When you are married, what do you do with your bank accounts?

Question

suppose you have a bank account and your wife does too.   do you make one account for both of you or you make keep your own account?

Answer 1

she has hers, i have mine. for years and years now. so what? 

Answer 2

My mother has been a working woman her entire life. She has her own personal bank account, and then a joint one with my father. He does not have a separate bank account of his own. I should stress that my mother is an accountant, so the bills are always paid, and the two of them have perfect credit (like my mother's FICO is 832...that is beyond perfect!)

Answer 3

Up to the couple. Friend of mine has three accounts. One for her, one for her husband and joint account they put money  into for the bills and rent.

My daughter and her husband made a joint account when they got engaged. 

Answer 4

Empty them getting in debt generally.

Answer 5

You can do both. You probably should have a joint account so both of you can take responsibility for paying bills and expenses--but there's nothing wrong with keeping separate accounts, either. It really depends on the income, the division of responsibility you both want and the way the two of you want to handle financial matters. 





With joint accounts, you will BOTH need to be responsible and diligent--and with separate accounts, you can both be independent if you need to be. There are a lot of factors involved--and only you can decide which is best for you. 

Answer 6

Always keep a separate account for each of you and open a joint one for bills like the mortgage.  If you keep a single joint account it allows one spouse to not pay attention to any of the bills and even worse start over-spending both your paychecks with no good way to stop it.   Separate accounts allows each spouse to be more accountable to their own spending habits. 

Answer 7

Whatever you choose to do, be sure you keep a separate stash of cash never tell anyone.  When she divorce rapes you this may be all you have to keep you alive for a few years.  The courts will take everything from you and leave you to die.  You should have enough to move, set up a new life and keep you alive for at least 2 years.

Answer 8

Personally, I think that a joint account should hold money for bills and items purchased by mutual agreement, rent, necessities. I think it is not a good idea to put all of your money in one account. Nobody should be able to take out money without permission of the other. In divorce and abandonment, sometimes one spouse has raided the joint account without the other's permission. A prenuptial agreement is always a good idea along with a non-disclosure agreement. 

Answer 9

We set up multiple accounts.  Both of our paychecks get deposited into a joint checking account. This is used to pay household bills.  Each of us has a personal checking account, and every month $300 is transferred from the joint account to each of the personal checking accounts.  This money is used for personal purchases - my husband tends to spend it eating out for lunch, I spend mine mostly on books.  We also have a joint savings account.  When the amount in the joint checking account reaches a certain point, half the funds get transferred to savings.

Answer 10

Keep your own account.       

Answer 11

You donate your bank accounts to the local Mormon church divine treasury.

Answer 12

Leave the Bank Accounts as it is . Marriage amounts to uniting a couple .It does not mean that the bank accounts should e merged. The couple can discuss and share the expenses and the amount agreed can be paid through their respective accounts .    

Answer 13

My wife and I have our own individual accounts.

 We have no joint accounts.

 She pays the electric bill and I pay all the rest.

 I buy most of the groceries and she will buy what specifically she likes.

 She has her own car and I have mine.

She has her 'she-shed'...I have my 'man-cave'.

The only thing we share is the cat.

 

Answer 14

To avoid arguments I recommend separate accounts so each can spend their own money, household expenses to be shared 50/50.

Answer 15

IF you are smart, you keep it totally SEPARATE!  

Answer 16

 It’s advised for couples to have separate bank accounts z

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Answer 17

There are many good reasons for both men and women to have a single account and a joint account.  You both should also have each a retirement account.  I am not sure when marriage and divorce rates came out, but I do not remember hearing it in the 60's, 70's, and most of the 80's that 50% of marriages only last 5 years or less. Good or bad, currently that is the trend.  So it is important to take care of yourself.  Meaning, a minimum of 5% of your paycheck, and 5% of your husband paycheck should go into each separate retirement account,  if you have not done so before you got married.   Then if posible another 5% for each of you in a separate savings account.  This can be used for mad money, vacation money, buying presants for him, 

or as my girlfriend does buys that stupid $7 large mocachino mochioto, coffee.  and anything else you might think of.  Then the rest of both of your paychecks should go into a joint account to pay common bills.  Rent, mortgage, car payments for both, utilities, phones, cable, internet, and all insurance.  car, health home, and childrens  expenses.  Now one other issue is if you do not work, or make $20,000-$30,000, while your husband makes $50,000-$100,000.  Who ever makes more, or makes the money, still needs to set up a 5% retirement account for both of you.  No matter how much you make, or he makes, you need first and foremost set up a retirement account.  Basically, every dollar you save in your 20's is worth $64, in your 30's it drops to $48, in your 40's it drops to $24. Then if you can afford it, put something in a separate account for both of you.  

