Joint accounts for me and fiance after wedding

Fireflyaway

My husband and I have a joint account for bills. We each transfer ( different amounts ) money into it and then have our own personal accounts for spending. I find it works well just to transfer what is needed - do a budget - then set up direct debits for everything. Agree on each persons share then it mostly run itself. I wouldn't put all your money in because it causes issues over spending money / being fair / asking 'permission'!
You will become financially linked but you plan to marry so that seems normal. You won't become responsible for your partners debt. You will be responsible if your partner runs up an overdraft on a joint account. Get online access so you can both check it whenever.

Pennywise

Separate personal accounts along with a joint account is the answer as you can individually keep control of your own money and you have a joint account for joint bills, into which you both agree how much you put in.

I know it sounds crazy, but when me and OH first started going out together, and on day trips and on holiday together, long before we lived together/married, we'd have 3 "purses". One for my money, one for his and one for joint. We'd both put a few notes in the joint purse at the start of the day and then use that money to spend on things we were doing equally/together like meals, entrance fees, etc - saved a lot of faffing about with us paying separately. We used our own purses when we bought something only one of us wanted, i.e. a souvenir T shirt.

When we started getting more serious and especially when we bought our house, it was just automatic to do the same with bank accounts.

boliston

Fireflyaway wrote: »

.....
You will become financially linked but you plan to marry so that seems normal.....

Marriage would NOT cause any financial link in itself.

System

NBLondon wrote: »

Maybe punk84 and Gaz84 can get a joint account together...

That had me confused for a while, too!

maman

Pennywise wrote: »

Separate personal accounts along with a joint account is the answer as you can individually keep control of your own money and you have a joint account for joint bills, into which you both agree how much you put in.

I know it sounds crazy, but when me and OH first started going out together, and on day trips and on holiday together, long before we lived together/married, we'd have 3 "purses". One for my money, one for his and one for joint. We'd both put a few notes in the joint purse at the start of the day and then use that money to spend on things we were doing equally/together like meals, entrance fees, etc - saved a lot of faffing about with us paying separately. We used our own purses when we bought something only one of us wanted, i.e. a souvenir T shirt.

When we started getting more serious and especially when we bought our house, it was just automatic to do the same with bank accounts.

We still do much the same and we've been married 37 years in August. We have personal accounts and an account for our shared bills.


We also keep a petty cash 'tin' at home which I use for cash spending like in markets or the odd pint of milk. When we go out together I take some cash from the tin with me (or pay myself back when we get home). DH loves it. If we're with friends splitting the cost of a meal, he just says 'My equerry will pay'. Other shared things we just put on one or other's credit card and spilt the (shared part of the) bill 50:50 at the end of the month. It's no big deal. It just needs a few minutes of arithmetic once a month and then an online transfer.


We like it this way.