Totally OT... If you're married,

[PBBPaul]

do you and your spouse keep joint or independent finances. Why?

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

Both. We each contribute to the household joint account, and we each keep some in our own individual accounts. Plus we both contribute to individual 401k accounts (if you aren't already doing the IRA or 401k thing, get started now).

[Dr. Ellwood]

I work she spends... a perfect combination!!

[jbote]

Joint finances, all the way. It never occurred to us to do it any other way...

[Billster]

Look into what the credit rating agencies are doing on "authorized users". If you have credit accounts in your name with the spouse as an "authorized user", the spouse won't exist if you go. Google it. Now.

 

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Both. We each contribute to the household joint account, and we each keep some in our own individual accounts.

 

Yeah, same here. We have a joint account and two smaller personal accounts.

 

Why? I guess that's because our parents did it that way.

[blueross]

do you and your spouse keep joint or independent finances. Why?

 

You trying to settle an argument?

 

For us, we've been married 3 months and we're still trying to settle into a routine. Currently separate because we're set in our ways, but we make the decisions together.

[MILLO]

Both. We each contribute to the household joint account, and we each keep some in our own individual accounts.

 

Yeah, same here. We have a joint account and two smaller personal accounts.

Good topic. That is precisely my plan.

[Fumblyfingers]

We each keep seperate accounts and every month we pay an equal amount into a joint account from which we pay all bills and monthly living expenses. If something unexpected comes up we pay in an equal amout to cover it.

 

It is all moot because in event of a divorce community property decides how it is divvied up....but I guess with us we just like having our own accounts.

 

We talk about just combining but have yet to do it. We also recently discussed the need for updated wills where each persons account numbers, access codes, passwords etc etc is available to the other in the event of something awful....how would each one of us know how to access every aspect of the others finances, stocks etc etc ?

 

Something to think about.

 

Personally I like it like this.

 

Talking about liking something....did anyone check out PBBPaul's tune at the link provided at the first post? Some hot jamming going on there.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

We also recently discussed the need for updated wills where each persons account numbers, access codes, passwords etc etc is available to the other in the event of something awful...

 

Can you declare yourselves a company? In that case, the concept of "a will" is irrelevant since all assets continue to belong to the remaining directors of the company. YMMV, depending on your local laws.

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

You definitely need to have access to each other's accounts. In most states in the U.S., probate law says that if the deceased is married all assets go to the surviving spouse unless there is a valid will that distributes it otherwise. On the downside...liabilities and debts also may go to the surviving spouse.

[Michael Patrick]

Joint all the way, except for retirement accounts where we have named each other as the beneficiary. I do all the finances, but I walk my wife through them regularly so she knows where we are at. Money tends to be one of the main sticking points in a marriage. We talked about how we would handle things before we got married, so it really hasn't been an issue for us.

 

As far as account access login and password info, I created a spreadsheet that has them all. It's on an unmarked disc, but we both know where it is kept. For security reasons, the file has never been saved to our hard drive (just in case our system gets hacked from outside....).

[Michael Patrick]

On the downside...liabilities and debts also may go to the surviving spouse.

 

Unless you die first, in which case it's an upside.

 

Besides, my will says "Being of sound mind and body, I spent it all..."

[Trucks]

Talking about liking something....did anyone check out PBBPaul's tune at the link provided at the first post? Some hot jamming going on there.

 

Yep I listened to it the other day, pretty cool eh. Some of his techniques remind me of yours.

[Gabriel E.]

Joint.

[PBBPaul]

Thank you for the replies. My wife and I do everything jointly. We look at our marriage as a complete partnership and want nothing hidden. Depending on our current economic standing, we give each other free reign up to a certain dollar amount. For example, if we're doing OK in the short term, we can each spend $500 without discussing it. At times it may be $100. Since I just bought a new car, it's $0 right now . My gig money goes to spending cash which I happily share with my wife if she needs it.

 

This came about because in recent conversations with friends, we seem to be an anomaly. All of our friends seem to keep separate accounts. My wife and I were talking about this last night and we couldn't understand why people in an open, honest relationship like our friends seem to have do this. It just seems to add an unnecessary level of complexity. But to each, their own.

 

Hey, and thanks for the comments on my little tune. It's one of my favorites to play live.

[pauldil]

I'm like you, Paul. We have multiple accounts for different purposes, but they are all joint. When it comes to finances, my wife and I share the same goals, so we can do more by pooling our resource. It's been working well for us for over 24 years now. But also like you, we find that most of our friends keep it seperate too. Money can be such a sore topic for a lot of people.

 

Paul

[A String]

Joint account. We look at all the money as "our money". We are a couple. If we, as a couple, need something and it's within our budget, we get it. If we, as a couple, need a new guitar, we get one. If we, as a couple, need a new pair of shoes, we get one.

 

We also "OK" any purchases over a certain amount (based on our current financial situation) with each other. Large purchases are discussed first of course.

