How to do this in a way that supports freedom, choice and ease ?

Some keys I learned from watching a group of around 10 people share income and assets is:

--- trust,

--- flexibility

--- each person recording how he/she spends money, which is shared with the entire group.

A challenge I see for a group of people sharing income is tracking the money flow. If people are not aware of how the money is flowing, they can’t make informed choices. So, there needs to be a way to track money flows.

I believe the intention for tracking expenses is key. Is the group tracking to stop people from cheating or spending wrongly ? Is the group tracking so the group can make informed decisions on money ?

I heard that seeking fairness, equal share is not effective for income/asset sharing. This can result in suspicion. Is anyone taking more than their fair share ?

Spending Habits:

Everyone has different ideas of how to spend money. For sharing to work, there needs to be some similarity around this question. If the difference is too great, no one will be happy. So, I believe a part of exploring membership with income sharing is taking time to see what are the spending habits of the person who wants to join and the current members.

How to track cash flows:

One way is to track every item a person buys. Each person keeps a record of how he/she spends money and shares that with the group. The challenge I see is remembering to write down every time I spend.

Another way could be budgets. A member presents a budget and give that much money to follow the budget. If the person does not follow the budget, no problem. That means, the budget didn’t work. It is time to make a new budget.

Which way is better ? Neither, depends what works for the people in the group.

Each person is given a credit/debit card that only he/she/they use. This makes tracking, who is spending what much easier. And, likely the monthly statement can be downloaded into a book keeping program. Now, only the cash expenditures need to be entered individually.

Each person is given X dollars a month in cash. This is for small things, random, impulse buys. This is to simplify tracking expenses. Things like a candy bar, a snack, things that cost a few dollars, don’t have to be individually tracked.

Exit:

It is unlikely the member will spend his/her/they entire life in the income sharing group. It is unlikely the group will exist for the entire time a person is alive.

I see a potential problem when all money is put into building the group, leaving nothing for individual members when they leave.

One possibility is people stay a few years, then move on. Therefore, retirement, long term thinking for individual after he/she/they leave the group is not needed.

One possibility is to have an exit fund. A member gets x dollars per month or year he/she/they was a member, when leaving. The downside this leads to a growing financial liability, the longer the person stays.

Another possibility is the exit fund is give in the moment. Each month members get x dollars per month for an exit fund that they do what they want with it. He/she/they can put it into a retirement or savings account or spend it. There is no financial liability/debt owned to someone, when he/she/they leaves.

I do recommend that groups have a legally binding exit plan to prevent expensive and long drawn out lawsuits when members leave. Some people will leave happy. Some may leave very unhappy. It is impossible to know who will be the happy and unhappy leaver when they first join. I recommend creating an exit plan saying the person gets x dollars for each month, he/she/they were a member. The plan is in writing and supersedes all verbal agreements. The dollar amount is low, so the community can handle the expense. The group can always make a different plan with each member when he/she/they leave. This is a backup plan for when no agreement can be reached. Thereby preventing an expensive, bitter, long drawn out legal fight.

One idea I have is to half for now and half for future. At the end of the financial period, the money remaining after paying expenses is divided in half. One half goes to maintaining and or growing the community assets. The other half goes into an exit fund for members.

Idea for membership process:

First year is about discovering if sharing food and housing works.

Second year is about exploring spending habits and managing money together.

If first and second year go well, then eligible for membership.

----- Further Explanations:

The perspective member lives with the group for a year. This gives the group a chance to find out how the person behaves, communicates, works out or doesn’t work out issues.

I see willing to communicate, hearing different view points and integrity as critical. Is the person willing to share what is going on himself/herself/they ? Does the person have time to share what is going on for him/her/they and listen to others ? Creating and sustaining a connection takes time. Can the person hear opinions that he/she/they disagree with ? Key for working out issues. Does the person’s words match his/her actions ? Trying to share with someone, who says one thing and does another, creates many problems.

For the next year, the person and group share all their finances with each other, including current spending. The perspective member reports his/her/they income and spending just like all the members. The perspective member is not sharing income yet.

This is to explore spending habits. Are they similar or dis-similar ? This is to explore how does the group’s way of reporting income and spending work for the perspective member and vice versa.

After the second year, person is eligible to accepted for membership.