Joint bank accounts for couples?

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Faery_Dust
Faery_Dust Posts: 246 Member
in Chit-Chat
For those of you who are living together / married, do you have shared finances (as in a joint bank account that wages go in to and bills come out of) or do you both have your own accounts and just go halves on the bills?

I’ve been in 3 long term relationships and have never had a joint bank account. Me and hubby are about to take out a mortgage to buy a house together (already live together in rented accomodation) and I thought we might as well take the opportunity to get a joint account and just have wages and all bills in the one account.

I do earn more than hubby but that isn’t important as if he didn’t have money left at the end of the month I would just pay any bills that came up or for shopping etc. So I figured I might as well just do the joint account thing.

What does everyone else prefer?
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Replies

  • patrickblo13
    patrickblo13 Posts: 831 Member
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    My wife and I have a joint account which we each direct deposit money into with each paycheck to pay the mortgage, bills ect.. But then we each have our own accounts for our own bills (we each of CCs) and our own personal money. We take turns buying groceries or it comes out of the joint account...it has worked out great for us. I don't hound her about what she spends her money on and she doesn't hound me.

    With a baby on the way we are going to add more money to the joint account for obvious added expenses.
  • JenAndSome
    JenAndSome Posts: 1,908 Member
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    When I was married we had a joint account and that was it. Now I have been with my bf for almost 4 years. We don't have a joint account but we don't stress over who pays for what. I pay most of the bills and he pays for the extras. If I'm running low on cash he doesn't have a problem handing some over and vice versa.
  • _benjammin
    _benjammin Posts: 1,224 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.
  • hbrittingham
    hbrittingham Posts: 2,518 Member
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    We have joint accounts and have had them since right after he moved in with me 20+ years ago.
  • _Krys10_
    _Krys10_ Posts: 1,234 Member
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    We have 2 joint accounts, one mine goes into and one his goes into but we both have debit cards to each. Bill are split up between the two. It has worked for us. We just started witht he 2 joint accounts a year ago when our account got hacked somehow and we were screwed for 2 weeks while they invesigated/issued new debit cards etc.
  • mustang289
    mustang289 Posts: 299 Member
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    Two joint accounts, but I keep track of one and she keeps track of the other. Joint so that in an emergency either one of us has full access to all funds.

    We each take responsibility for certain bills. I paid the mortgage on our primary residence (now paid off, yay!). I also handle the mortgage and any expenses on a second property we own.

    She pays utilities, car stuff like license plates and insurance, and anything medical.

    We tend to split groceries and restaurant bills. We each buy our own gasoline.
  • ChantalD75
    ChantalD75 Posts: 680 Member
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    i am living common law and we have a joint bank account. Works great for us.
  • oldandhealthier
    oldandhealthier Posts: 449 Member
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    joint account for 46 years, never crossed my mind to have it any other way.
  • danger_kitteh
    danger_kitteh Posts: 301 Member
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    Joint account that our cheques go into. We dole out what we need for our CCs and personal spending into our personal accounts for the pay period. All the house/family stuff gets paid out by the joint account.
  • jojo37696
    jojo37696 Posts: 93 Member
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    We have a joint account for the household things but we have seperate savings acc'ts.
  • alecialudwickjones
    alecialudwickjones Posts: 64
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    We have a joint account that only enough to cover bills goes into. The rest is cash that I hold onto. I'm a SAHM and the Mr. is bad w/ money so I deal w/ all the finances.
  • Faery_Dust
    Faery_Dust Posts: 246 Member
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    Cool, thanks for the replies everyone. I like the idea of a joint account that we pay a set % of our take home salalry in to and have all the bills coming out of that. Then our own current account (same as USA checking account I think) for our left over money.

    At least that way I can still buy shoes without getting any grief LOL.
  • bodiva88
    bodiva88 Posts: 308 Member
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    http://financialplan.about.com/od/gettingmarried/a/Should-You-Have-Joint-Or-Separate-Bank-Accounts.htm

    pros and cons. only you know your situation and the ability of each of you when it comes to managing money.
  • mrincredible93
    mrincredible93 Posts: 146
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    "And the two shall become one"...
    It's all about becoming a team.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
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    Interesting. We've always had joint accounts and I haven't thought twice about it.
  • rachellangdon1974
    rachellangdon1974 Posts: 47 Member
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    Joint account since we got married 17 years ago..never thought to have it any other way...works perfectly.
  • Sean_The_IT_Guy
    Sean_The_IT_Guy Posts: 168
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    My wife and I have a joint account which we each direct deposit money into with each paycheck to pay the mortgage, bills ect.. But then we each have our own accounts for our own bills (we each of CCs) and our own personal money. We take turns buying groceries or it comes out of the joint account...it has worked out great for us. I don't hound her about what she spends her money on and she doesn't hound me.

    With a baby on the way we are going to add more money to the joint account for obvious added expenses.

    I agree with this. That's how my wife and I do it, also. We put a fixed amount every payday into the joint account and pay for household needs (groceries, power bill, internet bill) out of that, but we pay our own bills (car payment, cell bill) out of our own money, and then we can each do whatever we like with what we each have left.
  • leahartmann
    leahartmann Posts: 415
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    We have joint bank accounts. We had a very difficult period where I strongly consideret to have my own, but we got through it. Now there is no problem. We have one both our money goes into and a budget acoount to pay for our bills. It works fine.
  • Calliope610
    Calliope610 Posts: 3,771 Member
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    DH and I have 2 separate joint accounts, his pay goes in one acct, my pay goes into the other. The mortgage, car pmt, child support, student loans, insurance, loan pmts and savings come out of his acct. Household bills (groceries, gas, entertainment, utilities, etc) come out of my acct. This works for us b/c all the critical/mandatory payments come from his acct and I don't have to worry about whether or not there is enough $$ to pay the mortgage, etc. If our discretionary expenses are a bit high one month, I just have to cut corners in our household budget, but all the important stuff is taken care of.
  • G8torgrl821
    G8torgrl821 Posts: 3
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    As a banker, I would recommend have 2 jointly owned accounts. You can title them where your name is first and then his name is second and then the other account reverse the order. As stated before, for Emergencies, it is best to have joint accounts. Actually you should always have a 2nd person on an account regardless if you are married or single. If something happens to you then it will take an act of congress for your family to get to your funds. you can always title an account as: ITF or POD (in trust for or pay on death). This would mean while you are alive, then its soley your account BUT if something happens to you, then with a copy of a death certificate your family can have access to your account.
    IF you have a situation that you think/feel something isn't right with your relationship, then by all means, open yourself an account perhaps at a different bank. BUT remember if you elect to have bank statements, they will be mailed to your home and perhaps fall into the wrong hands. I've been married for almost 30 years and have a joint account. However I do have "my own stash" set aside. Hope this helps.

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