Ladies, do you have your own 'emergency' account?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I each have our own accounts - nothing joint. We each are responsible for certain bills based on our respective salaries. We also each contribute certain amount to college savings and our joint retirement account. I canNOT imagine having him see what I spend on certain things, nor can he (we've discussed). We've managed this way for 12 years, 3 kids, years of tuition - have NEVER fought about money - ever.

Same here. We married at 30 and were already established in our own right. Been together 15 years and have always maintained our own accounts. It works. I pay the tuition, utilities, and kids extracurriculars. He pays the mortgage, car insurances, and phone/internet access. My only regret is that I didn't take the mortgage. Tuition keeps going up. We both know our responsibilities. We maintain our own credit cards and nothing is joint (except for the house). We're on each others life insurance policies, and he picks up the health insurance bill through his job which is not that expensive.

It works, no complaints. Like PP, we have never had an argument about money. When he bought the big screen TV, he used his money. I didn't understand why a TV that big but, hey, his money!! Our situation may not work for everyone but so far so good. When the kids graduate from high school in the next 3-4 years, we may need to revisit the school arrangement but so far, so good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I each have our own accounts - nothing joint. We each are responsible for certain bills based on our respective salaries. We also each contribute certain amount to college savings and our joint retirement account. I canNOT imagine having him see what I spend on certain things, nor can he (we've discussed). We've managed this way for 12 years, 3 kids, years of tuition - have NEVER fought about money - ever.

Same here. We married at 30 and were already established in our own right. Been together 15 years and have always maintained our own accounts. It works. I pay the tuition, utilities, and kids extracurriculars. He pays the mortgage, car insurances, and phone/internet access. My only regret is that I didn't take the mortgage. Tuition keeps going up. We both know our responsibilities. We maintain our own credit cards and nothing is joint (except for the house). We're on each others life insurance policies, and he picks up the health insurance bill through his job which is not that expensive.

It works, no complaints. Like PP, we have never had an argument about money. When he bought the big screen TV, he used his money. I didn't understand why a TV that big but, hey, his money!! Our situation may not work for everyone but so far so good. When the kids graduate from high school in the next 3-4 years, we may need to revisit the school arrangement but so far, so good.

The key to your success is that you were already established. A struggling couple starting out might do better by pooling all their resources.

[Anonymous]

Yes of course. I saved a good chunk before getting married and wasn't about to mingle it just like that. We both have our own accounts and one joint account to which we each contribute a set equal amount each month and which we use for mortgage and bill payments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the replies about how it's okay for a wife to have their "own account". Does this mean it's okay for the husband to have their "own account".

It goes both ways kids.

He has his own account too.

[Anonymous]

This is why the divorce rate is so high in this country. Married people don't trust each other, and each spouse has one foot out the door, whether it be separate bank accounts, or secret admirer's or lovers.

Not judging, just saying

[Anonymous]

Nope. We were married young, grew our savings/investments/net worth together, so everything is joint. It's worked for 10+ years. We each have a dormant credit card in our names, not tied to each other and not even at the same bank. But they are never used; active, in case of emergency, but not used. I monitor account activity monthly to ensure that there is no fraudulent activity on them. I feel that anything I would need "emergency" I could cover with the credit card temporarily until I could deal with establishing a new account or cash access.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I have a joint account. Thank goodness this has never been a problem. I do have just a couple thousand in an account left over from college, but really that is nothing and would not go far in an emergency. I think that every family should have accounts , either joint or not, that works for them. I saw my dad control my mom completely when they had a joint account. She then had to make the choice to keep everything separate , bc the other way just didn't work .