A financial consultant asks Spanish couples if they share expenses at home: they all do it wrong

And the fact is that, although the majority of Spanish couples they advocate for a half count to break down the monthly expenses of a home, the truth is that there are other measures that are much more effective when it comes to doing the accounting in a home. Even more so if we take into account that, in many relationships, there is a big salary difference among its members, which can be unfair in terms of the percentage of salary.

Ask several couples about how they share expenses at home: the answer is unanimous

He wanted to talk about it now Silvia Martina financial consulting firm with more than 20 years of experience in the sector. The woman, who has been sharing tricks to take care of our financial healthwanted to ask many couples about how they pay for household bills and has pointed out one of the big mistakes that is made in these cases.

The financial expert has gone out to the streets to talk to people who They share a flat with their partner and he wanted to know how they divide these expenses from the family economy: «Do you do it halfway or does it depend on the salary difference?», he asked the respondents. For the most part, the young people in the video have admitted that they usually split the costs in half: “I see that it is essential to share expenses», one of these has assured.

However, after hearing these opinions and as Silvia Martín explains, this way of half-sharing expenses is a very common mistake that we make: «I have to tell you that you are doing it wrong», he noted in this video on his Instagram account before showing how to “do it correctly and fairly” for both parties in the relationship.

The financial consultant explains why we should not half-assess expenses

In this case, he has insisted that the best way to manage these expenses is always with proportional parts based on salary of each one and wanted to give an example to demonstrate it more easily: «Let’s imagine that two salaries go into a house, one of 1,500 and another of 1,300 euros», the financial consulting firm began by explaining.

In these cases, Martín explains, what we should do “add the two salaries”which in this example “would be 2,800 euros”, and divide the total between each of the couple’s salaries. In the case of the example she gives, the specialist has explained that by dividing 2,800 euros by 1,500 on the one hand and by 1,300 on the other, it gives us 0.53 and 0.46 respectively.

Once this is done, we just have to multiply 0.53×100 and 0.46×100 and we will get the percentage that each one should pay so that it was equitable. “This will give us that the person who charges 1,500 euros has to pay 53% of the expenses and the person who charges 1,300, 46% of the expenses,” explained the analyst, demonstrating that this is the best way to split expenses as a couple.

The comments, against this system to share expenses

Despite this theory, the truth is that there are many users who, after watching his video, have expressed their opposition to this criterion of dividing expenses at home. Some have criticized the consultancy’s initiative, insisting that “It is one thing to share expenses and another to share income.“, one of them lamented, while another has assured that, with this system, only “the one who earns the most is screwed” and “the effort is penalized.”

On the other hand, one of these Internet users has insisted that neither of these two methods should be followed, since the calculation must adapt to the situation at that moment”: “I think that in a cohabitation relationship you have to be in good times and in bad times. All the income that comes into the home is for the common good and that there is no lack of things necessary for anyone,” the woman reproached.