Couples financial planning: joint finances for married couples in India

Couples financial planning isn’t one big plan. It’s a handful of decisions you make together and revisit every year. Here is a simple order to work through.

1. Talk about money first

Share the basics: what each of you earns, what you owe (loans, credit card balances), what you already save, and what you each want in five and twenty years. It’s awkward once, and it saves years of guessing. Debts matter most, because one partner’s missed payments can affect plans you make together.

2. Joint account, separate accounts, or both

A joint account is a bank account held in two or more names. How it can be run depends on the mode you choose when opening it. RBI’s 2025 directions on settling claims of deceased customers list the common survivorship styles: “either or survivor”, “former or survivor” and similar. With “either or survivor”, either of you can operate the account, and if one of you dies, the bank can pay the balance to the survivor.

Many couples use a mix: each keeps a personal savings account, and both pay into one joint account for shared bills.

3. Split shared costs fairly

An illustration. Partner A takes home 1,20,000 rupees a month, partner B 80,000. Shared costs are 60,000.

• Equal split: 30,000 each. That’s 25% of A’s pay but 37.5% of B’s. A is left with 90,000, B with 50,000.
• Proportional split: A earns 60% of the household income, so pays 36,000; B pays 24,000. That’s 30% of each partner’s pay, leaving 84,000 and 56,000.

Neither is “correct”. Pick one, write it down, and revisit it when incomes change. A budget such as the 50-30-20 rule can sit on top.

4. Shared goals and an emergency fund

List your joint goals (a home, a child’s education, retirement) and give each a rough amount and date. Before investing, build an emergency fund. The emergency fund lesson suggests three to six months of essential expenses. If all 60,000 rupees of shared costs above are essentials, that’s 1.8 lakh to 3.6 lakh rupees.

5. Insure both partners

• Life cover. Term insurance covers one life, so each partner the family depends on needs a policy. That includes a partner who runs the home: see term insurance for homemakers and how much term cover you need.
• Health cover. A family floater covers both of you under one sum insured. Compare it in family floater vs individual health insurance.

6. Nominees and wills

Name each other, or others, as nominee on every account and policy. From 1 November 2025, bank deposit accounts allow up to four nominees, according to a Ministry of Finance release. For a joint account, RBI’s directions say the nominee’s right arises only after all the joint holders have died. A nominee receives money as a trustee for the legal heirs, so each of you should also write a will. The nomination lesson explains the difference.

7. Tax: you are still two taxpayers

There’s no joint tax return in India. Each spouse files their own ITR and picks their own tax regime.

A gift between spouses isn’t taxed, since a spouse is a “relative” under the Income-tax Act, 2025 (see tax on gifts). But under section 99 of the Act, income from money or assets you give your spouse without adequate consideration is added to your income. This is clubbing of income. If you gift your spouse 5 lakh rupees for a fixed deposit, the interest is taxed as yours.

Did you know? Shared bills can affect your credit too. If you pay joint costs on one partner’s card, that partner’s credit utilisation rises. Read how a credit card limit increase works before either of you accepts a higher limit to cover them.

The takeaway. Talk openly, agree how to split costs, build one emergency fund, insure both lives, and keep nominees and wills current. Then review it all once a year.

More to read: health insurance for parents, how to build wealth, setting money goals, and old vs new tax regime.