by Raven
I thought that I had written something about this before. I was pretty sure I wrote a Facebook question about this, but I couldn’t remember the responses. Well, I did, and, unfortunately, there were no responses to remember..
It’s still something that interests me.
Twenty-something years ago, I was in a community where we were talking about doing income sharing (which we eventually did). We decided to explore what it meant to people by asking what were their greatest fears about doing it. One person said that their greatest fear was that they would have to account for every pair of socks they bought. I remember that mine was that we would never actually do it.
It amazes me sometimes that people say that they are afraid of income sharing. About two-thirds of US adults have been married at some point and a study found that 70% of married folks share their income. Income sharing isn’t such an unusual thing. What is unusual is to share your money with more than one person.
One of the things that I realized about communal living in general, as I did it, was that it’s a lot less intense than living with one person. With one person, you have to deal with all of their flaws and difficulties. The more folks there are, I found, the more people bring different perspectives and create a bit of a buffer to the intensity each person brings. With money, as well, more people bring more ideas and perspectives, more ways to bring in income, and more folks to deal with it when there are difficulties. More people bring more of a buffer to money anxiety. If we are low on cash, it becomes a collective problem rather than just one person’s worry.
I suspect that trust is the biggest issue in income sharing. And, yes, I know of a few cases where someone (the bookkeeper usually) has taken advantage of the situation–or let it deteriorate to the point it endangered the community. Definitely more than one person should pay attention to the books. (I would advocate that at least two folks who are not close go over a community’s finances regularly.) But I’ve done income sharing many times at this point and there have been very few problems. In fact, in most of the situations, it’s worked out better for everyone involved. But because sharing your income with more than just your partner and/or your offspring is so unusual, there are still folks who are afraid to try it.
So, what are your fears about sharing income?
commune life 
I think the problem is in the name itself. The term implies an individualistic approach in contradiction with what it means or is intended to mean. That’s why it creaks.
On the other hand, in a couple or an egalitarian community, what is shared is a common goal and the income that arises in the vital path towards its achievement is considered from the first moment common as well. They never become individual except formally and are therefore they are not “shared money” but part of the common goods of the collective body.
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