Married Fanatics: Joint money or separate money?

[NATEizKING]

Married twice. Joint the first time and separate the second time. Divorced twice. It really doesn’t matter. We’re all going to end up alone and dead. Currently engaged. That’s all I got. Mostly joking about the alone and dead part. I’m an optimist. Obviously.

3rd times a charm, sometimes

 

[NATEizKING]

We have been joint on everything 34 years. I have the checkbook, I manage everything, I make investments, I pay bills. She loves it because she never has to think about money. Of course it helps that I'm the most honest and trustworthy person she's ever known. So, it works.

This is me, I just tell the wife when she hit her spending limit for the month

 

[Gunnerclone]

10 years later and it's still weird for married people to have separate checking accounts.

% of separate account couples sleeping in separate beds?

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Wife and I had an account together and bought our house before we got married. We've been together since we met at ISU so we've seen each other poor.

I couldn't imagine having separate accounts, but I also couldn't imagine caring if someone else did. Do whatever works best for you.

 

[NATEizKING]

Wife and I had an account together and bought our house before we got married. We've been together since we met at ISU so we've seen each other poor.

I couldn't imagine having separate accounts, but I also couldn't imagine caring if someone else did. Do whatever works best for you.

This isn't how CF works, you have to care and have an opinion.

 

[CycloneErik]

We have been joint on everything 34 years. I have the checkbook, I manage everything, I make investments, I pay bills. She loves it because she never has to think about money. Of course it helps that I'm the most honest and trustworthy person she's ever known. So, it works.

Sounds like you have her locked up in a closet.

 

[PickSix]

My wife and I have separate accounts. To be honest, I don’t think there’s any big rhyme or reason behind it. I think early on we just never got around to going into the bank together to create a new account and got used to it.

Now, I think we both like having the ability to buy small things for ourselves or each other without the other person seeing every transaction. We just try to communicate if one of us if falling behind and needs a little boost from the other’s account. It works just fine for us.

 

[demoncore1031]

My wife lives in another country so we don't have a shared bank account yet, but it is OUR money.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Sounds like you have her locked up in a closet.

See the last sentence in post # 184

 

[CycloneErik]

See the last sentence in post # 184

Are there a lot of you with wives in closets?

 

[jdcyclone19]

We have a joint account and each month we contribute our percent of money to bill proportional to our income to combined total income. And some into joint savings.
The rest goes into our own accounts. It’s her money she earned and money I earned.

Example.
Me 50k
Her 25k
Total 75k income. Her contribution to joint bills is 34% and mine is 66%.
Joint monthly bills of 1000 means I put in 666 she puts in 334.

This has worked well for a long time. Groceries, car, and kid expenses are factored into the joint account.

Seems like a lot of extra work

About 30 seconds in excel.

We have an excel that we use to budget and track monthly expenses.

 

[PickSix]

My wife lives in another country so we don't have a shared bank account yet, but it is OUR money.

This. If you have the mentality of “our money”, I don’t really think it matters if it comes from one pot or two. Just communicate like responsible adults and anyone should be fine.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

Are there a lot of you with wives in closets?

I can't answer this without my lawyer present.

 

[NWICY]

Married twice. Joint the first time and separate the second time. Divorced twice. It really doesn’t matter. We’re all going to end up alone and dead. Currently engaged. That’s all I got. Mostly joking about the alone and dead part. I’m an optimist. Obviously.

Damn engaged again you're a brave soul.
I hope it works for you.

 

[3TrueFans]

Damn engaged again you're a brave soul.
I hope it works for you.

This is the one.

 

[CloneLawman]

I can't answer this without my lawyer present.

Me neither. Our accounts are separate though with beneficiary provisions.

 

[besserheimerphat]

3rd times a charm, sometimes

“33% of the time, it works every time” amirite?

 

[JP4CY]

Wow. Can't believe I clicked separate that many years ago. Been joint now for quite a while.
If we buy each other a nice gift now, we'll just say "hey don't look at the Visa account because I got you something."
We are basically at the point in life though where we have what we want, so there's not too many surprises, we'd rather go on a trip.

 

[NATEizKING]

Wow. Can't believe I clicked separate that many years ago. Been joint now for quite a while.
If we buy each other a nice gift now, we'll just say "hey don't look at the Visa account because I got you something."
We are basically at the point in life though where we have what we want, so there's not too many surprises, we'd rather go on a trip.

I said separate too but then I got married two years later.

 

[ricochet]

About 30 seconds in excel.

We have an excel that we use to budget and track monthly expenses.

So your refrigerator breaks and you buy a new one. Does one of you pay for it and then get partially reimbursed by the other? Or do you try and make the store split it like a restaurant check? I get that people do separate accounts but it just seems like a needless complication in life. I only see 2 reasons for it. Somehow makes things easier if you divorce. Or, it was like that before you got married and are just too lazy to change. The second one I can respect (even though it actually makes more work in the long run) but the first seems like a defeatist attitude going in and doesn't bode well for the long term. I guess I'm just missing the point.