Seperate bank accounts vs. Shared Bank Accounts

[Bud_Fox]

Which works better when living with a spouse?

 

[Nutz]

ALWAYS have separate accounts. And a prenup so you keep your stuff in case of divorce--which can serve as a nice block to her walking away. IF you don't protect yourself the state will reward her for divorcing you, which is a huge incentive. By protecting you assets you deny her this incentive and it gives her one more reason to try and work things out if you're having problems (which you will).

 

[Desdinova]

When I was married, we kept separate accounts. If I didn't keep mine separate, she would've blown my paycheck on garbage. She had enough trouble paying the bills I gave her responsibility over.

 

[SecondHalf]

Use both.
A common account is convenient for running the home and paying for day to day joint life. The bulk of your money (or the remainder) should go into your personal account.
Just do a budget together, agree on deposit amounts and both do it.
Easiest way that I've found.

 

[sodbuster]

Yours,mine and ours. One for joint expenses, that way, you both have your own and a bit of mad money neither spouse can complain about.

 

[Mike32ct]

Yours,mine and ours. One for joint expenses, that way, you both have your own and a bit of mad money neither spouse can complain about.

^This.

I'm not married, but my father always recommends this setup.

 

[Warrior74]

Use both.
A common account is convenient for running the home and paying for day to day joint life. The bulk of your money (or the remainder) should go into your personal account.
Just do a budget together, agree on deposit amounts and both do it.
Easiest way that I've found.

My parents have been married for 43 years and this is what they have done. They say it causes less problems that way. As long as the bills are paid and the savings are in the bank, do what you like with what you earned.

 

[Dust 2 Dust]

I'll never share a bank account with a woman. Most women I know are spend thrifts who can't save a dime. Several of my female coworkers are chronically broke despite having good paying jobs.

 

[speed dawg]

We have a joint account and a savings account. I control all the finances. Every purchase runs through me. I do not have any problems except for the typical BS because I'm tight. I set a budget and we meet it every month.

I know many couples where the wife runs the finances. I'm a big believer in playing to people's strengths and all, but very few women I know should be trusted with that. It's almost like the husband admitting their own dumbassedness. I only know ONE couple where the wife is much more tight than the husband, but even they are in a tremendous amount of debt.

There again, if there are real troubles with finances, it's typically a symptom of other marital problems, not the source of it.

Personally, I could not imagine a marriage where I could not trust my wife with such things. If I ever got to that point, I think I would be contemplating why I married that person in the first place and form an exit strategy. Many of you miss that important point.

 

[Blackmm]

Lets say you do share an account with your girl. All is cool until she falls behind on a loan, stops paying her credit card or something that sends the credit collectors after her.

The first thing the bill collectors will look for is an account with her name on it (Banks share this information with all legitimate credit agencies.) They don't care if someone else shares the account, if there is money in it, out it comes.

It all boils down to how much you trust your girl fiscally.

 

[Kailex]

It's old, but has some good insight.

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=176381

And, I'll add a bit more of insight after a year+.
The only "joint" account that should be opened is an account that is a 50/50 account for paying bills. That's it.

Any other money should be kept seperate.
Direct deposit makes the joint account easy to build up. Ideally, it's an account that'll have a balance close to 0 after all the bills for the month have been paid. I've actually advised couples to open an account with just 10 bucks (5 from each)... calculate their monthly expenses, divide that by 2 and then have their direct deposits set up by the amount that was divided by 2.

So far, haven't had a problem with those customers.

Good luck.