I can't imagine having separate accounts. It would be such a pain and we really do feel like all of the money is ours, not separate.

Anonymous wrote:We have separate bank accounts but are each joint holders on all financial accounts we own (except retirement where we are each others beneficiary).

I pay about 90 percent of the bills from "my" account, but that's because I'm the one with a full time job.

For actual day to day spending we put everything on a joint credit card and the bill gets paid from "my" account (which is the only account with a paycheck being deposited into it). We have the same approach to money and have zero issues with doing it this way. I track all our spending, pay all our bills and file our taxes.

Same here.

We have separate bank accounts but are each joint holders on all financial accounts we own (except retirement where we are each others beneficiary).

I pay about 90 percent of the bills from "my" account, but that's because I'm the one with a full time job.

For actual day to day spending we put everything on a joint credit card and the bill gets paid from "my" account (which is the only account with a paycheck being deposited into it). We have the same approach to money and have zero issues with doing it this way. I track all our spending, pay all our bills and file our taxes.

Married 10 years. All joint accounts.

Joint and separate. We both make the same amount of money so we each put 2k each in the joint transferred from our separate accounts. Everything we do together comes out of the joint, household expenses, etc. The money left over from my pay check stays in my separate account. I can go shopping when I want and not have to ask permission. The joint money also includes 1k that we are saving together every month. Also if one makes more than the other then we do a percentage. For example lets say household expenses and savings together are 3500.00 a month. Person 1 brings home 3000.00 net and Person B brings home 4200 net. Together they bring home 7200. So person 1 would divide their net take home by 7200. So they would contribute 42 percent (1260.00 of their 3000.00) and person 2 would contribute 58 percent (2436 of their 4200). This way things are truly equally and each person still has discretionary income. This works best for us!

Thank PP for what? Why does marriage = no more financial autonomy?

Anonymous wrote:Joint, because we are married, not dating.

Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:Separate checking and joint savings. Over time, we just sort of divvied up the bills based on our incomes. He makes more, so he pays more, and we both have plenty left over at the end of the month. Then we just just dump large chunks into savings whenever. I like having my own checking acct because it gives me a sense of control and autonomy. Also, my parents were always overdrawing their checking acct because nobody knew what the other was doing, and it stressed me out. Finally, I know I would micromanage my husband's spending if I knew exactly what he was doing, and I want him to feel like he has autonomy too. As long as we keep saving at a good rate, what I don't know can't hurt me.

Huh. We're joint checking and separate savings. All the everyday household stuff (ie, joint expenses) comes from the checking account. Then there's a household savings account, which is joint. THEN we each have our own savings, and we split any leftover (after paying the bills and funding the household savings if it needs it) between our two personal savings. This works out well for the lower-earning spouse, as the extra is split evenly and not according to who earned it. If we ever divorce, we'll each have something to call our own.

Both. We divide household expenses, investments, etc based on % of overall take home pay, split things like healthcare costs, insurance premiums, etc based on whose office offers the better deal, and transfer the appropriate amounts into our joint account. Whatever is left in our personal accounts is ours to do with what we please. Why do we do this? Because in our opinion it is the only fair way to do it as equal partners.

Joint only, married 3 years. We started out with both joint and separate, but it was too much of a hassle that way. Even though one of us makes much more than the other, we both work the same number of hours and we think of it as our joint money.

Joint, although there are times I wish we were able to do a little bit of separate. My husband gets upset when I snipe at him about his spending, but then he refuses to do this idea of a fun money account. UGH.

We had separate checking until after our daughter was born (close to 3 year anniversary). Once we had to start paying daycare in one big chunk monthly, it just was easier with one account.

Married for 8 years, all joint accounts for 10 years.
DH cannot be trusted with separate accounts or bill paying. All those joint accounts? DH really only has ready access to one of them and it's NOT where the mortgage is paid from!

Separate, happily married 15 years.

We opened a joint acc't when we got married but it was such a PITA switching everything over, etc. So, we've just kept our separate accounts and divvy up joint expenses. He makes more than me so I pay less but I'd guess things are fairly proportional. Like another poster said, I think it works for us because we have a HHI, no $ concerns or debt. I imagine it could get dicey if we were stretched thin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Joint and seperate for spending allowance

Ditto. Joint and SEPARATE.

+1. Works very well for us (married 10 years)

What's a spending allowance?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Joint and seperate for spending allowance

Ditto. Joint and SEPARATE.

+1. Works very well for us (married 10 years)