 

It works because we are both sympathetic to each other's needs and if we both want something at the same time, then the person that wants it more get's it and the other person steps back and waits.

 

We've been doing this, successfully, for ten years now.

[Hardtail]

We have joint accounts. We have nothing to hide. My wife is the only person on this planet I totally trust.

[A String]

We have joint accounts. We have nothing to hide. My wife is the only person on this planet I totally trust.

 

[LeftyBlues]

Everything is joint. Never understood married folks with their own checking accts. Everybody's different eh? I knew one couple, both worked full time, this guy gave his wife an ALLOWANCE for groccery money etc. I should also mention he's a total a$$ too. Never knew why she'd allow that, he wasn't abusive or anything.

[PBBPaul]

Joint account. We look at all the money as "our money". We are a couple. If we, as a couple, need something and it's within our budget, we get it. If we, as a couple, need a new guitar, we get one. If we, as a couple, need a new pair of shoes, we get one.

 

We also "OK" any purchases over a certain amount (based on our current financial situation) with each other. Large purchases are discussed first of course.

 

It works because we are both sympathetic to each other's needs and if we both want something at the same time, then the person that wants it more get's it and the other person steps back and waits.

 

We've been doing this, successfully, for ten years now.

 

This sounds like us exactly. I'm trying to understand the other POV as well. Thanks.

[Billster]

I manage the bank statements and all that, but keep the Mrs. informed of where we're putting the money. We keep a joint account to run the house, and if we're going to spend some money on something not in the usual routine, we talk before spending. It's easier to discuss something like bad cash flow ahead of time, and plan purchases instead of saying "what's this charge all about? We need to pay the quarterly taxes this week!"

 

Can I re-emphasize this?

 

Look into what the credit rating agencies are doing on "authorized users". If you have credit accounts in your name with the spouse as an "authorized user", the spouse won't exist if you go. Google it. Now.

 

We have a shared credit card account that we use for almost all of our credit purchases, but we also each have credit accounts in our own name with no shared access. If one of us keels over, the other still has a good credit rating to lean on.

[Trucks]

No shared credit. No shared accounts. No problems. Works for us.

[PBBPaul]

I manage the bank statements and all that, but keep the Mrs. informed of where we're putting the money. We keep a joint account to run the house, and if we're going to spend some money on something not in the usual routine, we talk before spending. It's easier to discuss something like bad cash flow ahead of time, and plan purchases instead of saying "what's this charge all about? We need to pay the quarterly taxes this week!"

 

Can I re-emphasize this?

 

Look into what the credit rating agencies are doing on "authorized users". If you have credit accounts in your name with the spouse as an "authorized user", the spouse won't exist if you go. Google it. Now.

 

We have a shared credit card account that we use for almost all of our credit purchases, but we also each have credit accounts in our own name with no shared access. If one of us keels over, the other still has a good credit rating to lean on.

 

This makes sense. We are co-signers on almost everything so we both maintain excellent credit.

[Phil W]

Joint.

We both have our own accounts and credit cards but then have joint accounts which we use for savings and transfers between accounts. It's all our money.

[Phil W]

And we OK major purchases with each other.

Although we did get into a row over a time I made a donation to an online appeal without telling her - which I didn't see as major and she still sees as a big no-no.

[S. Yeti Bigfoot, Esq.]

We have joint accounts. We have nothing to hide. My wife is the only person on this planet I totally trust.

 

 

The fact that a couple might each maintain separate accounts is in no way indicative of "something to hide". I'm not even sure how one would draw that conclusion.

 

My wife has her personal account, and I have mine. We both have direct deposit, and we just split the deposits so the most of our paychecks go into out joint account, but we each keep $xxx from each check for ourselves which is automatically deposited into our individual accounts. She can spend her money on whatver she wants to, and I can spend mine on whatever I want to. We probably have more disposable income than many couples. Anything that comes out of the joint account is for the household.

 

Neither of us have anything to hide from the other. It just means that she has something that is hers and I have something that is mine....she has her own identity and I have mine. I can freely spend (or save) the money in my account and she can do the same with hers. In fact, the last thing I spent my money on was to take the family on vacation to Charleston.

 

I suppose if I didn't trust her, I might demand that all of our collective moneys be in one account so I could easily monitor what she spends.......

[PBBPaul]

That makes sense too. There certainly is no right or wrong way - just whatever works for a given couple.

[Billster]

Look into what the credit rating agencies are doing on "authorized users". If you have credit accounts in your name with the spouse as an "authorized user", the spouse won't exist if you go. Google it. Now.

 

We have a shared credit card account that we use for almost all of our credit purchases, but we also each have credit accounts in our own name with no shared access. If one of us keels over, the other still has a good credit rating to lean on.

 

This makes sense. We are co-signers on almost everything so we both maintain excellent credit.

 

The proposed new rules for shared access accounts open the door to a situation where if a married couple that has one name on the credit cards with "shared access" for the spouse, the spouse would have no credit rating at all in the event of a divorce or being widowed. So it's important for each of you to have your own singly held account(s)