moving in with boyfriend

[scottish girl]

Hi,

I am graduating from university this year and planning to move in with my boyfriend. We are going to start saving money this year? Does anyone have any tips on the best way to go about this? I don't graduate till July so we are hoping to have most of the year to save up.

We also need to save up for a holiday this year too.

Thanks,

scottish girl

[Fern]

Your question is very, very general and i'm guessing people here wouldn't know where to start without a more specific focus. Hopefully by reading the posts and articles here you'll get plenty of ideas...

[Ima saver]

I feel the best thing you should do, is each open a roth IRA in each of your names. Yes, I agree with Fern, we need more details.

[scottish girl]

I have an ISA already which we are both planning to put money in. Is that the equivalent of an IRA? We both work part-time, and he has more debts than me.

[Ima saver]

What is an ISA? A roth Ira is an account that you can draw the money out of tax free when you retire. If you start one now, you will be a millionaire by the time you retire?
It is best to put your roth in a good mutual funds. I reccommend Vanguard. If you don't have the minimum, you can open one at the bank.

[scottish girl]

An ISA is an Individual Savings Account, the maximum you are allowed to save is £3000.

[Ima saver]

Do you live in the USA?

[scottish girl]

No I live in Scotland.

[sweeps]

SG, welcome. Contributing to your ISA is great. Regarding the cohabitation, I recommend setting the rules with your boyfriend in advance on how expenses and debts will be paid. Will you split the expenses 50/50? Will you split expenses based on income levels? Will one of you cover the rent while the other covers utilities? etc. etc.

Commingling (love that word) your finances carelessly could hurt your credit, your future goals, and/or your relationship.

[scottish girl]

Ideally we would like to split the expenses 50/50 but he works more hours than me. He may end up paying more than me. We haven't discussed everything yet as we're still working on saving up first.