Marriage and bank accounts

elmo28

I'm getting married soon and am wondering how best to manage finances as a married couple.

Do you think its best once married to have separate bank accounts for certain eventualities but joint bank accounts for utilities etc, or is it best to have joint accounts for both wages and savings?

Any serious advice would be most welcome.

Meanymoo

My DH and I share a current account into which we put all income. Everything gets paid for out of that account, and we each get an "allowance" paid from that account into our own individual current accounts every month. That's our personal spending money for treats, entertainment etc. I budget and keep track of all spending in our joint account. We also have a joint savings account which we use to save money monthly for infrequent expenses such as holidays, eye care, cat's jabs, car tax etc. so we don't forget to budget for them. I have it all set out in my spreadsheets, which stops me worrying about money, and suits DH as he doesn't really like budgeting - I offer to show him the spreadsheets from time to time, but he'd always rather just hear the bottom line, i.e. can we afford x, y or z or not?

I personally feel that in marriage money should be pooled, since you have agreed to share your life together and that in my opinion means taking joint responsibility for expenses, regardless of who earns what. But I also think it's vital to have an allowance each for fun spends, so that you don't end up in the situation where one person is spending too much money on non-essentials and not leaving enough to pay the electricity bill! And so that you don't know what the other person's spent on your birthday present either!;)

Everyone's different though, and I know of couples where they keep their money completely separate and one pays the rent, while the other pays the bills or whatever. Just pick a system that suits you and your OH. I think the worst thing you can do is think of your money as "his" and "hers" to such an extent that one person is in debt while the other is rolling in it. That (in my opinion) is not what marriage should be about, but I do know couples in that situation. Sorry, that turned into a bit of a rant!

elmo28

Thank you so much for that, Meanymoo.

Your advice is excellent and once I've discussed it wth my better half, I imagine we'll go the same way as you and your other half. I particularly like the idea of an "allowance" for each of us - that way she won't know when I'm buying her a little treat!!

twinklie

We are getting married in December but have been living together for 2 years. So we shall probably just carry on as we are.

We get our wages paid into our own bank accounts, then a set direct debit (or rather standing order) every month, into our joint account which all the bills then come out of.

But we pay for our own mobiles out of our seperate accounts, and he pays his own scooter insurance out of his account too. We do however know the passwords etc for each others internet accounts so there are no secrets as we often check the balance for each other if one is at home and the other isn't.

It works for us anyway.

Mark7799

In a similar vein, my wife & I operate two joint accounts. We split the bills between us and our salary each goes into one account.

They are joint accounts in case something happens to one of us so the other party can easily access the account with the minimum of formality but in reality one is 'mine' and the other 'hers'.

margaretclare

elmo28 wrote: »

I'm getting married soon and am wondering how best to manage finances as a married couple.

Do you think its best once married to have separate bank accounts for certain eventualities but joint bank accounts for utilities etc

Yes.

This is what DH and I do (been together 9 1/2 years, married 5 1/2). We think this is best.

We both get pensions income into our own bank accounts but we also have a joint account which we both tip into, and all household bills get paid out of it by direct debit.

We also have separate savings accounts.

There is an argument which says that married couples should always have separate savings accounts, to utilise their individual tax allowances, ISA savings etc.

.

...or is it best to have joint accounts for both wages and savings?

No, personally I wouldn't like that. Although I do accept the argument that 'it's our money' rather than his or hers. However, some people do like it that way.

Any serious advice would be most welcome.

You are possibly implying that there may be a lack of trust in having separate accounts to receive income, and to save into? That needn't be the case as long as both parties are completely open and honest with each other, and willing to discuss openly. There shouldn't be any place for secrecy within a marriage, especially about money.

Margaret

MrsPhillips_2

All our money goes into one joint account. It's been that way even before we got engaged. It's become even more important that we do it this way now because my husband is off work long term following a road traffic accident so he still has access to money even if I'm not around. I know lots of people keep separate accounts and if it works for them fair enough, it's just more stuff to keep track of for me lol

Claire14

I have been with my partner for 15 years and we have only just taken the plunge into joint account-land!
I am a control freak, particularly when it comes to money, and didnt really want him frittering it all away, which he does with his own income! So we will be paying the bills out of the joint when we both contribute a fair amount into it. Then I will be able to see money that i can fritter! At the moment all money in my account is spent on house etc.

Wyndham

It comes down to whether or not you have similar attitudes to money.

If one of you is a saver and the other a spender, a joint account is asking for trouble. If you are both savers, or both spenders, it's not so much of an issue.

We have everything joint (excpet ISAs which you can't) and it works for us - I think I saw it as part of the wordly goods endowing. But also our salaries have been similar throughout the marriage so we both feel we contribute, and don't feel guilt about spending within reason either.

MarkyMarkD

We have always had a joint current account, and I'd say it's the right way to go. Having 3 accounts (one joint and two single) is a lot more faff and there's a far greater chance of any one of them going overdrawn or whatever.

A single account is far easier to administer and if you are getting married and sharing your life, money is the least of things to share IMHO.

We have separate savings accounts, but only for tax reasons and I control all of them.

My wife doesn't work, though, so she would not have any money at all if I didn't share everything with her - maybe that makes things different, but we had the same approach when she DID work and earned almost as much as me when we were first married.

Ems!

the only reason we got a joint account when we got married was that we got cheques addressed to Mr & Mrs as wedding presents, which we were unable to cash without a joint account, so i added on my hubby on to my account,but his stayed single. To be honest its more to do with not seeing the point of having a joint account, transferring money to another place just to pay a bill etc, rather than any particular desire to have independemnt finances. As soon as we lived together we shared everything anyway,i used to earn mmuch much less than him but have recently overtaken him so different accounts have different amounts in anyway - he gets a lot pf extra income into his account, on top of wages so the amount in his bank can be vary varied anyway, i just keep a close eye on it! we have each others internet banking facilities, pin no's etc, and in effect I control both accounts via on line banking and tell him what to do - eg pay this bill, i'll pay that, depending on how much in each account. Maybe its a bit random and its pronbably just due to laziness.... but there yuoyou go! We always do a budget for the coming month a couplke of days before pay day so will always know roughly how muuch ius "spare" in each account . works for us amnyway!!