Couples and joint accounts

kingkano

Sorry if this is the wrong place. Can a mod place it correctly?

I was wondering really after reading some things in this board about people in marriages/relationships who have hidden debts from their partners.

How many of us have joint finances/accounts??

There are lots of arguments for and against... so I throw the floor open.

Personally myself and my fiance joined our finances completely when we moved into the flat (mortgaged) together. Our reasons were no secrets (altho for gifts we just dont go into details about a charge) and also because we have disproportionate wages (me higher to begin her higher now). SOme might disagree with these reasons but it suits us.

On the other hand her parents have completely seperate finances and have had for 30years marriage and things have worked out for them even when one or other has been unemployed at differing times.

How does it work in your household??

skintchick

I'm single so it's all mine!!!! *evil laugh*

pandas66

skintchick wrote:

I'm single so it's all mine!!!! *evil laugh*

I'm a single parent family so its all theres!

kingkano

yeah i shulda really added a option for singles. sorry guys! lol. Im just intrigued to know really what other poeple do/think

Bestthingsinlifearefree

Joint finance for us.

My wife and I both receive our salaries into our own bank accounts but operate on the principle whats hers is mine and whats mine is hers be it savings or debts.

We pay all the bills between us either via direct debit or via who ever has the most cash in their a/c.

Any expenditure over £100 we would talk to the other one about it out of respect (except any surprise e.g Birthday present etc).

We are both totally open with our paper work ie she sees my bank statements,credit card statements etc and vice vera.

If I earned 2K every month and she nothing we both have equal say over the money and if she earned 2K every month and me nothing we both have equal say over the money.

Our finances are totally joined / integrated but also with a bit of independance ie both have own savings / credit cards etc

We both have similar attitudes to spending which helps. ie pay bills / debts, put some away for a rainy day and whats left is to enjoy life with be that a big amount left over each month or a little bit.

we talk reguarly about what our current spending priorities are e.g what are we saving for, should we spend money on X or Y.whats important and whats not to spend money on.

It works well for us...for richer or poorer we are one team.

GreenFingers_2

I read some of those posts too...very interesting really. I can't vote in this poll as I'm single again.... hooray...hee hee.... When I was married we had a joint cheque and savings account and it worked quite well and seemed to be the right thing to do to manange the financial side of our lives together.

Montymoo_2

He pays for everything at the moment but once Ive found a job then we are opening a joint account for bills but keeping seperate accounts for the moment

wigginsmum

We have separate current accounts but all the bills come out of mine so I can ensure they get paid; DH transfers money to me on the 1st of the month as he really doesn't want to be involved in the finances. We considered a joint account but our money-styles are very different; I log and analyse everything and tick it off bank statements, and he doesn't plan ahead at all, so that would drive me crazy.

In principle all our income and outgoings are treated as joint (including the maintenance for his kids); we have roughly equal amounts of 'spending money' each month, and we always discuss large purchases. We don't have much in the way of savings, just my ING Direct account.

Amanda65

Completely joint finances - even our Tesco CCI It is in my OH's name and I've got a card on the same account. It just works for us although does mean that we have to promise not to look too carefully at cheques/cc statements around each others birthdays!

melancholly

my parents always had joint accounts for everything and responsibility was equal - I'd always assumed that was the done thing before coming on here!! It's really interesting hearing how different people do things. I guess whatever works for each couple!! (i'm not 'financially involved' with my OH at all yet - still live separately, maybe if that changed this is the type of thing to talk about!

wigginsmum

My parents had a joint account and Mum controlled it; she gave Dad weekly pocket money for petrol, papers and the odd bag of toffees or fruit travel sweets, and he was completely happy. He never wrote a cheque in his life and never had a creditcard, just his 'allowance.' She's never paid for anything by Switch or used a cashpoint; she still cashes a weekly cheque for herself at the bank or at Tesco.