38% of Romanians sharing their expenses with their partner or family have not monitored these expenses in any way in the last two years, according to a study organised by ING Bank Romania. Moreover, only 17% have a well-defined budget for the future.
For those who monitor their common expenses, the preferred tool is the banking application, used for this purpose by 36% of the respondents.
Couples, most eager to pool money
Almost half (48%) of the participants manage their expenses jointly. Of these, 86% share their living expenses most frequently with their partner. Young people (18-29) are more likely to share expenses with parents (28%), but 66% of them still share them in couple. Women would like to share such an account with children (35% versus 24% of men).
Bank account or cash. Those who keep all the money together prefer to keep it in a bank account, while respondents who only keep a fraction of the money together said they keep it in cash at home.
Almost all participants said they share food expenses (89%), followed by utilities (83%), holidays (75%) and home maintenance (72%).
Holidays, the most common reason to save together, for all age groups
21% of respondents sharing expenses said they fail to save.
79% manage to put money aside, mainly for holidays (61%), healthcare (45%) and the future of children (44%). The youngest have different goals, they save more to buy a home (26%) and less for health or retirement, but holidays are also in the top, with the same share of 61%. More men are more inclined to manage their investments alone (21% versus 7% of women).
Those with higher incomes, but also higher education, save more monthly, have a safety fund (3-6 salaries) and have investments.
„Almost 70% of respondents find the idea of opening an account for joint spending appealing, according to our study. This year, we launched the ING Together Joint Expense Account, dedicated to all those who need to share their expenses constantly, couples and roommates, friends planning a holiday, or parents and adult children. The solution is available in the Home’Bank application, from where owners of current accounts in lei can mandate up to three people on an already owned account or on a new account opened for this purpose. More than offering a new banking product, we aim to ease the discussion about money in any kind of relationship, to strengthen it and to ensure its financial stability. In addition, we also launched Statistics, a relevant tool that allows customers to track in Home’Bank and analyse monthly payments, both in terms of individual budget and common expenses,” saidEleni Skoura, Head of Retail Banking, ING Bank Romania.
Effective management of common needs, mirroring the need for control
In respondents’ view, the main benefits of a common account are: managing some expenses related to the house, such as rent, utilities, food (57%), the easiness of money management (52%) and payment of common debts (43%). Only 16% said they wanted to see how the other person was handling their money.
Most of them want to do general operations: payments, transfers, deposits and withdrawals.
The main reason that would prevent them from having a common account is related to habituation, because they have not had one before (34%). At the same time, 23% believe they manage money best and want full control, while 21% do not want anyone else to be able to take money from their account at any time.
Young people (aged 18-29) are more inclined to manage their own money or savings. At the same time, they consult less with the other person before making large purchases (52% versus 71-74% for the elderly).
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