Comments on: Getting Hitched? Should You Hitch Your Money Too?

By: Maximo Baskin

Maximo Baskin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:50:58 +0000

very sweet post

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:42:52 +0000

“I paid half of everything though he made three times what I did. He said it wasn’t his fault if I had a low-paying job.”

That post reminded me of the problems we’re having. I make more money on paper but all of our health insurance (med/dental/vision) is coming off of my salary. The wife says that her doing housework should be worth something, even though I actually help out with a lot of it. While that may be true, her housework doesn’t pay the electric bill or the mortgage. What has happened is that she is constantly broke and I am the one that has to pick up the slack and pay almost all of the bills. I want us to get a joint account so we can at least pay the household bills out of one account and then set up an allowance system. We’ve been married a year but already the arguments over money are causing issues. (Before we got married, I made slightly less than she did)

By: Jim @ ChangeJarSavings.com

Jim @ ChangeJarSavings.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:37:04 +0000

In the past we (my wife and I) have used both. We both have separate checking accounts and joint savings. When we got married we immediately "became one" with a joint account. It was later that we each opened a separate account. This has created more problems for us though. More accounts to reconcile and my wife is not very good at doing this. After several overdraft charges her account sits with about $5 to keep it open. However this month we are doing away with all checkbooks, debit and credit cards. I even went so far as to cancel direct deposits. This is our Old School Finance month to see if we can survive without the conveniences that have been sold to us by the banks that continue to find ways to drain money away from us. So far we are even saving money. Jim @ ChangeJarSavings.com - Just my two cents! Jim @ ChangeJarSavings.com´s last blog post..Old School Finances - Day 15

By: Should Married Couples Have Joint Or Separate Accounts? | Weakonomi¢s

Should Married Couples Have Joint Or Separate Accounts? | Weakonomi¢s — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:56:29 +0000

[...] thought it would be a good place to start. Have a read at my guest post over there called “Getting Hitched? Should You Hitch Your Money Too?“. Make sure you check out the comments from Tabitha’s [...]

By: Marriage advice for a younger guy - Wise Bread Forums

Marriage advice for a younger guy - Wise Bread Forums — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:57:46 +0000

[...] did a guest post on the blog From Single To Married about the finances of post-honeymoon marriage. It’s a good starting point. I’m a little bit older [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:49:14 +0000

We’re getting married in June, but have been living together for over a year. We’ve got a joint checking account for paying the bills; the JOINT bills. However, we each have our separate checking accounts for paying our individual bills. By individual bills I mean things such as fuel for our cars, weekly lunch or dinner money (used during work or such), and even our monthly car payments as we each have new cars that we purchased separately.

This system has worked for the past year or so, but I’ve been thinking of ditching the individual accounts and sticking with the joint account. As pointed out in this post, marriage is about sharing. We share every aspect of our lives, why not the money? I think it just brings trust and balance to a relationship. With all of the worry and frustration over money these days, who wants to add the extra stress to a new relationship (or a thriving marriage) of “who’s money is who’s”?

By: admin

admin — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:04:04 +0000

such great comments! Thanks to everyone who left their thoughts for the Weakonomist – it’s been very helpful to read and hear what works!

By: V. Higgins

V. Higgins — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:25:50 +0000

Recently married (10 months next week) and we have a joint account to pay bills, rent, groceries, etc. That’s where the paychecks go, out of that we each have our cash allowance (weekly) and I put some of mine into a HYSA. So far its been the perfect set-up. There isn’t the feeling of “mine” and “yours” but there’s the flexibility of not feeling guilty for buying a new pair of shoes or a MP3 player because that’s what the “fun money” is for!

By: erin

erin — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:36:06 +0000

DH and I have a kind of hybrid system in that we both have separate checking accounts, but mine is more of an "allowance" account and his is where the bills get paid out of. I cash my paycheck, do the grocery shopping, and bring him home the rest minus my small allowance. I'm horrible at paying bills and while I understand the general concept of a budget, I just don't get it in practice. DH is much more disciplined than me so he manages the money and I trust him 100% to manage it well. We also have an open-book policy where if/when I want to be more involved with the money management or just take a look at the bank statements or balance sheet and see where our money is going (and vice versa) all that information is readily available, so it's not like there are any secrets between us. DH and I also have very different attitudes about money and how we spend it (I'm a terrible saver but spending makes me very nervous and research the heck out of everything, while DH is a very emotional spender and disciplined saver) so we always make big decisions together. I think either way, joint or separate accounts, the most important thing is to be on the same page about your financial goals and to be open, trusting, and transparent about everything. erin´s last blog post..soap tutorial with photos

By: Alzo

Alzo — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:35:09 +0000

Good and thought-provoking post. Thanks, Weakonomist. My wife and I have separate checking accounts, but they are integrated. First, her name is on my account and my name is on hers. Second, the bills are divided up so that each of us pays certain ones out of our earnings, and we each have a fairly generous allowance, which we do not have to account to the other for. So far, it has worked out fairly well.