Connect with us

Personal Finance

My bank, their bank or our bank

Published

on

Delmaine Donson | E+ | Getty Images

Wedding and engagement season is right around the corner and that means many couples will embark on a path toward marriage.

One of the most important conversations newlyweds will need to have is figuring out how and who will pay the bills. The goal is to ensure the bills are being paid, especially on time, so the couple remains current with their finances and that means keeping their credit intact.

Money may not be the most exciting topic to discuss with your new partner, but it is a must. According to a recent study by the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts, 22% of all divorces are due to money issues.  Having a plan and an active dialogue can help strengthen your bond as a couple.

More from Your Money:

Here’s a look at more stories on how to manage, grow and protect your money for the years ahead.

The way couples approach and accomplish this task can be extremely personal and the end goal can be reached in so many ways.

No one way is the right way, and we will explore some of the more popular ways we have seen this accomplished.

3 ways couples split bill responsibilities

Many couples find it best to address their bills like they have approached their marriage: They look to commingle their finances like they have their lives.

Taking this approach, the couple would set up a joint account for their bills where all the income they receive would be deposited. That joint account would then be used to pay their bills and fund their emergency and other savings accounts. This provides a fair amount of transparency to both members of the relationship to see how much money is coming into their account each month and where it is going.

Some couples would rather not combine their finances in the way previously described, and would prefer keeping things more separated.

We have seen couples that have separate accounts where their respective pay is deposited. The couple then will agree to divide certain household expenses for which they would be responsible.

One member may be tasked with paying the mortgage, taxes and insurance, while another may pay for the groceries, utilities and maintaining the home. Using this method can provide the same level of transparency for each spouse if that is what the couple wants, or it could also be used to keep things a bit more private.

Where a $100,000 salary still buys the American Dream

Another method we see as financial advisors often combines some of the first two ways discussed.

In this situation, we see each person maintaining their own accounts and they each contribute a determined amount each month to a joint account. The joint account would be used to pay all the bills for their collective household. 

Usually, one member of the couple would take the lead to make sure the bills are paid and other times we see them divide this responsibility. This provides each person the ability to maintain their own accounts while giving the couple transparency around the household bills and what it costs to run it monthly.

How to make a bill plan as a couple

Bills and paying them are a necessary evil for any couple and how it gets done can be quite different from one household to another. Whatever method you choose, whether it is one outlined here or something very different, it is critical that it works for you both.

There must be an agreement, similar to so many things in a relationship, between the two people or it simply is not going to be followed.

Once that is in place, you need to ensure that it is being followed, the bills are being paid and they are on time, too.

Paying the bills on time will save you the nuisance of paying interest and late fees, which could add strain to your relationship. Another major benefit is to make sure your individual and credit as a couple is maintained or increased to the highest score possible.

Having great credit, which is helped by paying your bills on time, can have a positive effect on your financial situation.

Having a plan and sticking with it is very important. But it is also important that you check in with each other over time to confirm that the current plan is still working for you both. There may be times in your relationship, based on your situation as a couple, that you may need to adjust your approach. Be flexible and as transparent as you can as a couple, and this will only lead to enhancing your relationship.

In the end, financial planning is extremely personal, and you need to find and follow what works best for you.

— By Lawrence D. Sprung, a certified financial planner and founder/wealth advisor at Mitlin Financial Inc.

Continue Reading

Personal Finance

House GOP tax bill calls for $30,000 ‘SALT’ deduction cap

Published

on

Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) speaks during a House Committee on Ways and Means in the Longworth House Office Building on April 30, 2024 in Washington, D.C.

Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images

House Republicans are calling for a higher limit on the deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT, as part of President Donald Trump‘s tax and spending package.

The House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax, released the full text of its portion of the bill on Monday afternoon. The SALT provision would raise the cap to $30,000 for those with a modified adjusted gross income of $400,000 or less.

However, the SALT deduction limit has been a sticking point in tax bill negotiations and the provision could still change significantly. The committee is scheduled to debate and vote on the legislation on Tuesday afternoon.    

More from Personal Finance:
Trump’s tax cuts: The key issues and who stands to benefit
Changes for Social Security beneficiaries to monitor under new agency leadership
With foreign tourists boycotting the U.S., businesses brace for falling sales

Enacted via the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or TCJA, of 2017, there’s a $10,000 limit on the federal deduction on state and local taxes, known as SALT, which will sunset after 2025 without action from Congress.

Currently, if you itemize tax breaks, you can’t deduct more than $10,000 in levies paid to state and local governments, including income and property taxes.

Raising the SALT cap has been a priority for certain lawmakers from high-tax states like California, New Jersey and New York. With a slim House Republican majority, those voices could impact negotiations.

While Trump enacted the $10,000 SALT cap in 2017, he reversed his position on the campaign trail last year, vowing to “get SALT back” if elected again. He has renewed calls for reform since being sworn into office.

Lawmakers have floated several updates, including a complete repeal, which seems unlikely with a tight budget and several competing priorities, experts say.

