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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: rp2030411 on October 18, 2016, 01:00:58 PM

Title: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: rp2030411 on October 18, 2016, 01:00:58 PM
Hi, long-time reader and I swear I've seen this topic on here before but for the life of me cannot locate it. My question for the Mustachian community is this:

My SO and I both have significant incomes and while I'm far more mustachian than she is, I am nowhere close to "good" as it relates to the MM community.
We are both high-income earners and I earn approx double what she does annually. I've tried selling her on the idea of living solely off of her earnings and banking/investing my salary.  Being able to do this would probably lead to our joint retirement in the next 5-6years. She is open to the idea.

Does anyone have recommendations on a specific credit card to use where we could have an equal monthly cap on it, and that is what we will each use for our "discretionary spending" each month?  We agree that there would be no cheating by going around the limit and withdrawing extra cash, etc.  Once we hit our monthly discretionary limit, thats it.

My SO is not good at staying on a budget, but she is open to trying this, and I want to make it as easy as possible for her so we have a good chance at success (not bagging on the SO; this would also be very good for me as well).

Thanks in advance for the replies
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: Zikzin on October 18, 2016, 01:11:25 PM

Are you planning to credit hack while on budget? It depends on what you both enjoy doing. Do you like to travel? shopping? overnight getaways? cashback?

There's tons of credit cards for different purposes.

If you just want to both stay on budget, you can also do the envelope system.,
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: SilveradoBojangles on October 18, 2016, 01:29:05 PM
Why not use a debit card, in which your fun money is automatically deposited into each of your accounts on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, and you can use it as you see fit, or not use it and let it carry over to the next month. This seems easier than a credit card to me (unless you are really looking to maximize your points, miles, etc.), and once the money is gone it's gone.

An alternative would be a pre-paid card that money is added to.
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: Cwadda on October 18, 2016, 01:35:46 PM
Quote
Does anyone have recommendations on a specific credit card to use where we could have an equal monthly cap on it, and that is what we will each use for our "discretionary spending" each month?  We agree that there would be no cheating by going around the limit and withdrawing extra cash, etc.  Once we hit our monthly discretionary limit, thats it.
Citi doublecash comes to mind. 1% cash back and another 1% when you pay it off. You can't force it to only give you X amount but you can just track it through mint.com, etc. Then if you go over just deduct it from next month's.
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: redbird on October 18, 2016, 01:40:16 PM
Why not use a debit card, in which your fun money is automatically deposited into each of your accounts on a bi-weekly or monthly basis, and you can use it as you see fit, or not use it and let it carry over to the next month. This seems easier than a credit card to me (unless you are really looking to maximize your points, miles, etc.), and once the money is gone it's gone.

An alternative would be a pre-paid card that money is added to.

This. The problem with credit cards is that most likely the balance possible on the card will be higher than whatever you agree the budget will be. It'll be so easy to unintentionally spend more than the max budget without thinking about it.

Debit cards it's impossible to go over the balance - just make sure that she's watching the balance enough that you don't get charged overdraft fees.
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: galliver on October 18, 2016, 06:57:20 PM
My bf is an authorized user on my AmEx (excellent rewards on groceries and gas!) One of the things that made me comfortable with adding him is that AmEx lets you set a limit on additional users' cards that is less than the actual limit. I never ended up doing that, but starting out it was good to know I could. However, I don't know if you could get an additional card for yourself with a smaller limit.

Another possibility is that all my cards let me set an alert for a purchase or a balance over a certain amount. So I usually get a notification if I buy flights, book hotels, etc. It's not a hard limit but it would probably  keep you both honest?
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: nyxst on October 18, 2016, 07:10:25 PM
Isn't it bad for your credit rating to run a card up to its limit anyway? I think a high credit limit with a low "credit usage" was part of what makes up good scores... The prepaid card would be the best option IMO. My teenager just got her first ATM card (her own money earned at her job and in her own account not affiliated with mine) and we will see how that works out, but if it seems she is getting dinged with overdrafts and whatnot, I plan to switch her over to a prepaid..
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: rp2030411 on October 19, 2016, 08:08:49 AM
Thanks everyone. I did a little research on pre-paid credit cards where you can set a limit (ours would be monthly) and then once its gone, its gone. The SO and i would still pay major bills like mortgage and car payments - i know, let the face punching begin - out of our joint account. This would be for discretionary (i.e. her CrossFit membership, i like to eat lunch out occasionally).

Using my friend Google I checked out a few different finance sites and they recommend the following, depending on your personal needs and preferences. There are many more than this, including some that have cash back, but may not be able to linked to your bank account, or allow multiple accounts to the one card.

1) Bluebird by Amex and Walmart - highest score in 2013 Consumer Reports rating, can link 4 accounts to it (kids, SO, etc), can direct deposit into account or at various WM stores, no monthly fe
2) Kaiku Visa (Bancorp) - in case you want one thats not an Amex
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/nerdwallets-best-prepaid-debit-cards/

3) 2) Amex Serve Cash Back  http://www.thesimpledollar.com/best-prepaid-debit-cards/
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: Lake161 on October 19, 2016, 10:59:27 AM
My husband and I tried using an Amex prepaid card like you are suggesting, but it just didn't work because there were so many places that don't take Amex. I'd suggest going with a Visa branded prepaid if you can.
Title: Re: SO credit card budget suggestions?
Post by: rp2030411 on October 19, 2016, 11:44:25 AM
My husband and I tried using an Amex prepaid card like you are suggesting, but it just didn't work because there were so many places that don't take Amex. I'd suggest going with a Visa branded prepaid if you can.

Thanks