Feb 22nd, 2013 by Jennifer Lynn
The evolution of our finances.
M. and I both have separate checking accounts from before we met. But now that we have a family, our finances have evolved into more of a cohesive unit and last year we opened a joint savings account specifically for family expenses and emergencies.
However, since I pay all of the bills but stay at home right now while M. fetches the majority of our family bacon, we’ve decided to go ahead and open a joint checking account as one main account.
I see several advantages to this.
For one, it simplifies the household finances since we can funnel our combined income (M.’s paycheck and any side income I receive, plus any family windfalls) and expenses through that joint checking account. M. doesn’t constantly need to transfer money over to my individual account to pay my bills, and it helps us receive a clearer overall picture of where we stand with our finances.
Furthermore, we hold family meetings every week or so to discuss our investments and how to efficiently accomplish all of our objectives. Usually I take notes and we discuss baby steps and specific time frames, which helps us keep dibs on everything and boosts momentum toward all of our greater financial goals.
So we will have a combined ‘main’ checking account for all of our income, with a pre-determined percentage siphoned away to our joint savings account (long term investments) and to our savings envelope (for short term needs and wants).
We will continue to have individual credit cards and pay off all balances in full each month.
Thus the plan for the weekend is:
1) on our way to the farmer’s market in the morning, to stop by a local bank branch and open the joint checking account.
2) on Saturday evening, to celebrate my Grammy’s 82nd birthday (although she insists she is 82 going on 28!)
3) to catch up on some weekend reading: for example, I need to nip through our collaborative eBook before it hits the next progressive stage
What works for your family in handling money matters—do you and your significant other have joint or separate bank accounts? What have been the advantages and disadvantages? Any issues?
=^..^=
My wife and I used to have separate accounts with one joint for family expenses. Even though the joint account worked every month, leaving us to our own devices for the individual accounts left us not being a transparent as we should have been. Nice post!
My wife and I have individual accounts along with some joint accounts. This works best for us and we have been doing that for 5 years.
Not being married, I often wonder how people handle combined finances, especially if people have different ways of handling money.
I am an obsessive money tracker. I need to know where every dollar is going. I don’t think a single account would be bad if we were both like this. But if my girl wasn’t as devoted to tracking her expenses as I am, separate accounts may be the way to go.
We have one company joint account and live off it mainly, putting money when it dries up. All the rest is separate, I wouldn’t want to justify every little expense or cover half of his!
We have joint finances and it’s been like this for a very long time. This way works best for us and we’ve never had any problems.
We have both a joint and separate accounts for our finances. I also have my accounts overseas. The reason we have the separate accounts in Canada was more for my credit rating as I had to build it when I moved here. We simply have left the accounts that way but have a joint as well. It works but I’m sure once we get motivated we will close my account and just add me to hers.
Our grandma always switches her age as well, instead of 84 she is 48!
We’re not married so my g/f and I keep separate accounts even thought we work from a shared budget.
I always like reading about the different systems couples have for managing money. Its something I spend a lot of time thinking about for if/when I get married.
We have completely joint finances. Ours naturally evolved that way because we never really had any money to speak of before we got married.
We have completely joint finances and did so once we got married as it just felt natural to us. We have separate credit cards in the case we want to buy something for the other without having them know.
We put everything into a single account. We also have a fun and an investment account but again these are joint. We are planning to have personal ‘pocket money’ accounts so (in theory) we can buy each other presents without it being so obvious. This seems to be the best solution.
We have a joint account for most stuff, but I don’t want to saddle her with all of my debt, so that is taken care of from a separate account.
We have multiple joint accounts and a few individual ones. It would be a lot easier for us to just have a few joint accounts though as it can be difficult calculating where all our money moves around to.
That’s definitely something me and the BF have been discussing, especially since we’re getting hitched soon. All our finances are separate, and even living together for over a year, it’s worked out great. But I’m thinking we may need to get a joint checking account at least when we have a family together. I guess a combo is probably what we’ll end up doing.
We have always had a joint current (checking) bank account and never saw the point in keeping separate. Some people told us that kjeeping separate makes it more straight forward when people split up. For crying out loud! I didn’t merry planning to separate! Cr*p happens but one shouldn’t ruin one’s life preparing for it and expecting it.
I’ve always been a proponent of joint accounts, as it promotes teamwork and unity as one. Additionally, isn’t marital income legally joint anyway in many (most?) places, regardless of what account it’s deposited into?
Sounds like a good plan. Yes, you are already a family thus you should help each other out in your expenses. You also need to take the time to sit and talk about all the flow of your income and where you are spending your money for your family.. Everything will be transparent and it avoids any arguments later on regarding money.
[...] Need That Stuff at Beating Broke Less Debt For The Next Generation at Step Away From The Mall The Practicality of Joint or Separate Bank Accounts at Broke Ass Mommy Haggling: The Value of Patience at Penny Thots Is Poverty in the US an Excuse to [...]
[...] The Practicality of Joint or Separate Bank Accounts at Broke Ass Mommy [...]
[...] Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes The practicality of joint or separate bank accounts – Where do you stand on joint vs separate bank accounts? Read my [...]
[...] Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes The practicality of joint or separate bank accounts – Where do you stand on joint vs separate bank accounts? Read my [...]
Husband and I have joint accounts and it works well for us.
We have never had a joint account but the merits you mention are clear. Our method has never actually been discussed but my wife pays all of our regular bills and I pay all the large bills like real estate taxes, income taxes, credit card bills, etc. It has worked for over 30 years.
One nice thing about your joint account is that if you tie it into a Quicken like program you can monitor and track expenses, set up a budget and cull tax deductible items very easily.
Mr. FBS and I have had a shared checking account since we moved in together when we were dating. I have been the money tracker and one to help him pay off his debts. A joint account made it easier for me to keep track of and pay all bills, because everything was all in one simple account.
My husband and I have always had joint accounts. This works for us, and I think it keeps us unified as well.