Bank Accounts & Your S.O.

So...I was talking to my s.o. about this yesterday and it got me curious...

1. How do you and your s.o. handle bank accounts?

2. Are you currently married? If so, did marriage change your feelings about how you would handle money?

3. At what point in your relationship did you decide how you would deal with bank accounts?

4. Did you ever fight/disagree about your this?

I haven't worked in 8 years. We have a special needs teen, and I need to be available for his appointments, etc.

We have been together 18 years, and married for almost 12. I have been *in charge* of the financial stuff for probably the last 16 years. The account has always been in his name, but until we got married and he added my name to the account, I had to have him sign checks to pay bills. I have a personal checking account that I use to deal with our son's SSI money, or anything that we have agreed that DH should not have access to ( sometimes we will earmark money for something and put it into MY account so it is *safe*).

We are accountable to each other to make sure all the bills are paid. If hubby wants to buy something over $50 he will call me and ask if we have room in the budget for it. If I want something over $50, I discuss it with him. It isn't about permission, it is about letting the other person know the money is being spent, so they don't try to spend it too.

I really like this over $50 idea:) might just use it for us, thanks!

1. We only have one account for checking and savings and he's the primary, but I've been added on. I only had a bank account for like 3 months before I met him (I always just cashed my checks) and it was primarily based in Indiana. The only reason I had it was for convenience, the place I worked for did their banking at the same bank. And I was friends with one of the tellers. When he joined the military it just made sense for me to close mine and share his.
I do it all. And I don't work. Nor do I ever have to ask if I want to buy something for myself or anything like that. He asks me whenever he wants to get anything. Yup. I'm lucky.
2. Hells yes we are married!!!
My husband was taught two very importantly quotes from my brother-in-laws.
"Happy wife, Happy life."
"What's mine is yours and what's yours is yours."
But, when we got married I worked twice as much as he did and paid most of the bills with my money. So, now that I'm not working it kind of evens out I guess.
3. About three months in when we got engaged and moved in together.
4. Sometimes my husband complains about how much I spend on groceries. Then I take him with me to prove a point. He apologizes when we get home.

Otherwise as long as I'm happy and bills are paid he's a happy camper. We're currently saving to buy a car and I'll admit there should probably be more money saved... oops.

1. We each have a bank account and a shared account with the credit union who has our home loan. A set amount of my check goes there for our loan and saving money for property taxes, Xmas gifts and Chinese New Year gifts/red envelopes. Outside of a few hundred dollars in expenses, I write her a check for the remainder. It's only there for me to have a banking account, also closing accounts can lower your credit rating, if even slightly.

2. We are currently (and God willing, will always be) married. We were already defined about money before we married, my wife is 100% better about money than I am. We put money away together in the beginning, but then I just started giving her whatever money I have. Giving it to her ended up meaning I had more money than before I gave it to her. She's incredibly cheap with herself as well as everyone else, so she saves like crazy.

3. She is more concerned with savings than I am, but I've never really cared about how much money I had, just as long as I spent it quickly (bad habit). We went from saving for our wedding/honeymoon to saving for a home. It began with giving her $1000.00 a month to her taking over the finances when we moved in together.

4. We've never fought/argued about money. I worried she might resent being in charge of the finances, but she has reassured me, it makes her feel better. We usually discuss money every 2-3 weeks, long-term and short-term goals, where we are on these and what we might want to do, if we need to cut somewhere or something. Partly, neither of us are too materialistic and we both know I'm impulsive and she only needs to tell me to knock it off.

Interesting post, I know money troubles can plague a relationship, but luckily, my wife and I are so compatible, though completely opposite at the same time, strange but working dynamic.

1. How do you and your s.o. handle bank accounts?

Everything is in both our names, but she manages all of the bank accounts and credit cards. I couldn't even tell you what is in our checkings or savings accounts without asking her. :laugh:


2. Are you currently married? If so, did marriage change your feelings about how you would handle money?

Married for 20+ years. Marriage has made me more responsible about how I personally spend money, I think. Supporting my wife and children is my first priority.


3. At what point in your relationship did you decide how you would deal with bank accounts?

Pretty early. She handles all of the day to day stuff, and I handle all of research and decisions for long term investments; mutual funds, 401k, etc.


4. Did you ever fight/disagree about your this?

Only very early in our marriage. Nowadays, it is not much of a concern. We talk about things where money needs to be spent, and about how to reach our goals.

