'I split every dollar I earn with my best friend. It's changed everything.'

Caitlin and Tahlia met four years ago at work. The former had been working at the marketing agency for 18 months when Tahlia joined the team.

It didn't take long for the girls to click, both professionally and personally. And, just nine months later, they made the move to the Gold Coast to help grow the business.

"That's when I'd say our friendship got really close," Tahlia told Mamamia. "We were spending nearly every hour of the day together, and the bond naturally followed.

Eventually, the marketing girls decided they wanted to quit their agency jobs and work together across similar clients.

"We were pretty much building out retainers and projects in tandem, to the point where we were splitting the work 50/50," Caitlin, 26, said.

Outside of work hours, the best friends would often jointly spend money on things.

"I was buying her coffee in the morning, then she would buy me one, and it was just too annoying. We were doing everything together. We were pretty much a couple at that point," said Caitlin.

So, when they decided to pack up and move to New York, Caitlin was struck with an idea.

"I actually posed the question to Tahlia… I basically said: 'I know it sounds crazy, but doesn't it make sense that we just join all of our finances?'."

Watch: Caitlin Emiko on splitting her salary with her best friend. Post continues after video.

After all, they were going to be splitting their rent down the middle, and didn't know anyone else in New York.

"We'd be going out to breakfast together, going to lunch together, going to dinner together." 

It just made sense to Caitlin. And Tahlia thought so too. So, it was decided, the girls would pool their earnings and split it 50/50.

They made the move to the Big Apple. At this stage, both Caitlin and Tahlia were working freelance, meaning, to find a rental, they had to work with guarantors.

"When you first move to the city, you don't have a credit score, and that's a big thing when trying to find an apartment," said Tahlia, who found a job with a salary around a year into living there. Caitlin still works on a freelance basis.

These days, most of their money comes from US-based businesses.

"Which is awesome, because that means we're getting paid USD versus AUD," said Tahlia. "However, for the sake of the clients that we work across, we have a joint account in Australia, and in the US."

"It's almost like we are paying ourselves a salary," added Caitlin. "For example, if Tahlia made $1,000, and I made $100, it would go into the shared account and then get split 50/50. Then you can spend that on whatever you want." 

Caitlin and Tahlia also share an account for rent, an account for tax, and about eight other accounts within the US and Australia. 

As you can imagine, there's a lot of trust involved in the arrangement. While Caitlin works on the creative strategy, Tahlia manages the finances and budget.

"Tahls will be like,'This is for tax. Don't touch this'," laughed Caitlin.

Prior to opening the joint accounts, the best friends didn't seek any financial advice nor sign any contacts. But they were on the same page from day one.

When they moved to New York, best friends Caitlin and Tahlia decided to combine their incomes. Image: Instagram/@tahliaedwards

"I feel like we have really strong communication, and we also have the same mindset around money; it wouldn't have worked if one of us had a different mindset," Tahlia told Mamamia.

"We always say, the moment someone were to come to the table and be like, 'I earned so much more than you', it would just completely ruin the dynamic.

"We're in it for the long run, and we plan to do so many other different things together, and with our money combined. You might have one month when you're down and the other person's up, but the moment you look at it granularly like that, it would just completely ruin the dynamic."

Naturally, with freelance work, there are ebbs and flows when it comes to income, and often payment won't be received until months after the work is completed. This means that Tahlia's salary provides "some stability".

"We always say, Caitlin's work is the 'fun money'," said Tahlia. "The lights are on, we're paying rent, and then Caitlin's is more so we can do fun stuff like the Hamptons.

Despite any discrepancies in earnings, the friends maintain that they don't fight about money, nor do they police each other's spending habits. 

"We don't necessarily have rules," said Tahlia. "We're definitely… I'll speak for myself, at least, I'm more of an enabler. For example, when I signed on to my US company, I got a 5k bonus, 'I was like, Caitlin, let's go to Vegas!'

"I would say we're both bad at egging each other on in those situations, which probably isn't good for the savings. But I feel like we're pretty aligned.  I think we know what each other is thinking. It's never like someone wants to do something and the other person doesn't."

image: Instagram/@caitlin.emiko

The only downside, says Caitlin, is when business is booming for Tahlia and she, as a freelancer, isn't earning as much as she would like. But this merely serves as motivation.

"You're actually almost dependent, so you're like, I need to be pulling my weight, I've got someone relying on me, whereas if you didn't, you could cruise a little bit more. It probably just makes us work harder."

Along with investments made with Tahlia, Caitlin shares a house with her ex-partner. If she sells it, she said she will share the profits with Tahlia. 

"My mentality is, I wouldn't be able to be in the position I am now without Tahls, and vice versa," Caitlin told Mamamia.

"So, moving forward, my mindset would be to sell that investment property with my ex-boyfriend. I'm assuming that he'll buy with his new girlfriend, and then Tahls and I would just invest in either property or businesses in the US together. I would take a bit of that money and we would have some fun. It also wouldn't be, like, a million dollars. But even if it was, I'd still split it with her."

It's been three years now since Caitlin and Tahlia started sharing their income, and things are still going strong. As for what the future holds, the best friends think things will "naturally evolve".

"When we do eventually meet our partners, get married, all of that stuff, we would still have joint investments. Hopefully, by that time, we'll be working on our own business or something together anyway, so it will still be joint."

And for anyone worried about a possible falling out, the best friends aren't fussed.

"You know when people meet their partner and are like, 'When you know, you know?" That's what it's like," said Caitlin. "I'm just happy I found this one, let alone trying to find someone romantically."

You can find Caitlin and Tahlia on TikTok.

Feature Image: Instagram/caitlin.emiko/@tahliaedwards