Do you and your spouse have a joint bank account? How do y'all handle your money?

Question

I just want to know how many couples have joint bank accounts or seperate accounts? How do you guys manage your money and who is the one in charge of the bills?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Separate accounts and split the bills up. Was married for over twenty years never fought over money and bills. It makes it easier if you have different ways of doing the books. My wife didn't write things down where I had everything documented. Tax time was kind of hard doing a joint return but it wasn't that bad.

Answer 2

So there are many perspectives on this from both sides. As you say women over spend, but honestly you may have bad expieriences with women over spending. If there is a problem then there should be three acccounts. A joint account, one for him and one for her. Women now a days like to support themselves, she can deposit freely into her account as you can yours. But there are still some of those gold diggers out there. If your afraid of a gold digger then three accounts would probably sound good!. One for bills that the both of you can deposit into(set an amount the both of you should deposit-Hint:if your the man always offer to deposit a little more, unless SHE says otherwise) and one for yourslef and one for her. If she spends her own and the joint, then it would be fair to take charge of the finances.(Remove the joint and control the finances and give her only what necessary). If she does good and has money left in her account than congradulate her. It seems childish, but if she can not control her spending this may be the approach you need. So from that point on the two of you can come to an agreement with the monies left- tell her she can keep and use it as needed for emergencies- whatever she may need it for-then open her a savings account where she can transfer this money too. Let her know the savings can be for whatever she wants or Let her know the savings can be for a vacation. Like who ever saves the most can chose the vacation spot. **You can tell about the vacation when your telling her she has an allowance so she will not feel like a child! Now if your just keeping money from her and you give her money once in a blue moon- she will probably spend all that she has in hand; kinda like a kid with candy. They don't get to eat it often, so when they finally get to eat candy they will most def go all out. Remember a great relationship/marriage is great communication. Good luck with your finances and I hope the two of you get the issue resolved!

Answer 3

We have a joint account. It saves time, hassle, and confusion. We save all of our receipts so that we can track our spending. Then, at the end of the month, we see how well we did at sticking to our previous month's budget and we plan next month's budget. We pay all bills due before the 15th at that time, and then we meet halfway through the month to pay the rest of the bills and to check our progress on the budget. In short, we do everything together. We have small separate accounts for gift-giving, but we keep less than $200 in both of those. It sounds like a lot of work, but it really is worth the effort.

This way, we never argue about money and there is never any confusion about what we can or can't afford. We used to maintain separate accounts and separate duties. With the exception of my school loan payments, I was in charge of savings and investments and my husband was in charge of spending. This worked out okay until circumstances caused us to live in separate states for a brief period of time. Then, it became difficult to handle joint bills without having access to joint accounts. When my husband neglected to pay a bill on time, we fought because my credit rating was falling victim to his mistakes and I felt like he was undermining my progress on the savings and investments side. When I refused to let him dip into savings during lean months, we fought because he thought I didn't have my priorities in order. I find that it works much better if both spouses are equally involved in the finances and if the number of cards and accounts are kept to the minimum.

Answer 4

I'm divorced, but during our short marriage we had a joint account, it just made sence. However I must say, problems always start when 1 person tries to control the money. Both people should be able to have some money (no matter how much or little) that they do not have to account for. So if you want to go buy some new shoes with your money, and he wants to buy a video game or golf club, neither of you are allowed to complain!

Answer 5

We do. We have quite a few accounts. We each have our OWN checking accts that we transfer a certain amount per month into. This is for food and spending money...We have one joint checking account where the rest of our money goes. From this account we have set up automatic payments on all of our bills. Then we have 2 or 3 more savings accounts, one for the house, and one for vacation. I think the 3rd one is strictly to save and not to spend. We have money transferred into each every month. It has worked very well for us!

Answer 6

We have a joint account. I handle the bills but I let him know what I am doing all the time. I let him know what is due, how much and when. Lol he doesnt really care though..as long as he gets his spending money each time and the bills are paid.

Answer 7

We have joint accounts. I handle paying the bills, only because I'm in accounting and do that type of work on a regular basis. Neither one of us spends any money without the other's knowledge.

Answer 8

We have a joint account for joint expenses like household bills, etc. However he does have his business account and a personal acct and I have my personal acct as well. This is because we live in a community property state and we both came into the marriage with our own money. It's best to keep it separate since once it's put into both names it becomes community property. However, I pay the bills and he provides for us. My accounts only have money that is considered sole and separate property.

Answer 9

My fiance and I have made his current account our joint account. His wages go in and I take them out!!!

He works away a lot so I need to have access to his money to pay bills etc. or buy things that he needs. I still have my own current account though. It works out fine as long as both of you are honest with each other about the activities in the account.

Answer 10

my wife and i have a joint bank account but she doesn't touch any of the money shes a stay at home mom and says that the money is mine to use it on what ever i want, i take care of the bills and every thing else she cooks, cleans and takes care of our 9 month old baby girl. all she wants in return is my love and she has it..