Best way to divide money when you’re married?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Joint everything. We did this as soon as we got married 24 years ago.

+1
We’re only 22 years in but otherwise ditto.
If you need his / hers accounts the best thing to do is to put ALL $ that comes in into a joint account and all bills get paid from that and then put an equal amt each month into the his / hers fun $ accounts for spending on stuff as each seems fit.

The only thing we have separate are our 401Ks.

[Anonymous]

We basically do what OP wrote. We get paid into our separate checking accounts and then move all but $200 into a joint account. Then we figure out what we need for bills that month and move the rest from joint checking into a joint savings account. When we hit about 6 months worth of emergency savings in that account we move the excess money to our investment accounts. Easy squeezy!

We've been doing that $200 since we got married more than a decade ago. It's just walking around/gift buying money.

[Anonymous]

His is mine and mine is mine.

[Anonymous]

Joint account with two working parents. Let the other spouse know/consult on big ticket items.

Has worked so far for 11 years.

[Anonymous]

I have a checking account for my small business. My husband has one to use for investing, his car expenses and his golf club. Everything else goes through our joint checking account. He rarely looks at our joint account through which most of our credit cards run. We are both pretty thrifty and we never question each others spending. We’ve always been big savers so money has never been an issue in our marriage except when we got started and had very little. But we got on the same wavelength and it’s been that way ever since.

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t sound like you have kids yet. It became joint everything once I was pregnant. We became one unit.

We know people who do it like you. Others have separate finances forever.

[Anonymous]

$1000 each time you have sex.

[Anonymous]

My parents recommended doing it the way you are OP. It's nice to have one account that you can save up in for individual purchases. Over time, it's hard to know what falls into that bucket though? But you have awhile to figure that out. For us, it used to be work lunches out, hair, gym, personal hobbies.

[Anonymous]

30+ years together and no joint account but we are listed on each others accounts as POD.

We also have separate credit card accounts.

I do end up seeing all transactions because I do the data entry into financial software to track spending/back reconciliations.

[Anonymous]

We do separate everything (except joint on both homes). We both have high equal incomes. Financially comfortable. Works for us! Married 30 yrs. Life is good!

[Anonymous]

We've done it your way and I wish we hadn't. I wish we'd just made everything joint. I hate wondering how much money my. husband is spending on alcohol, etc.

[Anonymous]

We have a joint account for just about everything but also separate accounts because we both have schedule C income. I manage the joint account and pay most of the bills as I’m very detail oriented and my husband isn’t. I don’t recall us ever having an argument over money as neither of us are big spenders. My husband, now retired, was very successful and when our joint account got over a certain amount it would move into our investment accounts which he manages.