Joint bank account

gabriel1980

People at work find it truly bizarre that I don't have a joint bank account with my partner (soon to be wife). We've always had our separate bank accounts for our own bills. We each put an equal amount of money into another account for shopping and then split the household bills between us (she puts half into my account), but we buy things from our own accounts and pay for our own personal bills like mobile phone bills and so on.


To other's this implies a lack of trust or love in a relationship, but I don't see the correlation. Surely if all the money went into a joint bank account neither of us can go willy-nilly spending money on ourselves without the other's consent?! I'm sure she wouldn't be impressed if I spent £50 on blu rays and I would similarly not impressed if she spent £50 on boots or something.


Is it unusual to not have a joint bank account? Is it a generational thing maybe?!

april87

Hi Gabriel, we don't have a joint account either. My OH and I have a similar sort of system as yourselves. We trust each other, he knows all my passwords etc but it just has never occurred to us to get a joint bank account. We did find that when family gave us cheques as wedding gifts, that most of them were addressed to Mr & Mrs X, we had to say that we didn't have a joint account, and most of them were shocked. Like you I do think it is a generation thing.

Faith177

We don't have joint accounts either we work in a similar way that you do.

I have one main account that all the household bills come out of. OH just gives me a set amount each month and it just comes out of that. this is mainly because I owned my house before I met him so already had everything set up so seemed no point in changing it.

With the ease of banking now with mobile apps ect it is so easy to move money about I don't see the point of a joint account.

Izadora

gabriel1980 wrote: »

We've always had our separate bank accounts for our own bills. We each put an equal amount of money into another account for shopping and then split the household bills between us

Isn't the other account kind of like a joint account?

We have a similar set up to yours - a personal account each and then a separate account that we both pay into at the start of the month to cover all shared expenses - but no actual joint account as the shared expenses one is in my name only because my OH is useless with money so it's safer to leave the budgeting to me. There's also the fact that I worked very hard to drag my credit rating out of the gutter so I'd really rather not be pulled back down there by linking us financially through a proper joint account.

Hemera

My OH and I don't have a joint account either, but most stuff gets paid by either one of us, not necessarily the recipient of the good that is being bought - for example I pay both our mobile bills from my account. If I pop into a shop to buy something for myself while we are doing our weekly shopping, he might pay if he has his cash handy.
But we keep tracks of who is paying what (for what we consider household expenses), and as I usually pay more, he transfers some money into my account to make up for the difference, so that we are more or less even.

I would actually prefer to have a joint account and just transfer a share of our income to pay for all household expenses, just for the sake of simplicity, but my OH can't really get his head around the idea that a person can have more than one bank account :rotfl:

Now that I've read your post better, it seems to me that you have a similar system in place? You even mention having a joint bank account, if I understood you right?

I suppose the only difference then is in what you consider household expenses? My OH and I consider most thing to be joint expenses, and I don't care if he drinks more when we are out (likewise he doesn't care that my haircuts are more expensive than his), so we split almost everything; but still use our own money for more substantial expenses in which the other is not involved.

BNT

We have a couple of joint accounts and a few individual accounts. We set it up that way in order to make sue of the best interest rates and for tax planning purposes. We shift money between them as required. We are married, so there is no sense of 'my money' and 'her money'; it is 'our money', but happens to be in different accounts.

goodwithsaving

Why do you care what other people think? I had a 'joint account' which we both paid into which was in my name for bills. My parents have never had a joint account either. Some find it odd but it's none of their business.
Whatever works for you. Don't try deviating from what works, it causes resentment.

74jax

We have a bills account we both pay in to then our own accounts. I have no idea how much he has in it, what he spends it on etc. What other people think of our set up doesn't bother me. I certainly wouldn't question of with others.

It works for us. We can spoil each other without the knowing which I love.

If it works for you, I'm not sure why other opinions are needed?

TonyMMM

BNT wrote: »

We have a couple of joint accounts and a few individual accounts. We set it up that way in order to make sue of the best interest rates and for tax planning purposes. We shift money between them as required. We are married, so there is no sense of 'my money' and 'her money'; it is 'our money', but happens to be in different accounts.

Same here .... everything is "ours" although for tax and interest reasons it is split in various accounts in both our names separately, and in joint. Been married 30+ years - never been an issue.

ska_lover

No, we don't have a joint account and the only people I know that DO have a joint account are my parents.


As above, I think you are overthinking other peoples thoughts on your finances - really it does not matter a jot. I don't care if a complete stranger thinks that it implies something about my marriage or not

LKRDN_Morgan

I don't think it's a generational thing. It's a 'what ever works for you' thing

I've had a joint account since I was 19. Now 30 and never been an issue.