Shared expenses

What It Means

Shared expenses are costs that two or more people agree to split, such as rent, utilities, groceries or a streaming plan everyone uses. They sit alongside personal expenses, which each person pays alone, like a gym membership or their own phone. Deciding which costs go in which group comes before deciding how to divide the shared ones.

How It Sounds at Home

• "Groceries are shared, but takeout's on you."
• "Is Netflix a shared bill or yours?"
• "Let's list everything we split before we move in."

The Breakdown

Worked example. Nia and Omar move in together and list their monthly costs (example amounts), marking the ones they'll share:

Their shared costs come to $2,330 a month, or $1,165 each on an even split. The gym and the car payment stay with the person who uses them.

Three common ways to pay them

1. One person pays a bill and the other pays back their part, often through a payment appPeer-to-peer paymentMoney sent directly from one person to another through a payment app or a bank's app, such as Zelle, Venmo or Cash App. See more.
2. Each person holds certain bills, and they even out the difference once a month.
3. Both pay into a shared account used only for joint bills, split 50/50 or by income, as guides from Fidelity, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo describe.

What the result means. The shared total is the number to divide. If an even split takes a much bigger bite out of one person's pay than the other's, a split by income may fit better; the proportional bill splitProportional bill splitSplitting shared bills in proportion to each person's income, so someone earning 60% of the combined pay covers 60% of the shared costs. See more page shows how.

Good to Know

Chase's guide to shared expenses recommends setting clear expectations first: what's shared, how it's divided and when people settle up. If you pay each other back with a peer-to-peer app, the FTC's tips and Chase's guides say to make sure you know who you're paying and to check the recipient before you send, because many of these payments can't be reversed. A shared account changes who can reach the money, since the CFPB notes that in most cases either owner of a joint accountJoint accountA bank or credit union account owned by two or more people, each of whom can usually deposit, withdraw, move money or close it. See more can withdraw from it or close it.

Related Terms and Categories

• Household bill split

  Dividing a household's shared bills, such as rent, utilities and internet, among the people who live there, and settling up who owes whom.

• Proportional bill split

  Splitting shared bills in proportion to each person's income, so someone earning 60% of the combined pay covers 60% of the shared costs.

• Peer-to-peer payment

  Money sent directly from one person to another through a payment app or a bank's app, such as Zelle, Venmo or Cash App.

• Joint account

  A bank or credit union account owned by two or more people, each of whom can usually deposit, withdraw, move money or close it.

Household money and budgeting