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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]So far no one has given any details about exactly how this works?  Does each spouse get a fixed amount of money each month in a personal account to spend however they want, maybe $1,000 a month or something, like an allowance, where as everything else goes into the joint account?  I could see that working, because regardless of the spouses income they have the same amount of spending money.[/b]

It seems like most people are talking about a percentage split or something, though.  That would work ok if both spouses had similar incomes, but what about if incomes are unequal?  Say one parent is a partner at a law firm making $400K a year, while the other is a fed making $120K a year or so.  Does the lower income spouse just have a lot less spending money than the higher income one?

That doesn't sound fair.  If one spouse stays at home with the kids, it is even less fair.[/quote]

This is what we do, and I posted about it earlier in the thread. But no one seemed to notice because it didn't fit their "one foot out the door" narrative. They were too busy jumping on those of us who don't have everything fully merged.

Those with joint and separate accounts don't seem to be bothered by those who have only joint accounts. Several posters with only joint accounts seem very interested in discrediting other people's arrangements. Why?[/quote]

It's odd to me that a couple would merge every other aspect of their lives, down to merging DNA to make a kid, but then still have separate bank accounts. The whole process seems needlessly complicated: splits based on income, shuffling money around to multiple accounts, "borrowing" money from the person you are married to, and all that. What is gained by all that?

The only argument I've seen in favor of separate finances is to protect the woman from a jerk-off who would leave her high and dry, but I see that as a litmus test, if you don't trust him implicitly enough to merge money, don't marry him.[/quote]

One of the biggest things couples fight about is money.  (The other is sex, as you can see from the relationship boards here.)   If keeping separate accounts helps minimize money fights, it sounds brilliant to me.  If merging accounts helps people minimize money fights, it also sounds brilliant.  Do what works best for [b]your[/b] family.  In our case, we keep separate accounts.  I am a huge spender and husband is a huge saver.  This way I don't eat into savings.  And best of all, we don't fight.  And therefore we have lots of sex.   :mrgreen: [/quote]

It goes like this: if one couple is a spender and the other is a saver, splitting accounts to stop the fighting just papers over the problem. It's less efficient because if one tends to saving and the other tends to spending in an uncoordinated way, they won't build up nearly the wealth that they could.

The better solution (in my opinion, because isn't that what anonymous message boards on the internet are for, unsolicited opinions lol?), is joint accounts, because it forces the couple to coordinate for the greater good of the household. The spender adjusts their attitude and reins it in, and the saver learns to have a little fun now and then.[/quote]

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