Simple question. Just curious how many married couples out there have a joint bank account that they use for their main account. I sorta assumed that most couples (75%) have joint account but in talking to some people, this doesn't seem to be the case.
Both. Joint account for bills and everyday things for the house and kids. We each have our own individual accounts that we can use for whatever. We try to give ourselves and allowance to put in there when money isn't tight. Paying for 2 in daycare means money is almost always tight.
I don't have a spouse but me and my SO have separate accounts and I am finding many couples (married or not) are doing the same thing.
AGREE with leroy. Both. join account that my work paycheck go direct into. seperate individual that get a split out of the paycheck every 2 weeks. that way I got some for me to hit the T-bar and she got her own account for her to do her own shiet.
We have one joint account (my old separate one) and my wife kept her separate account. Pay the bills out of mine (she doesn't work). We like to use debit whenever possible (exception for restaurants, etc where we have to give my card to someone else and they walk off with it.) If that is the case we use cash. We only use credit cards in an absolute emergency since we paid them all off.
Can someone explain to me the idea of having one joint PLUS individual accounts? What is this meant to accomplish? Is it because you can't control your spending unless you limit yourself to an "allowance?" Is it because you want to hide your spending from your spouse? I just don't get it.
We have a joint checking account that both of our direct deposits go into. That's what we use to pay all the bills. We both have our own separate savings accounts. Mine for my gig money and hers for emergencies. Both are linked up to the joint checking account, so I guess they're not really separate, but we treat them that way. I have a separate checking account I use only for my rent house.
You get to put aside your own personal money to do whatever you want with. Video games for him, shoes for her, etc. Sure, you could draw from the joint account, but it is just another way of budgeting for personal purchases.
exactly what we do. We love it. Most all of the paychecks go into the joint account, and then we have our own money for lunch or whatever.
I don't get it either. I have a joint account and we both discuss with each other what we spend. Anything below a couple hundred bucks is not worth actually have a discussion about. Most of the time we talk about things above that. I don't see a point in having a separate 'fun' account. If I want to have fun, I do it. If my fun means I'm spending a few hundred bucks, I think it's worth talking to my wife about. Why complicate things?
I agree. The idea of separate accounts puzzles me. It's still the same amount of money shared by two people. The money belongs to both of you from a legal standpoint, no matter which account it's in. All it seems to do is confuse things, from my perspective.
Used to have joint accounts. Divorced, got back together, had separate accounts ever since. Never been happier. Having separate accounts makes things so much easier if you are able to agree on who is going to pay which bills. I'll never go back to joint accounts.
Separate accounts allow you to spend your money on whatever you want. It makes perfect sense that you would have both joint and separate. Not everything in your life is joint with your spouse.
Maybe if it were we wouldn't have the divorce rate we do. Too much 'my own personal identity and space' mentality nowadays. It's still your money whether or not she's spending it from some other account.
So if you use a joint account you wouldn't be allowed to get video games (him) or shoes (her) or is it that you are afraid you wouldn't be able to successfully manage your budget if you both were accessing the primary account?
There was this one old episode of Home Improvement where Jill started working and decided she needed her own bank account. "So the money I make in our joint account is?" "Our money" "And the money you make is?" "My money" I was like 9 but that **** pissed me off. I don't know if I'll ever get married but I will have a completely separate bank account regardless.