Answer 18

My FH says we will have separate accounts mainly because people steal from me all the time.  I realize sometimes I put myself in a position that allows them to steal and by people I mean my family...and  by family I mean siblings and father.

Answer 19

My husband and I each have our own checking accounts, and we each have a savings account.  Then we have a savings account we both contribute to, for things like taking trips, etc.

Answer 20

Michelle Obama closed his account and used his husband's account.

Answer 21

We have three accounts.  One for me, one for her, and a joint account.  Money goes into the joint account which pays our expenses.  The surplus is divided up and put into our own.  That way what we choose to do with OUR share is entirely up to us.  No arguments needed.

Answer 22

I'd want to keep my own account. It's either that or I just don't get married!

Answer 23

We have a household account into which all of our money goes, combined and from that we each take an equal "petty cash fund" and have our own bank accounts that we use at will for whatever, no questions asked, that is replenished once a month (equally). Our petty cash covers gas, wallet money, personal supplies, occasional expenses for ourselves that come up. How we, individually, budget our petty cash is entirely our own affair... but it's replenished only once a month. With the household account, we immediately put some into savings every month, a pinch into investment funds,  pay all household expenses, bills and divvy up a separate "vacation" fund as budgeting permits. So we do a "Yours, Mine and Ours" approach with the reality that it ALL starts out as "Ours". That's been working pretty well for us for around 24 years now. We used to do it differently but find this works the best for us.

Answer 24

Different couples arrange things differently depending on their circumstances. But regardless of whatever individual accounts you keep it's usually helpful to have at least one that's a joint account. This is usually the one both partners contribute to each month and the one that's used to pay the household bills. 

Answer 25

Everyone acts differently although when I married, we closed my wife's bank accounts and added her to my account and have had joint accounts for the past 57 years.

Answer 26

Different people do different things. We both kept our own separate accounts that we already had. There is no rule or law about it. I think I would suggest keeping your accounts separate for the first few months while things settle down, then decide whether to go on like that, or form a joint account, or keep separate accounts AND set up a third one for joint expenses.

It's entirely up to the two of you.

Answer 27

We combined all our accounts. Some prefer to keep separate personal accounts but also 1 joint account to which both contribute for joint expenses, like the mortgage, utilities, insurance, etc.



We just feel that in a marriage, whatever money comes in belongs to both of us.  And joint accounts are easier if one partner dies.

Answer 28

Depends on what you and your spouse agree on.  I've seen couples have a joint account while others prefer to keep separate accounts.  It's whatever works for you and your spouse.

Answer 29

That's a decision each couple must make.

Answer 30

Today's our 28th Happy Anniversary! 

My hubby and I have two bank accounts - the Household account and the Special account - but we are both signers on both accounts. We make most decisions together, but he hardly ever does any transactions in the Special account, I do the money-juggling for us. We also have a joint Savings account. 

We each have our own credit cards, but that's not to hide anything from each other. It's just for convenience. 

Marriage includes Trust in financial matters. If you can't trust the other person in the bed or in the bank, you're not really married. 

Answer 31

Been married 23 years with separate accounts.

Answer 32

each keep their own accounts 

open a house hold account for the joint agree bills 



before marriage 

look at each others credit reports - not credit score but whole records

make list what is a necessity and what is a luxury

agree on what you will and will not jointly buy 

make a budget ahead for joint cost 



agree how much you both put in the joint account

Answer 33

Every couple has their own preferences and it should be agreed upon that they handle in a way that is satisfactory to both.

Answer 34

Other respondents have mentioned the common arrangement of two individual accounts plus a joint account. If you live in the U.S. and your bank is FDIC insured, this has another advantage: the three accounts are insured separately, so your total coverage is greater.

Answer 35

I'm 74 years old so let me just say that in the "old" days we loved and trusted each other enough that only one account was necessary.  I realize that these days both parties work which "might" start arguments about who earns more or contributes more but stop keeping score and put it in the Honey po.t

Answer 36

This should be sorted out beforehand....



Some have 100% combined accounts, others 100% separate and some keep separate but have a combined account to run the household etc

Answer 37

You must have your own secret bank accounts for convenience .

Answer 38

I added my wife to my checking and savings accounts as soon as we got married sinse she may need to take out some money, if I'm not able to go to the bank, if I am in the hospital or at home sick.

Answer 39

It’s up to you and your spouse. I’ll probably have separate accounts. 

Answer 40

Each of us has a personal account for our personal money as well as being a signatory to the joint account we use for joint or shared expenditures. We also maintain a special savings account for our pets and add a set amount each month. That way when yearly vet visits and shots come due, when there is a pet emergency, we aren't scrambling to find money for $300 worth of shots or treatments. 

Answer 41

We have 3 accounts, we each have one from before we were married, the other is a joint since we married.