“It all has to come together in the context of the broader package,” but a higher SALT deduction limit could be possible, Garrett Watson, director of policy analysis at the Tax Foundation, told CNBC earlier this month.

Here’s who could be impacted.

How to claim the SALT deduction

When filing taxes, you choose the greater of the standard deduction or your itemized deductions, including SALT capped at $10,000, medical expenses above 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, charitable gifts and others.

Starting in 2018, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the standard deduction, and it adjusts for inflation yearly. For 2025, the standard deduction is $15,000 for single filers and $30,000 for married couples filing jointly.

Because of the high threshold, the vast majority of filers — roughly 90%, according to the latest IRS data — use the standard deduction and don’t benefit from itemized tax breaks.

Typically, itemized deductions increase with income, and higher earners tend to owe more in state income and property taxes, according to Watson.

Who benefits from a higher SALT limit

Generally, higher earners would benefit most from raising the SALT deduction limit, experts say.

For example, an earlier proposal, which would remove the “marriage penalty” in federal income taxes, involves increasing the cap on the SALT deduction for married couples filing jointly from $10,000 to $20,000.

That would offer almost all the tax break to households making more than $200,000 per year, according to a January analysis from the Tax Policy Center.

“If you raise the cap, the people who benefit the most are going to be upper-middle income,” said Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Watch CNBC's full interview with Senate Majority Leader John Thune

Of course, upper-middle income looks different depending on where you live, he said.

Forty of the top 50 U.S. congressional districts impacted by the SALT limit are in California, Illinois, New Jersey or New York, a Bipartisan Policy Center analysis from before 2022 redistricting found.

If lawmakers repealed the cap completely, households making $430,000 or more would see nearly three-quarters of the benefit, according to a separate Tax Policy Center analysis from September.

Continue Reading

Personal Finance

After UK, China trade deals, tariff rate still highest since 1934: Yale

Published

on

A cargo ship moors at the container terminal berth of Lianyungang Port for loading and unloading containers in Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, China, on May 9, 2025.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

The tariff rate the U.S. puts on imports remains higher than any point since the 1930s, despite trade deals struck with China and the United Kingdom in recent days, according to a Yale Budget Lab report issued Monday.

The total U.S. average effective tariff rate is 17.8% — the highest since 1934 — even after accounting for these policy changes, according to the Yale Budget Lab.

That’s equivalent to an increase of 15.4 percentage points from the average effective tariff rate before Trump’s second term, the report said.

Current tariff policies in effect are expected to cost the average household $2,800 over the “short run,” according to the report. It doesn’t specify a time frame.

China and U.K. trade deals

Roger Altman: U.S.-China talks are encouraging but preliminary

Consumers will likely alter their buying

Prior to the China and U.K. trade pacts, consumers faced an overall average effective tariff rate of 28%, the highest since 1901, the Yale Budget Lab estimated in a prior analysis on April 15.

The estimated decline from that average tariff rate “is almost entirely due to the lower rates on Chinese imports — the US-UK trade deal has minimal effects on average tariff rates,” its most recent report said.

Businesses and consumers are likely to change their purchase behavior to avoid the higher costs associated with tariffs, especially from China, according to economists.

After accounting for these substitution effects, the average effective tariff rate would be 16.4%, the highest since 1937, the Yale Budget Lab estimates.

The timing of that substitution is “highly uncertain,” it said.

“Some shifts are likely to happen quickly — within days or weeks — while others may take longer,” according to the report.

Continue Reading

Personal Finance

Fidelity technical issues kept some investors out of their accounts

Published

on

A Fidelity Investments branch.

Nicholas Pfosi | The Boston Globe | Getty Images

Limited ability to trade in a big market day

The brokerage’s login issue may have been a greater problem for day traders, institutional investors and options investors, or investors who want to buy at a certain price before the market jumps, said certified financial planner Lazetta Rainey Braxton, the founder and managing principal of The Real Wealth Coterie.

Final Trades: Citigroup, Truist Financial and Amazon

Not having access to their brokerage accounts during big market swings can hurt their strategies because they are actively managing their portfolios, said Braxton, a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

But for long-haul investors, a login glitch that lasts a few hours might not make a huge difference, she said.

“Most investors are not chasing the market,” Braxton said.

‘Remain calm’

Technical issues at brokerages have happened in the past. In August, customers of Charles Schwab and Fidelity Investments were unable to trade in the middle of a steep market sell-off of global equities.

If a blip like this happens again, “it is important for investors to remain calm,” said Carolyn McClanahan, a certified financial planner and the founder of Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Florida. She’s also a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council.

While it can be a grievance at the moment, such technical difficulties are temporary — “these outages usually don’t last long,” said CFP Cathy Curtis, the founder and CEO of Curtis Financial Planning in Oakland, California.

And besides, “tech outages will not affect the value of investments,” said Curtis, a member of CNBC’s Financial Advisor Council

Continue Reading

Trending