Joint bank accounts for couples?

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  • janine962
    janine962 Posts: 20 Member
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    Joint accounts for 32 years. All the bills out and salary in go there. Tend to use credit card (joint) through the month and pay of at the end of the month.
  • pinkledoodledoo
    pinkledoodledoo Posts: 290 Member
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    Been married 3 years and we have separate accounts and a joint account for major household expenses. Otherwise we work it where he pays the mortgage and I pay the rest of the bills. We each put cash into a grocery kitty each week. It doesn't really work but it's his preference, not mine. I would prefer a joint account.
  • mjboswell
    mjboswell Posts: 114 Member
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    We each have our own account then a joint account for bills. We each contribute a set amount to the joint account for bills and other expenses. The rest goes into our personal accounts. This has worked for us for years.
  • HypersonicFitNess
    HypersonicFitNess Posts: 1,219 Member
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    This is how I see it (my own opinion); you're either committed - together - one - married or your separate. And that means EVERYTHING. If you are committed and IN the relationship you shouldn't hold anything back, if you are....you aren't 100% committed. We agree on what we're spending money on and if I go out and buy something he didn't "budget", yeah he may jump up and down for a minute, but he gets over it, as do I when he does it. It's give and take.

    I've been married going on 24 years and my husband and I share EVERYTHING; we have NO secrets....seriously.

    My sister is on her 3rd marriage; this one isn't that stable and they have separate bank accounts, her husband is always giving his son from a previous marriage money (and he buys drugs with it and he doesn't work and he's in his late 20s...a loser, sorry and he's enabling him).....not a good situation. They have their "own' bills they are responsible for paying.

    My parents used to have separate accounts...they got divorced; they are now back together....they no longer have separate accounts. I'm hoping that means they are not trying to "hide" things from one another any more.

    Just a couple of examples and....my opinion.
  • emergencytennis
    emergencytennis Posts: 864 Member
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    It seems bizarre for a married couple to have separate accounts.

    That said, we do have separate accounts, and I manage both of them.
  • alpine1994
    alpine1994 Posts: 1,915 Member
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    My boyfriend and I have had a joint account for two years and it works out great. We both still have our own accounts, but each month we transfer the same amount into our joint account and pay all of our bills and joint expenses out of it. Makes it so much easier than splitting stuff. We each pay for our own expenses from our own accounts, like my car insurance and personal expenses. We use the joint account when we go out to eat or do things together though.
  • fitbum19
    fitbum19 Posts: 198 Member
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    We have a joint account, but I manage the finances. I do the budget, and I decide what we can/can't buy. It works for us. My hubs has zero desire to have anything to do with the finances, lol. It's ALL OUR MONEY, there is no his or mine. But I do the managing, because well...he's no good at it! lol
  • datguy2011
    datguy2011 Posts: 477 Member
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    Seperate. always seperate.
  • MissAnjy
    MissAnjy Posts: 2,480 Member
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    When I was married we had our own seperate accounts and we had an agreement on who paid what bills. He paid the mortgage, and I paid everything else. It worked for us. He was terrible with money and I wouldn't have trusted him with access to any of our savings, accounts etc. As it was, he paid an $800 mortgage and I NEVER saw another penny of his paycheck (and he made a substantial amount). I will quite honestly never have a shared/joint account with anyone.
  • stef_monster
    stef_monster Posts: 205 Member
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    We had our own separate accounts for a little over a year when we first started dating, but when we started living together and our bills and finances started to blend, we just merged accounts to make it easier. Since I do most of the grocery shopping, it came out of my account most of the time. He almost always paid for going out to eat, movies, etc, but felt he wasn't contributing enough. It's worked out swimmingly for us to have a single checking and savings account.
  • fitbum19
    fitbum19 Posts: 198 Member
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    Seperate. always seperate.

    I believe this is only effective if you have separate savings. If you keep a complete separation, that's not exactly sharing and it's not a completely a life together.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    Most of our finances are separate. I take care of the bills and he gives me money to pay half of them every month - this is the way we've done it since we moved in together 15 years ago. As long as the bills are paid, we can do what we want with what's left of our paychecks, no having to check in with each other.

    When we bought the house, we did set up a joint account so the mortgage, property taxes and some other household expenses could come out of that. This is handled same as the bills - we each put a certain amount in every month and it's enough to cover the necessities and a few extras.
  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    My wife and I put the same salary percentage in a joint account for all house hold/joint expenses. It's been working great for 8 years.
    This. When I was married, we had a joint account for everything and it *never* worked well - we were constantly arguing about what to spend our money on. I don't recommend that at all - always have your own account. My boyfriend actually has a set amount for the bills direct-deposited into my personal account and I simply pay all the bills from there (since they're in my name anyway). I don't argue about what he spends his money on, he doesn't argue about what I spend my money on, and all the bills are happily paid in full and on time.
  • Richie2shoes
    Richie2shoes Posts: 412 Member
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    Joint account since we got married. We don't have his or her bills, we have our bills.
  • kezza8888
    kezza8888 Posts: 75
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    My wife and I put the same salary percentage in a joint account for all house hold/joint expenses. It's been working great for 8 years.

    ^^^ This! I think its an important part of independance to keep hold of some personal "disposable" income! Unless you know your husbands spending inside and out, do you not worry about WHY he has no money at the end of the month??

    I am actually the WORST at handlin/managingg money in my relationship, so the idea of having access to more than I personally earn could be risky when there are bills to pay?!? My patner and I have an account for joint costs and our own accounts for personal interests etc! Plus then we get to say "My Treat" and mean it at nights our for dinner etc :-)
  • StarChanger
    StarChanger Posts: 605 Member
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    Joint account since we got married. We don't have his or her bills, we have our bills.

    This. Although I do maintain my own retirement & investment accounts because HE is retiring, at 38 yrs old, from the Navy. I will be working until I'm 104 to pay off student loans. :/
  • Zalovar
    Zalovar Posts: 92 Member
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    We have a joint checking and joint savings....as well as our own checking and savings. My wife is a budgeting guru, so we sat down a long time ago and figured out exactly what our monthly expenses were (rent, utilities, food) and thus figured out exactly how much each of us puts into the joint account for those shared bills. Admittedly, she ends up paying most of the shared bills with our joint account, but we each take care of our own stuff separately (although we're both aware roughly what our personal finances look like). The budgeting has actually helped me invidiual quite a bit as well as I am much better at tracking my expenditures. I don't see any reason not to have both joint accounts and separate accounts.
  • Ashshell
    Ashshell Posts: 185
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    My fiancé and I have a joint checking account and a joint savings account. I have an individual bank account, but he does not. I only use it for paying bills as some of my individual bills autodraft from that account and it's just easier to keep it open. I also transfer funds to that account to pay some other bills if I want the money to be separate from our joint spending. It works for us. All of our money is combined anyway. We do not split any bills. We still buy what we want and have ways to keep surprises a secret (:
  • butterflyluv1218
    butterflyluv1218 Posts: 430
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    My hubby and I have separate bank accounts. It's easier that way. Nobody to nag you about spending money on this or that. We take turns paying whatever bill is due and if one of us needs money we just hand it over. It's worked out great.
  • 4_Lisa
    4_Lisa Posts: 362 Member
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    Have always had a joint account for our paychecks. We also both have savings accounts too though. So money goes into the account, we each take whatever our budget is for the weekly gas, etc. We both have full access to the joint account, but we have an agreement that we never buy anything over $100 without consent from the other. But we are on the same page moneywise, and for YEARS we were a one income family until the kids were both in school.

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