Checking Accounts: Joint or Seperate?

They all want joint, Funny thing eh.......

 

My wife and I keep a joint checking and savings. I however have a separate checking which she is not listed on but well aware of. The money is actually from a trust setup by a late grandparent and she had the nerve to ask if she could be on the account! Denied

edit: need 4th option for both

 

You're not married. Why would you even think about joint?

 

My g/f (of nine years) and I do this: We both deposit a predetermined amount into a joint account that pays our mortgage, taxes and all utilities.

The rest we deposit into our own accounts. Easier that way, living expenses get paid, and we don't have the opportunity to fight over money.... Trust me you will!!

 

NEVER trust a girl with money...just my 2c

 

Once you go through a divorce and your ex, who has been spending all the money and cheating on you, NEVER ever again will I have a joint checking account.

 

^^^^^^^see

 

My wife and I have seperate accounts.

 

Didn't spend the time reading all the feedback, but from the poles, I'm the minority anyway.

My wife and I (20 years now), have a relationship of trust. We trust each other with every aspect of life. We don't always agree, and if we don't, the one with more experience (or better decision making abilities) in that particular area gets the vote. Ultimately, I am the head of house and my wife accepts my final decision (in most areas ). However, I've also learned that my wife has some great strengths in various areas, such as financials. Since it is her strength, I let her manage the money (i.e. pay bills and balance the checkbook) and I just look over the numbers to see if it all adds up. When I want to spend money, we figure out where it'll come from and if needed, how much time to save for it; and likewise for her. So for me, joint accounts was the simplest and most efficient way.

On the flipside, we have, over the last 20 years, a number of friends who are now divored. The number one thing they ALL had in common was seperate accounts. This is not to say that seperate accounts leads to divorce, but it might suggest that a lack of trust is/was evident.

In my opinion, the discussion of whether a joint or seperate account is preferred might be a way of saying, "I don't quite trust you yet". There could be good, or no reason at all, to have such feelings towards the significant other. If a relationship is to grow and deepen, may I also suggest that you spend some time understanding why a lack of trust is evident?

I know I crossed lines here, but it's how my brain works. If I offended anyone, let me be the first to apologize. I meant no disrespect; yet I believe whole heartedly in finding a spouse you can absolutely trust, AND allowing her to absolutely trust you.

peace

 

How do you own a house and cars together, with separate bank accounts and everything split up in your own names? Does not compute...

 

Both, we have our own accounts, but we also have a joint for big purchases.

 

SPORT

My thoughts exactly. I've only been married for 3 years myself, known my wife now for a total of almost 7 years. Trust and honest communication. It's gotten us this far, and we know it will keep us going.

 

girlfriend????

why are you even having this conversation????

once married, then ask that question.

 

My wife is an accountant and we both agreed on seperate, we even split the bills. There wasn't even a discussion.

 

Like woody said, it is his girlfriend, not even fiancee', there is no question, keep them seperate. Once he is married it is a different story.

 

good man. you are married, the funds belong to both of you. it is jointly owned... i would never even consider having seperate accounts with my wife, it is OUR money, in OUR bank account. i see zero reason to have seperate accounts, even for tracking, etc. i'm sure there are exceptions based on more unusual circumstances that would lend itself to another account, but for the average person I don't.

 

If you're not married..... definately SEPARATE!!!

Why would you put someones elses name on your account if you're not legally 'attached' to that person? DON'T DO IT!!

With my husband and I - everything is joint. Our money is our money - not his or hers.

Now - my parents do it differently. Since Mom doesn't work, all the accounts are in Dad's name. Mom can't tap into that money without permission, including money for groceries. They're old and old school. I've heard a lot of couples keep things separate - his/her money and they don't touch eachothers money. If that works for them, that's cool.
Certainly, if your spouse has a bad habit of spending....I think I'd want to limit their access to the funds after countless attempts to make them stop. Or is it a trust issue?

One reason for having joint accounts - is because if one spouse passes, its much easier for the other spouse to legally get what they're intitled to. I remember when my father-in-law passed away, we needed a lawyer mostly to gain access for my mother-in-law to the stocks/bonds/CD's that he had in his name. To have them transferred over for her. It's not the easiest task even if you THINK you've crossed all your T's and dotted your i's.

 

I'm pretty sure you guys are taking this "trust and sharing" thing to the extreme. I trust my wife to pay her 1/2 of the bills...She's got my passwords and access to my bank account as I do to hers and I trust her to do whatever she wants with whatever money is left after our obligations are covered.

But my own account ensures that I have the pulse on what my money is doing. I don't have to worry about her needing to buy gas and groceries the same day the Taco needs gas, nor do I need to check with her to do anything. We do have several other accounts (a house repairs/rainy day fund) and a vacation account that we both have access to and usually use only when we are together.

 

X2

 

unless you are dating the hottie that works at your bank..she shouldnt even know how much money you have or do not have.

separate until married.