Joint account, recently married

wymondham

if you have joint bills then a joint account is muich easier - saves the 'here's X for Y' etc...

PurplePow

Me and my partner have our own accounts, but also a joint account. We pay the same amount of money a month into the joint account and it covers mortgage, bills and groceries.

InsideInsurance

With the exception of ISAs there are almost no accounts that cant be in joint names.

Now, there are times when purely from a benefits perspective it is sensible to have separate accounts (eg regular saver) as with a joint account you get £X a month you can save whereas if you had two individual accounts it would be 2x £X.

There are certainly long term considerations, but then marriage is a long term commitment. I am a very cynical person by nature but still get worried by people who are willing to get married, have kids together etc but when you mention joint accounts they then ask what happens if you split up! I do agree that there can be short term issues (eg saver/spender, debt issues etc) that could justify not combining finances etc

We don't have joint account at the moment but that will soon change. I work but my wife is a full time student and it does feel too much like giving my wife "pocket money" when I transfer a monthly amount to her account for the non-bill related house expenses, her study materials etc

seriousDFW

missile wrote: »

What suits one may not work for another. Been married three weeks, why the rush? Does your partner share your view? Be careful, I believe many (if not most?) arguements between couples are about money.

This is definitely true.

Before my wife and I got married, we had separate finances, and we argued about money (not majorly, but consistently!) for 10 years. Since getting married and joining all finances with a joint account, we haven't had an argument about money in 2 years.

Mr_K

Joint accounts have advantages:-

e.g.
if one of you snuffs it, the other half can still use the account and not have to wait for probate etc. Finance worries would be the last thing you need at such a time

FSCS protection - for single accounts its £85k, for joint accounts its £170k i.e. double the protection

Simpler for bills/family finances and less chance of you going overdrawn if you've got 2 incomes going in.

However if you don't trust your other half, or don't think you'll be together it's obviously a no no. However if that's the case, maybe whether to get married is more the question.

andymc29

this might sound old fashioned to some, but I think getting married means joining everything, especially your finances. If you're not ready for that, then you shouldn't be getting married. I got married two months ago, and if I didn't think we'd be together till we die then I'd not have done it.

Kildare

My husband and I have had a joint account for 8 years only the past one of which we were married. We did it when we bought a house together - finances were joined on the mortgage anyway. We both transfer a set amount into the joint account each month and all household bills are paid from that account. We each keep our own private account and the money we have in there is ours to do with as we wish. We're very likeminded though so at the moment we are thinking of moving and we discuss how much we've each managed to save towards it so far. We've never argued about money - we're very open about it. I think the joint account situation is a bit 'to each his own' but if you're getting married you should be able to trust the other person.

I recommend the Nationwide Flex account. If you pay in over £750 a month between you you qualify for the free European travel insurance and earlier this year we both qualified for the Flexclusive ISA (now withdrawn but excellent rate at the time) and the Select credit card (no charge on international usage and good perminant low rate). I also find their internet and telephone banking to be very good

Bufger

My parents have a joint account that 100% of their earnings enters and they pay everything out of. The issue with doing it this way is its harder to track spends and how much you need for X bill when it comes through.

Me and my wife have our current accounts which wages come in to and personal expenses such as mobile phones and petrol come out of.
We then put a percentage of our wages into a joint account which pays bills, mortgage, food and any other joint things. We also put X amount in to our own individual savings.

This method seems to work well as it gives us our own current account for personal purchases. You then dont need to have the whole permission thing in place and dont have to feel guilty about potentially spending someone elses money and its easier to track bills this way.

I'd recommend a bank with a good online banking facility rather than incentives. Ive gone for the incentives previously and ended up with banks that have terrible online services. I use the online services to monitor my finances regularly so for me thats a number one priority

Hooloovoo

andymc29 wrote: »

this might sound old fashioned to some, but I think getting married means joining everything, especially your finances. If you're not ready for that, then you shouldn't be getting married. I got married two months ago, and if I didn't think we'd be together till we die then I'd not have done it.

Bit of a problem though when you come to buy your wife a birthday or Christmas present. With fully joint finances she will effectively be paying for half of her own present. Not to mention the fact she'll be able to see the transaction on the account and know what it is before you give it to her.

Bufger wrote: »

This method seems to work well as it gives us our own current account for personal purchases. You then dont need to have the whole permission thing in place and dont have to feel guilty about potentially spending someone elses money and its easier to track bills this way.

Absolutely. I'm not about to go from asking my parents if I can have something to asking my wife! I earn my money I'm not about to ask permission from anyone regarding how I spend it.

seriousDFW

Hooloovoo wrote: »

Bit of a problem though when you come to buy your wife a birthday or Christmas present. With fully joint finances she will effectively be paying for half of her own present. Not to mention the fact she'll be able to see the transaction on the account and know what it is before you give it to her.



Absolutely. I'm not about to go from asking my parents if I can have something to asking my wife! I earn my money I'm not about to ask permission from anyone regarding how I spend it.

Yes, whenever my wife and I buy each other something, we are effectively both paying for it - what difference does it make?! I earn my money not for me to spend, but for our family to spend. At the moment that family is just my wife and I. It does include an agreed amount that we can each spend on 'stuff' that we don't need the other person's permission for. If we buy presents for each other, they go on a credit card which only that person sees, and then gets paid for out of the joint account. Yes we end up knowing how much the other person has spent, but we discuss a general budget anyway. The nice bit of present giving/receiving is the thought that goes into choosing something, how much it cost is completely irrelevant to us, as long as it's within our budget!