About

In this edition, we will go into a bit more detail on our household income and expenses. We’re sharing this with relative specificity because it helps us to focus our thinking, is easier and because, from our experience, content like this doesn’t always provide examples to this depth for people in this demographic facing some of this privilege and challenge. 

Overview of gross salary

Her

• Base: £42k
• Bonus: None
• Other (income from a family owned property): £6k Gross
• Total Gross Income (i.e. before taxes): £48k

Him

• Base £110k 
• Bonus c. £20k
• Total Gross Income: c£130k

The baby recently started nursery, and in line with how the system is set up, we have adjusted pension contributions to optimise our effective household net income. We will do a separate blog looking at that in more detail. 

For now, the important point is that on average, net household income per month is £7,200.

The usual monthly spend breaks down as follows:

Income	7,200
Mortgage	2,200
Flat Service charge	60
Car (petrol, insurance)	55
Nursery	1,100
Council Tax	204
Electricity	100
Water	37
Internet	36
Entertainment (Now TV, Prime Video, Netflix)	25
Salaries to her & him	1,000
TV Licence	13
Baby savings account	25
Groceries	550
Takeaways	240
Transport	83
Baby Activities	160
Credit card bill from other lifestyle stuff	1,000
Expenses	6,788
Remainder	412

To be honest, typing this out and seeing the above shows us that we could, and probably should, make some changes.

The challenge we face is, it’s not exactly obvious what to change, how and to what end. 

That said, we know we could be building more of a rainy day fund. 

Plus, we know that we need to save cash to build a deposit, if we ever manage to move to a bigger home. The economic challenge of this will be laid out in a separate post.

We know that we might need/want to upgrade the car (which was a gift) at some point too. 

So, we will be making some changes in the coming weeks to get us on the right path to that. We look forward to sharing that with you in the hope that it might get you thinking about your financial planning/budgeting too.

Our Approach to Joint Finances: Unsure if perfect, but seems to work

Managing joint finances as a couple can be tricky. Awkward conversations about who earns more, who contributes what, who consumes what, etc.

We’ve found a system that works well for us, however it took some time to get here, and many conversations. Once the baby was born we became more of ‘one unit’ as opposed to two individuals. We’ll talk more about what we used to do, the challenges and how we transitioned in another blog. Our approach aims to provide transparency and fairness whilst still allowing for some level of personal spending freedom.

Here’s how we do it:

Our Income Structure

Each month, our combined net salaries c.£7,600 are paid into a single joint account. 

This account is the central hub of our financial management. 

From here, we make sure that the essentials are covered, and we each receive an equal amount of spending money.

Distributing the Income

Once our salaries hit the account, we both receive an equal ‘salary’ of £500 into our personal accounts. This is our individual spending money—no questions asked, no need for justification. It gives each of us a sense of independence and the freedom to manage our personal expenses however we choose.

Covering the Essentials

After our personal ‘salaries’ are distributed, the next priority is the mortgage. Each month, £1,565 (soon to be £2,130) is automatically deducted to cover this. We both agree that keeping a roof over our heads is the top priority, so this payment is non-negotiable.

Once the mortgage is sorted, the remainder of the funds is used to cover household bills. We’re talking utilities, insurance, and any other regular expenses that keep our home running smoothly. By prioritising these, we ensure that the basics are always taken care of before we think about anything else.

The Operational Account

Finally, after covering all the necessary expenses, we transfer the remaining balance into a separate joint account—our ‘operational’ account. This is our day-to-day spending fund, used for groceries, outings and any other shared costs. It keeps our finances organised and makes budgeting for the month much easier.

Why This Works for Us

This approach keeps things fair and simple. By dividing our money into personal spending, essential payments, and shared expenses, we ensure that we’re both contributing equally and that our household runs smoothly. Plus, it gives us the flexibility to enjoy our individual freedoms without compromising our financial goals.

Who we are

Hello and welcome to The Clueless Couple blog. We’re a married couple in our early thirties who live and work in London and have a one-year-old baby. We’ll try and provide as much financial detail as possible with you, sharing our conversations and disputes, while also trying to preserve some level of anonymity.

Our purpose

We aim to create a safe space/resource for people with relatively privileged financial positions to learn from other like-minded people. This is for people who know they’re earning a good wage in the UK context, but for which tailored and personal financial advice is out of the question.

Speaking about money with friends and family can be a surprisingly tough thing to do. It can also be difficult to find people to talk to that actually understand your full situation. There is so much advice and research available on the internet that it can become overwhelming and actually result in no proactive decisions being taken, or bad decisions being made.

What we earn

In terms of household income, we’re doing okay! With both of us earning above the UK median wage, it is safe to say we’re quite privileged.

To be specific, our earnings:

• Her: around £50k a year
• Him: around £110k a year

We’re incredibly fortunate. That said, with one half of us having spent some time on maternity leave in the past year, and obviously managing the extra spend on our little one, finances have started to take a hit… and it is not cheap living in London, or anywhere in the UK for that matter 

What we have

Current earnings are only one part of the equation. Given we have different family backgrounds, we have different amounts and types of savings/other investments/assets. We’ll share this and the impact of this at various stages. We’re also lucky to have one half of our family nearby, which helps with childcare.

What we’re trying to achieve through this blog

As mentioned above, despite being relatively high earners, we are acutely aware we’re not making the best choices.

The goals of this blog are namely to help bring focus and clarity to our own decision making around our household finances, which will include:

1. Defining what we’re trying to achieve – as specifically as possible e.g. move home within [X] years, pay off mortgage within [X] years, retire at age [X] with [£Y] in the pension
2. Showing, practically, how we are making decisions using all of the information we have available e.g. how to decide how much to contribute to pensions to deliver the best household impact (across different time frames i.e. now and in the future), or how do we think about savings for the baby and the associated challenges with that (when do we want them to receive it, what should they be able to do with it etc.)
3. Finding ways to make sensible but easy changes to everyday life in order to increase our chances of achieving our household financial objectives

And hopefully it might provoke some thought for you too.