We have a joint account for household expenses, plus we each have our own personal accounts for our own use. We've done this since we moved in together.

and may i add.. I am blamed because i took several years off to raise OUR three kids (daycare would have exceeded my income, so it made sense) NOt his fault for being unemployed for 3 years and when we are in desperate need for things as simple as toilet paper.. he REFUSES to take a real job. (he works for commission and makes NOTHING) he doesn't give a **** about taking care of his kids.... i work two jobs.. a day job subbing at the schools (i work for three districts) and a night and weekend job at a deli.. just to barely make enough to pay part of the bills.

So...I was talking to my s.o. about this yesterday and it got me curious...

1. How do you and your s.o. handle bank accounts? - We have a joint account-

2. Are you currently married? If so, did marriage change your feelings about how you would handle money? - Yes, getting married didn't change anything -

3. At what point in your relationship did you decide how you would deal with bank accounts? we were together for a year, it was when we moved in together - we opened a joint account for bills/rent and both still had our separate accounts. After a couple years we just moved everything (paychecks) to our joint account and that is what we use for everything - a couple years ago we opened a joint savings as well.

4. Did you ever fight/disagree about your this? - No - we both thought it made the most sense when we opened the joint account and we dont see how you can share everything else and keep separate finances.

1. We both have our own individual checking/savings accounts and then we have a joint checking account. (the bank employee that opened our accounts thought we were sooo weird for doing this but hey, different strokes for different folks)

2. Married. My ideas on money didn't change but his did. After we got married he was willing to be more open about what he was spending his money on.

3. Well we were in a long distance relationship at one point for a little over a year when we were just dating. So we actually had a joint bank account prior to marriage so that we would be able to exchange money if we needed to.

4. Yes, sometimes we did fight about money in the beginning but 4 years into marriage we hardly EVER fight about money.

I have my entire paycheck going into my husband's account as I do not have one. I do make more money than he but he is much better at handling it.

1. Joint - has been for quite some time - We each make roughly the same (me a lil more right now - CHA-CHING!) and each have our responsibilities of which bills get paid. Don't use debit cards so there isn't an overlap and spend what's in pocket.

2. Married 4 years & we've discussed money and handling of finances long before that. (That's what happens when you're both accountants)

3. Before we moved in together when we were around 20 .

4. Fighting about finances is inevitable and I think has been the most taxing fights to date - but it's a necessary evil and compromises have to be made.

So...I was talking to my s.o. about this yesterday and it got me curious...

1. How do you and your s.o. handle bank accounts?

2. Are you currently married? If so, did marriage change your feelings about how you would handle money?

3. At what point in your relationship did you decide how you would deal with bank accounts?

4. Did you ever fight/disagree about your this?

I have three accounts. One is a savings that I put his name on(so that he can cash his paychecks and such without issue), one is a checking and savings that is in my name only, and one is a savings that is mine only.
I am currently married and have been for 11 years.
I decided that I was going to handle the accounts after he got two credit cards without my knowledge, he didn't understand the interest rate thing and such and by the time I found out about them WE were expected to pay over $1000 to clear them up.
Sure we disagree about the finances but he understands why it is the way it is... he knows he SUCKS with money.
Our way works for us.

1. We have joint checking/savings

2. Married. No changes

3. We were together for 6 years before we got married, about a year into our relationship we moved in together. We decided on joint checking at that point to make it easier for the bills, etc. It wasn't until we bought our first house 3 years later that we totally combined everything (savings/checking, etc)

4. Initially...I think it's hard if you are two different types of people.. ie spenders vs. savers. He was horrible with money and I had always been a saver. It took a little time, initially he would just take out an allotted amount of cash each week for his personal use because he was HORRIBLE with debit card and would never keep his reciepts and would just spend like crazy (this really drove me insane!) After about 1.5 years, he finally figured out we have a lot more money doing things "my way" and he smartened up and began using a debit card appropriately (so to speak) . We haven't had any problems since and it's been 10 years..

1. How do you and your s.o. handle bank accounts?

At one credit union, we have separate checking and savings accounts, both of our names are on both sets of accounts, but one set is "mine" and one set is "his." The accounts are linked, so we can easily transfer money between them, but we do not do so without agreement (e.g. I pay all of the bills, and he transfers his portion of the bills to my account monthly). We also have checking and savings accounts at other banks from before we were together, although neither of us uses them much.

2. Are you currently married? If so, did marriage change your feelings about how you would handle money?

We set up joint accounts so we would qualify for domestic partner health benefits through my employer. However, I changed employers and the new employer had a much more restrictive domestic partner policy, so we got legally married so he could have health insurance. So basically not at all.

3. At what point in your relationship did you decide how you would deal with bank accounts?

When he needed health insurance.

4. Did you ever fight/disagree about your this?

No. I said, we need to do X to get you health insurance, he said, okay.