Joint bank account

iris

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I have several joint accounts with my husband for everyday expenses and we have individual ones for savings and personal spending. Income from all sources goes into one of the joint accounts and then is decanted out into savings and spending accounts.

This is exactly what we used to do. However, when my husband's diagnosis was terminal, we had to rethink everything, hence at the end my husband was only on our joint account. At least we had time to plan, otherwise matters would have been very different.

NBLondon

Izadora wrote: »

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

That was my thought too...

We set up a joint account when we got a mortgage and both put an agreed monthly amount in; that then pays the joint expenses - mortgage, household bills etc. It's a Santander 123 so we get cashback and interest. Any excess from that gets shunted into a joint savings account to pay for holidays etc. I tend to manage it - but m'wife knows the passwords and could check it any time she wants. Supermarket bills usually go on my cashback credit card and that gets refunded from the joint account. Our own accounts pay for our own spending, clothes, mobile bill, car and we have our own savings.

As the posters have shown - it depends on what you have in place before becoming a couple.

I did find Hemera's point interesting....

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;

I wouldn't consider a haircut a shared expense! Unless you have matching ones...

Going out - fair enough. We take it in turns or as a treat if one of us has a bonus to spend. Even then, meals will often go on my credit card (for the cashback again) and she will reimburse me at some point.

Hemera

NBLondon wrote: »

I did find Hemera's point interesting....
I wouldn't consider a haircut a shared expense! Unless you have matching ones...

Going out - fair enough. We take it in turns or as a treat if one of us has a bonus to spend. Even then, meals will often go on my credit card (for the cashback again) and she will reimburse me at some point.

We basically share all the expenses perceived as "ordinary" or needed - I can't let my hair grow indefinitely (and neither can he), can I? :rotfl: The same goes if any of us needs some new clothes or shoes, they are just considered household expenses.
Also the drinking part I mentioned isn't casual, our ratio of drinks consumed is easily 2:1 in his favour, so overall he spends a lot more money than I do... I know some couples would maybe thinking of splitting it proportionally or just buying their own so that they are even, but I just don't think this is necessary for us.

I agree that sharing all (or most) expenses only works when spending habits are similar, my OH is luckily quite MSE as well, so I trust him - if he spends more of the monthly budget on himself is generally because he needs it, and I have no problem at all with that.

FBaby

No joint account here before marriage only a holiday one since. Nothing to do with lack of trust we just like to manage our own accounts. Both would be totally happy to share access to our accounts but havent felt the need to do so because we trust each other!

bugslet

OP this seems more ususal than your work colleagues would have yout think!

iris wrote: »

My husband died recently and I am so glad we had a joint account. All direct debits have continued as normal and I have been able to take over the account in my sole name.

Sorry for your loss iris. My partner of 28 years died some years ago. We never had a joint bank account, probably because it took me about 7 years to actually move in with him, so we never really got round to it. Mortgage, utilities, going out just sort of naturally got carved up between us and neither of us felt unduly out of pocket versus the other.

We did have PoA so when he fell ill, things were relatively straightforward to sort out.

Neither of us had internet banking at the time, but we both had a master file with details of insurances, bank accounts etc in it in case of emergency.

TeamPlum

Me and my wife are the other way. All our money is in a joint account, I don't begrudge her spending anything, nor she for myself.

I can't understand why people are happy to live in the same house, share food, have a child, get married etc etc, but draw the line at sharing a bank account.

Izadora

I can't understand why anyone would think that not having everything in a joint account equates to begrudging each other spending money.
We're quite happy to share everything but when you have very different spending habits (I have to leave a reasonable buffer in an account so that we're covered for unforeseen circumstances, OH is quite happy to take it down to the last penny) it can cause friction if everything is coming out of a joint account.
I never begrudge my OH spending money and frequently bail him out from the 'joint' account towards the end of the month but by being in control of our budget I don't end up with nasty surprises like not having enough left to buy food for the last week of every month, which my OH used to do regularly when he lived on his own...

BNT

TeamPlum wrote: »

Me and my wife are the other way. All our money is in a joint account, I don't begrudge her spending anything, nor she for myself.

I can't understand why people are happy to live in the same house, share food, have a child, get married etc etc, but draw the line at sharing a bank account.

A joint bank account is simply an administrative arrangement. It works for some and not for others. If you are married, all your assets and money are joint. There is no 'his money' and 'her money', and the name on the account does not change that (as any divorce lawyer will quickly tell you). For some people, having separate accounts simply works better. As I said before, my wife and I do have joint accounts, but we also have individual accounts because of tax and currency regulations. That doesn't mean that she does not own the money in an account with my name. It is admin, not begrudging.

pollyanna24

I had a joint account with my ex, but that was because we had a mortgage together and I believe (could be wrong) that it had to come out of a joint account.

We had this account where all out incomings went into it and then I transferred a set amount of "pocket money" each month into our personal account.

Okydoky25

boliston wrote: »

Surely if you are spending money that you have not earnt then you are being "given" it regardless of where it comes from.

When I had our children and gave up my V good job to do so I didn't for a second think that I was spending money that I had not earnt. Me and my husband are a team.

I am back to work now and all our money goes into the one account and neither of us minds the other spending out of it as long as the bills are paid and there is food on the table.