Anyone else get married and had no idea what your spouses salary was at the time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How could you not? I honestly don't understand. Don't you set financial goals together? Have a budget? Bank together? How would this be possible?

We don't really bank together - we each have our own savings account, and we have a joint account for household/child expenses. Sure, we set financial goals together. We can talk about savings, purchases, plans, investments, etc. but I don't need to know his salary to have those discussions. I don't know or care how much he has in his savings account, nor he mine. I realize that's not the approach most couple take, but it works for us.

Do you have children?

Yes, three children.

So what happens if he becomes disabled and you find out there's near nothing in the savings account? Or he dies and leaves you with five figures of credit card debt? I'm not saying these things will happen, but I would want to protect myself a little more.

We pay our credit cards off in full every month, so unless he has a secret credit card I don't know about (which wouldn't be prevented by my knowing his salary) that's not a concern. He has life insurance, and retirement savings for which I am the beneficiary. We have no debt. I work full time and have my own savings as well. I feel well protected financially in the event something were to happen to him.

Do you file taxes separately or do you just sign the documents without looking at them? I mean obviously this works for you but I don't think people here are crazy for thinking it's odd to not have a full sense of the financials of a household, which includes how much income is earned by your spouse.