Separate or Joint Accounts

“Just curious how many married people have separate or joint checking accounts, credit cards, car payments. Did you keep your own accounts after you got married, put everything into a joint account or did you start a separate account for yourself after being married for a while.”

“Separate. That way neither of gets antsy when the other starts buying toys for themselves (clothes for her, outdoor gear for me).”

“Tried separate accounts once many years ago. It didn't work probably because my wife wasn't working full time and my check was used to pay all the "monthly" bills.

I don't think separate or individual accounts is a concern when both parties are wise and frugal. If one or both is a spendthrift, then neither method is bombproof.

To be honest, having a joint account keeps me more accountable.”

“We got both
All the bills and mutual expenses come out of that one.
My account is for my stuff. Music, backpacking, ect.
Susan has her own account for her stuff.
We never have a problem that way.”

“Can't remember the cite, but recall reading that couples with joint/shared accounts are more likely to stay together. Probably says more about the nature of the relationship than the actual innstrument.

Joint here especially because I was in grad. school and my wife was working.”

“It never occured to me to have separate accounts. For the first many years we were married I did not work outside the home but I have always been the bookkeeper.

Older Navajos keep everything separate--they even buy and cook food for themselves.”

“separate and joint.”

“We have joint accounts. When we first got married, we had separate accounts and it drove us crazy trying to keep everything organized. That is because every month we have no money. We pay all our bills, put away money for retirement, and use anything leftover to pay extra on the mortgage. We have always done this since we first got married, so there wasn't much his money or her money to spend. That is why we discuss big purchases ahead of time. We paid off our first house in 11 years and then made the mistake of selling that and buying a bigger house. Now with bigger utility bills, property tax bills, etc. and me not working due to the kids, paying off early is much harder to do. We are lucky if we can put money into retirement savings now, much less have his money or her money. At least the value of the house went up, that will be part of the retirement nest egg.

The moral of the story is don't aspire to buy a big house any more than you would aspire to buy a big heavy tent. It will weigh you down.”

“Joint account”

“I think either will work as long as you do a monthly audit. A simple spreadsheet listing income and expenses tells the tale.

I was financing my inlaws while I was married and didn't know it. I gave her the checkbook and never checked. I just thought we were always broke because of the new house, cars, kids, etc. When I got divorced I realized I was paying the same expenses out of one salary and had more money.

Love is blind and can be expensive.”

“I tried joint but my ex

joint only works if both parties are responsible.”

“Joint - we got married fairly young and straight out of college so joint accounts don't make sense when there's not much dough. Now it's what we know.”

“We had a joint, but we smoked it?

J/K --We have had seperate accounts since we got married, but are now going to try something different. We're going to have a joint account for bills etc, pay into our retirement and savings and then what's left gets split into his and hers spending accounts that we can use without feeling guilty. We're also working on a system where we don't make any mid to major purchases without first putting that much back in savings. It's kind of a reward system. Always pay yourself first, you won't regret it down the road.”

“we had a joint account, before we got married. hell, we used to pool our money, when we were just roomates in college. we trusted each other as friends, why not trust each other when in love?”

“let me mop up the cheese, before someone slips in here....”

“Yeah rad, that sounded like a bit much for you, lol!

One joint account, plus his old single account. I joined his credit union. Dang good rates!”

“i am a golden cup, overflowing with the cream of human kindness.”

“Gag!”

“too creamy?”

“A little rancid.”

“My husband and I lived together for a few years before we got married, and got used to having our own accounts. We each are joint owners on each other's accounts, but put our own money into separate accounts. We have a system where he pays certain bills, I pay certain bills, we each put money into savings accounts for long term savings, and the rest we can spend more or less as we please. Reality is, anything over $100 we usually discuss first (Are you sure you need a new drill, you have three already?) and anything major we both put funds into. It's nice, we never argue about money, despite the fact that I am very tight with money and he isn't. Since I control my account, I know there is enough to cover us in case of emergency, and he doesn't have to account to me for every trip to the hardware store, so we have peace in the house.”

“Joint on everything. Any large purchases are discussed between us. Never had a problem and never considered doing it any other way. I wouldn't have married unless the accounts were joint. IMHO it's about trust and if you can't trust'em why bother...”

“We have trust, but we also have independence. If money were tighter we'd handle things differently, but as it is, it is nice to not have to account for every penny.”

“We use a joint checking account, but have separate savings, as I am still responsible for child support. We do split the bills, both depositing equally to cover the bills, and I put in more for the child support. Otherwise, it's fairly much one account for us.”

“We got both All the bills and mutual expenses come out of that one. My account is for my stuff. Music, backpacking, ect. Susan has her own account for her stuff. We never have a problem that way."
walkindude
01:17:04 PM
02/15/03


me too. but my chics name is Jennifer”

“Gawd, talk about something I don't miss--worrying about the money. Joint doesn't work if one spends a quarter for every twenty cents earned.”