Quote:
Originally Posted by MelC
My fiance is from England. He work for himself for his UK based company. He has UK bank accounts. He cannot open up a bank account here because he is not a citizen and does not work for a US company. This will be the case even we get married (he does not want to become a citizen for business reasons).
SO now about his business.. he is a consultant and works when work comes in. He makes good money when hes working. Hes actually been working almost every day and some weekend days since the start of this year. Today was the first day with no work, so now to worry- when will the next project start? He makes about $350/day. I make 2K/month.
He has a flat in the UK which he is renting out so gets the mortgage paid that way. We just bought a house here together with a 1200K/mo mortgage. Monthly basic bills are all we really have besides that, no car loan or credit card debt.
OK, so how do we make fair savings and paying monthly bills? 10% of my paychecks go to my IRA through work. He doesnt allocate anything towards savings, but he said he'd start contributing $150/mo to my ING acct (again he cant open one here). I also contribute $150/mo to my ING acct. I have stretched myself to the limit with contributing to my IRA and the ING acct.
He has been giving me $500 month for bills.. I just dont know if its fair. And that goes both ways. He has UK bills he had before we met (taxes, etc) and I have US stuff I had before we met (student loans).. When he is working, he makes way more than I do. But my work is consistent.
I think he should put a fixed percentage of his pay into a savings acct in case he goes a certain amount of time without work. I also get $500/mo child support. We could basically live on my salary, even more reason to save his incase we chose to have kids and I stayed home..
 Any advice out there?? |
1) There's such a thing as US Dual Citizenship. You may want to look into it. If he does not want to consider US Citizenship now nor later, you need to ask yourself if you're willing to go back to his country if he loses this job. It sounds as if he's not really wanting to stay in the US (this by virtue of renting out the flat in the UK).
2) Most US Banks require a social security number. As a UK Citizen working for a UK Company... it sounds like he's not interested in obtaining citizenship nor a bank account here. It's probably possible to get a bank account under your SSN. The house is a "we" thing and I don't know how it works to pay such things as property taxes and be constantly transferring money from where it's earned (UK) and where you reside (US)?
3) The part above where I bolded his making approx $350/day (when he works) I'm thinking that you maybe see his contribution of $500/month as a bit unfair to you. This is something you need to discuss with him.
Communication of your concerns especially before marriage can resolve a lot of the "questions" you have here. And it sounds as if you have a few things to discuss. Especially the what if's... and the fairness or lack of fairness that you are feeling.