When would you financially bed your partner? Poll Results/Discussion

Former_MSE_Archna

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Poll ran between 20-26 May 2008:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]How long would it take before you financially getinto bed with your partner and have a joint account?[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]When it comes to your credit score, it's not marriage, living together or even just holding hands that count. It's all about joint financial products like bank accounts or mortgages (see the [/FONT]credit rating guide).

A. 0-3 months 2% (100 votes)
B. 3--6 months 1% (56 votes)
C. 6-12 months 4% (172 votes
D. 1-2 years 9% (453 votes)
E. 2-5 years 11% (554 votes)
F. 5-10 years 4% (179 votes)
G. 10 years + 1% (48 votes)
J. Never 19% (938 votes)
H. After you've moved in together 23% (1135 votes)
I. After you've married 26% (1270 votes)

Voting has now closed, but you can still click 'post reply' to discuss below.
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[Deleted User]

I've been seeing my girlfriend (now fiancee) for 2 1/2 years. We're getting married in 4 weeks, so i thought it was the right thing to do to get a joint account.

Credit scores don't worry me. We've got a joint mortgage, she's got more debt than me but nothing considerable.

Who actually cares that much about credit scores anyway?

luxor4t

We got a joint account when we married 22 years ago, which was funded by his salary and propped up by my shiny credit rating. We still have it, and now his credit rating is shiny too.
We did have very different views about money but then reality in the form of mortgage, kids etc made Peter Pan grow out of being a lost boy. Finance wise we veered from fairy tale to horror story before everything settled down. Now we work to a plan.
I still have 'my' account, just in case ....

*Louise*

After we moved in together and had our first child. (Had been together 2 years previously)

Dorrie

I am always surprised at the number of married couples who don't have a joint bank account. I sell Avon and the number of times I have gone to someone's house and the lady is out and her husband refused to pay for her order, saying that it's her stuff, not his! Surely if you are married everything is joint? My late husband and I always had a joint bank account, and my present husband and I also have a joint bank account. The only thing we have separately is the savings account, which is all in my name as I don't pay any tax.

Our marriage is a partnership - he earns the money and I spend it

TheToothfairy_3

I have been with my DH for 13 years (married for last three) and we have two children.
We do not have a joint account and I don't intend on getting one at any time in the future.

I have my own bank account and DH his. Each month he gives me a set sum of 'housekeeping' with which I pay all the household bills etc. What is left in his account is his to spend as he pleases and likewise with myself with what is left over in my account. The result is that in all our time together, we have never argued about money!

I have seen too many relationships and marriages breakup over rows about money and ex-spouses being responsible for debts not incurred by themselves, to want to go down this route. Don't get me wrong, I love DH dearly but in reality, you never know what is around the corner.

This way of doing things has worked really well for us, we don't need to question each others spending or feel guilty for buying something we like and it also avoids the common problem of seeing money in a joint bank account and each of us individually spending it.

Pootle1

Never.

My wife and I have been together 15 years and never had a joint account. We see it as a valuable way to preserve our independence! We are both earners although I earn more than her. Domestic bills we split 50-50, larger bills (building, furniture, etc) we split in rough proportion to our salaries. Some things I pay for, e.g. holidays for both of us. We don't have children.

emmy05

Never intend to, i dont mean anything by it but hubbys a bit of a naughty spender at times so would rather he wasted his own when he feels the need lol.. my mum and step dad have done very well with their own accounts for over 25 years, its not a case of being secretive, its more of a case of knowing just what we got and whos to pay what in the household and as long as we both do pay the bills, then im happy enough.
i personally find joint accounts old fashioned, and i can honestly say we probably have more money put aside and saved cos we have our own accounts, his wages are weekly and mine are monthly, we work well together and thats all that matters.

mcgazz

What Pootle1 said.

My wife pays the mortgage (which is bigger than all the other bills combined), Council Tax, and food bills, I pay all the utilities and a few other things. I got really anal about it a while back, and put an Excel spreadsheet together, which shows how much I should transfer into her account every month to maintain our earnings ratio in our disposable income. I reckon that's pretty fair, and it avoids having to have a joint account.

Sammz

I'd have a joint account to pay household bills etc but not one that both salaries get paid in to.

Skyhigh

I've been with my partner for 5 years through living at home before University and through 4 years at Uni.

We've just bought our first house, so we opened a joint account to pay for all the house hold bills (rates, insurance, etc) so we can both pay into it via our online accounts.
Its definitely not a 'shopping' account.
The mortgage and larger purchases come out of my account as I'm the higher earner - so its just simple financial choices really.

We've kept our own personal accounts, but there's nothing to hide as neither of us 'splurge', at the moment we're concentrating on paying off the mortgage ASAP.
First year in of our 25 year term, we're aiming to pay it off in 15-17 years.
[It annoys me having to pay so much interest on the mortgage!]