Joint Bank account or NOT!!

I am thinking of having a joint account with the wife. Im ok with money but shes far better. So whats the consensus out there. Any problems you have had ect?
 

General Lee

New member
I have two with my wife, a savings and current. If you trust your partner without thinking about it then its fine. If you are worried about money being ours rather than hers and mine I might stay away from it. Life can give a couple enough to argue about without money becoming a big fighting point.
For me it works very well. hope that helps
 

nels0nmac

Member
I have a joint account with the wife. I'm better at keeping tabs of our money and knowing how much we have and she is better at spending it :0) To be honest in general it comes down to a matter of trust.... if you both trust each other not to get silly with your ( both of your) money then there shouldn't be a problem. You got married so you must trust her a fair bit.
 

DrEvilmonki

Active member
Why not have a joint and individual accounts? Set a budget where you both have your own money and pay it to yourselves but keep your bills and couples savings in a joint account.
 

mud duck

New member
I second that thinking. That way you and her have an account that you can draw money for things for yourselves without having to argue about where the money is coming from.
 

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
Wife and I do have joint accounts, but we've both got a His and Hers account. We did have just a main account for a number of years, with me handling all the finances. She found that since she didn't keep the books, she didn't know how much she was spending, and was loathe to ask how much she could spend on herself. For lack of a better word, she's now on a small allowance (we're mainly one income). But, that's for herself, not groceries, bills, kids' clothing, etc. Having all the accounts joint makes it easy to pay each other back for any purchase, and it gives her peace-of-mind knowing what she's got available.

On top of that, if either of us is unable to write a check to pay a bill (which happened when she was on a trip), it's easy for the other partner to pay the bill. Also helps if one of you is injured (or worse), then there's not much legal wrangling to do, and that money is available if need be.

So I'd say go ahead, get the joint account, but get two of them.
 

Shellshock

New member
Miiiiiine.. she gets pocket money along with the kids!

We've always used my account for well everything, she takes my card if she needs it while I'm at work, all our spare money goes on the kids anyway. We forecast our finances in excel, so can see everythings covered well in advance, if one of us wants something we'll discuss it first, no rampant shopping sprees or anything on either part, neither of us care for fancy things, aslong as the fridge is hard at work keeping my beer cool and the kids haven't trashed my hobby table and pissed in my slippers before I get home from work I'm happy with the basics.
 

cassar

BALLSCRATCHER
i've a joint account have had since we got hitched more of a necessity than a choice as i could be away for protracted periods of time. she now also has her own account and i've a couple of savings accounts...tis only now i realise that "whats yours is ours, whats mine's my own" is the wifes operating system. find a shoe and hide money in it, n fer goodness sake learn ta hold yer pishh, tis the only way.
 

Torn blue sky

New member
I've found my ma to be exactly the same way, Cassar! The boot has the cheek to have me pick up her booze and fags out me own pocket and have the cheek to demand a tenner back I borrowed about 5 years ago lol!
 

skeeve

Member
We have joint account. I can tell you ONE drawback of having a joint account - buying gifts. Since both of us have online access either will see what (or rather where) the other person buy things. So, this problem was solved my making two small individual credit cards :).
 

freakinacage

Well-known member
I second that thinking. That way you and her have an account that you can draw money for things for yourselves without having to argue about where the money is coming from.
aye thirded. and as pointed out the whole gift thing is easier that way
 

supervike

Super Moderator
We've had a joint account from even before we were married.

Financially speaking, my wife and I have almost always been on the same page, so it's never been an issue in the almost 25 years....

It's never been a 'my money' 'her money' thing (other than jokingly)...It always been 'our money'.
 

cassar

BALLSCRATCHER
I've found my ma to be exactly the same way, Cassar! The boot has the cheek to have me pick up her booze and fags out me own pocket and have the cheek to demand a tenner back I borrowed about 5 years ago lol!

more neck than a herd o giraffes

We've had a joint account from even before we were married.

Financially speaking, my wife and I have almost always been on the same page, so it's never been an issue in the almost 25 years....

It's never been a 'my money' 'her money' thing (other than jokingly)...It always been 'our money'.

she's good, reaal good. maintaining that illusion for 25 years, copperfield ha! she shites em
 

lizcam

New member
This is a touchy subject with me. The ex and I had 1 bank account and he held the purse strings on it. It was how he controlled me. And he was HORRIBLE with money. At one point I recieved around $250,000.00 (and my house payed off) from my grandfathers estate (he died) and within 5 years We were broke and in forclosure again. I earned more than him but lets just say there were a couple of times when my health was seriously jepordized because of lack of money. If I went just on that experience I'd say HELL NO! DON'T DO IT! RUN FOR THE HILLS!

Thanksfully I'm a reasonable person and have found a good man who is good with money recently (I love you Roger). I'd happily get a joint account with him even given my previous experiences.

I guess what I'd do is have a joint account for living expenses where most of the money went but I caution you to keep a secondary account for your own spending money. And make SURE you trust your partner completely BEFORE you join funds. You have to trust your other half or it's not much of a relationship, but coming from a burned hand perspective, I'd keep some in an account that you control.
 

DrEvilmonki

Active member
Plus if you are doing a joint account for big ticket items (saving for house, car etc) as JOINT accounts. Both of you should have to sign anything to alter, withdraw from those accounts.
 
Iv opened a joint where our wage's go in, and two seperate account's. For the first time since being a student i owe nothing to anyone. Jus paid off a £12000 student loan off and the ol credit card. I am now trying to be a level headed adult (of 25). Now i know i stashed a bottle of Bushmills somewhere, going to find it a celebrate!!!

thanks everyone
 

Arma

New member
in Japan, generally the female takes care of all the money and gives her a man an allowance each month based. We kinda do it this way but I just buy things with credit then give her everything that's left over. No joint account though, just mine and hers (she does have credit cards connected to my account though!)

I don't see it being a problem so long as you trust your partner. As Vikey said, it's never about whose money it is.. it's just a resource we pool for our future and our kids.
 

Einion

New member
I would definitely go with having one, with the caveats mentioned above - keep individual accounts as well and since you trust her money sense that's that worry out of the way.

IME a joint account won't stop arguments about spending - you'll either have those or you won't - it just makes payment of stuff for the couple/family more practical.

Einion
 

mattrock

New member
I'm of the opinion that there is no longer any such thing as "mine and yours" once you are married. Everything is "ours." My wife and I are a single unit and we manage our lives according to our commitment in that regard. To that end, I recommend having joint accounts once you are married. If you want spending money or to buy gifts "off the radar" as it were, cash can fill that role pretty easily.

It's always seemed odd to me that some married couples go out of their way to retain individual ownership rights. It always seemed like a half-measure to me. That said, to each his own and I'm sure I bear an opinion that may not be the majority. /shrug.
 

RuneBrush

New member
For the first time since being a student i owe nothing to anyone.

Well done for being beholden to no-one!

Really interesting topic, especially as I'm five months into what I believe could be a very long term relationship. Nice to see how other couples tackle the gifts thing as well - I was always curious :)

Pete
 
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