come up with. But it’s not my preferred way. I don’t want to keep doing what we’re doing now. I want the money to be ours. Both would keep their private account of course. But I’d much prefer the situation you described. I just don’t want to pay fees.
I did research some more and we’re probably going to go with Raiffeisen Joint Account as it keeps the costs at almost zero monthly.
What is your bank?
We have :
My account at raiffeisen with member plus
My wife account at bcv for free with family package
A joint account at bcv for free with family package
Two neon accounts for travel expenses.
A n26 account that will be closed soon.
Credit cards with cashback cards. One bill for all CC paid with joint account.
We have 2 children. My wife reduced her work percentage to 80%. We agreed that we have one “portfolio”. My money is her and her is mine. 15 years of common life make things more simple 
Pretty much what we settled on! Joint account at Raiffeisen with Member plus, Neon for both (spending money + for travel), two cashback credit cards for expenses. Though we both decided to reduce our work to about 60 - 80%
I am preparing for when my girlfriend will start working in the next months (she is still studying) and have some doubts on the credit cards.
We are going to have one joint account + 2 separate accounts and that is clear. What is not clear is how to optimize the credit card strategy. I assume you want to keep some expenses separate from the joint account so you won’t be using the same credit card you use for groceries when you are buying gifts.
How do you deal with this? Currently I just have the cash back credit cards and use those but I am thinking of how best do it when we are in two.
Thank you!
Doesn’t your individual account have its own card? We have joint cash back cards linked to the joint account and for individual stuff, I’m using my individual account.
If it needs to be a credit card, just sign up a new one like Revolut, Coop or Migro. I prefer Revolut since it’s an ok solution for purchases in EUR and abroad in general.