Joint bank accounts for couples?

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
    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: 1,893 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    i am living common law and we have a joint bank account. Works great for us.
  • oldandhealthier
    oldandhealthier Posts: 449 Member
    joint account for 46 years, never crossed my mind to have it any other way.
  • danger_kitteh
    danger_kitteh Posts: 301 Member
    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
    We have a joint account for the household things but we have seperate savings acc'ts.
  • alecialudwickjones
    alecialudwickjones Posts: 64
    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
    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
    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
    "And the two shall become one"...
    It's all about becoming a team.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    Interesting. We've always had joint accounts and I haven't thought twice about it.
  • rachellangdon1974
    rachellangdon1974 Posts: 47 Member
    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
    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
    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: 3,783 Member
    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
    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.
  • janine962
    janine962 Posts: 20 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Seperate. always seperate.
  • MissAnjy
    MissAnjy Posts: 2,480 Member
    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
    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.

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