Joint or separate bank accounts when you are married? Lack of trust, or do it for accountability reasons?

Question

I would like your perspective on the joint versus separate accounts: Do you believe that a married couple should have a joint account, or each have a separate account and a joint account? Why?

I believe that there should be a joint account as it shows that if the other person wants a separate account it is a lack of trust on that persons part. It makes it much more work to have 3 accounts in my opinion. To me it is a symbol..... Uniting as one in front of God in a church, you should have one account. Not 3.... If you think otherwise, please give me good reasons as to why you think that.

Do you have any biblical that shows it in the bible? Thank you for your kind answers.

Also, does your way of thinking change if one or the other has been divorced, with no real previous bad money problems in the marriage.???

Answer 1

Don't have any biblical references for keeping all the money together or keeping it separate. Adam and Eve didn't have the student loan company looking for their monthly stipend but I do--not my future husband. Truthfully it isn't about trust or poor money management for me. I do plan on putting the majority of my income into a joint account with my husband. However, there are some expenses for things that I want that won't benefit him in the least that I don't want screwing up we have held jointly nor do I want him to know every time I buy him a gift or anything else. It's a personal preference. I can't surprise him with a trip somewhere if he was online paying the bills and saw the debit to the account. Whatever works for each couple is what they should do. The only symbol I would hold onto is the vow I made to him and my belief and drive to honor it.

Answer 2

First, I am a Christian and so is my husband. Please know that you will not find biblical answers to all of your marriage questions. My hubby and I have 3 accounts - one joint account and 2 individual accounts. We do this because we give ourselves individual "allowances" that we can blow on whatever we want... so later down the line there will be no arguments over how money is spent. We use the joint account for all of our bills (even ones that we separately created before we were married) and for everything else. BUT, every month, we deposit $100 into our individual accounts. With your "allowance" you can buy whatever you want. So if I want to save my money for a couple of months and buy a $200 purse, I can do that. If he wants to blow his money on CDs or DVDs that only HE likes, he can do that. This ensures that we NEVER argue over money and each of us still feels free to do things for ourselves every once in a while. Even though we're united in our marriage, we are still 2 individual people. When folks try to live as one mind, it never works. By the way, I have a degree in religion and I am sure that the Bible does not address this, nor does it address a multitude of scenarios that you will face in your marriage. Instead, God gives us free will and the ability to communicate with others so we can come to agreements and understanding. Use those faculties, and you'll never go wrong. May you have a blessed marriage!

Answer 3

Both joint and separate accounts. You need a joint account where you both contribute to the household bills. The contribution should not be 50/50 only because that may not be fair. If you make $15/hr and he only makes $9/hr, he will be giving up more of his money to support the household which could cause some resentment. You should do a ratio for support based on household expenses and what each of you bring to the table. Both needs to sit down at pre-arranged times to look at the joint finances. What is working and what's not and make adjustments from there. He should not be solely responsible for the joint account but neither should you.
Keep in mind that you need a joint savings as well that you contribute to on the same ratio basis.
Then whatever is left, goes into the separate accounts which each person needs to manage themselves. Therefore each has the ability to buy what they wish for themselves without feeling like a child and having to justify what they are spending their money on.
Separate accounts also allows you to buy gifts for the other without the surprise being ruined.
Best wishes!

Answer 4

I believe there should be a joint account but if either spouse wants a separate account then he/she should have one also. Each separate account should be handled by the person who has it and the joint account by whomever it is decided to between the two of you....Monies generated by the household should be split between the accounts as agreed by the two of you....There are several reasons why I like to do it this way..#1. If I want to buy flowers or a gift for my spouse, I really don't want her to know what I spent. With only a joint account its almost as bad as leaving the price tag on..#2. Its much easier to stay within you every day expense budget when you don't have general access to the household budget money..#3. There are savers and spenders in this world and there are few things that will irritate a saver as much as having a spender spend all the available money that the saver keeps trying to put by.

Answer 5

I think you should keep separate accounts as far as checking.This has nothing to do about trust. Separate accounts are easier for each to balance. If you have a joint account, you never know at the time of purchase if the other person also decided to make a purchase and then the next thing you know is your account is overdrawn.

Joint account for savings because this account is what it is. The sole purpose is to save, therefore; a lot less chances of any withdraws with out both agreeing.

Sorry, I have no bible related verses to support my opinion. I just have past experiences.

Answer 6

I agree that having a joint account is good, but for the exact opposite reason. It requires much more trust and accountability to manage a joint account, out of which you pay your bills, rent, and other expenses. Each party can see what the other does. Also, each party is authorized to deposit and withdraw from the account. You have to exercise a great deal of trust that the other person will not withdraw from the account while checks are outstanding, thus putting the account into the negative. It takes a lot of communication-- and work-- to maintain a joint account, but this is part of the inner-workings of a good marriage.

Eve and Adam were of one flesh.

The flesh refers to both physical body flesh, and anything else that is of this earth (including money).

Answer 7

My wife and I have different bank accounts. Let me explain. We both have a checking account with different banks cause we aren't good with money handling, you know the more you have the more you spend. So we keep in our checking accounts the exact amount the both she and I spend weekly. That helps us pay what we have to pay and definately stay organized. We both talk about our debts and payments and never argue about anything. If I buy her a gift she would never know until she gets it cause she can't see what I spend on my account even though we both know our passwords and pins. BUT! We both have a joint savings account, this for emergencies, travel or spending going out. We have been doing this since we got married 6 months ago and we love it this way. Now biblically, the bible shows that respect, communication, and love a the keys to a happy marriage. If you apply this to your lives, not only will it help you financially but it will help you in every part of your happy lives.

Answer 8

You have to do whatever works for your situation. There's no right or wrong way.

My husband and I married late in life so we were used to being independent. We have several joint accounts, one for the bills, one for him, one for me. We both contribute to the household account for the bills and then we have seperate (but joint) accounts for each of us. The reason they are joint is so if anything happens to either one of us, the other has access to the account to pay the bills. Other than that, I don't touch his account and he doesn't touch mine. As long as the bills get paid and we have a savings, it's all good! We don't argue about money.

Answer 9

Joint account is a matter of trust. In my opinion joint accounts has never been an issue with couple starting their life and career together, but it is an issue for couple who are settled in their careers and method of spending. They fear losing the freedom of spending what they want when they want to. It always becomes my money is mine. What I find hillarious with couples with separate accounts is the division of bills, you pay the rent and I will pay the utility and the groceries, etc and one of the other always feels like they are paying too much. They live a married life as roommates.

If you plan your finances with care, Joint account is financially beneficial in the long run.

Answer 10

My husband and myself decided to have one joint account and we each have separate accounts for our fun money. We decided to do it this way as a way of being able to surprise each other with gifts and also to have some money for things the other may think frivolous like my husbands tool buying habit. I think the difference with ours is that we both put money into our joint account and savings first. Then we are allotted x amount each for our personal accounts. We set up our accounts so that both of us have access to them and sit down to do our books together. So I guess for us it was a compromising area, not so much one about independence or a trust issue. This was actually a recommendation when we had gone through Pre-Marital counseling with our church.