In a marriage do you think it is more successful to have combined bank accounts or separate? What are some advantages and disadvantages of each?
by 
Melissa
ANSWERS: 6
-
It's a good idea to have both - joint accounts for things for the home and family, and separate accounts for personal spending money - some people, myself included, can easily make purchases without realising how much I'm spending.
-
I made the mistake of having a combined one, then divorced, I could not shut down the joint account without him so he took out a $10,000 loan by signing my name and depositing it in the joint account, plus he was able to go drain $13,000 of my savings when he found out about the divorce decision, was a joint account so they couldn't do anything or prove who it belonged to, joint has been the bane on my financial life
-
Advantages of combined bank accounts is less record keeping and paper work and time saving as no one likes bank reconciliations. Both names are on check, reminder of marriage, your banker knows you as a loving family, your vendors will know you as a unit, you will only have to check one source to see how liquid you are at any given time. Disadvantages are you don't know what checks are outstanding, you both may be writing from separate check books, and, if the marriage sours, the first one to get to the money wins. Marriage creed "Trust One Another", do you...
-
I think it's more important to share financial goals. Whether or not you share accounts isn't hugely important.
-
In a marriage, a joint account should exist and each partner should have a separate account. The joint account is for the household expenses and should have six months of earned income saved for household and living expenses in the event that there is a job loss. The separate accounts should be 10% of the earnings and for personal wants and needs. The joint account should be built with 10% or more of the earned income if both are working. You will discover that 20% of your income payable to the household account and your personal account leaves 80% for other living expenses.
-
We have different accounts. I work hard for my money and there is no way that Im going to ask hubby for even 1 cent! We split everything and each of us pay what we have to and with the rest we discuss every cent we spend seperately. But we are happy with seperate accounts. +4
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC