Having a Separate "just in case" account

[angel_nieves]

Wow I have separate account, but my hubby knows and is proponent of "just incase money". He saw his mother dragged though hell after her divorce. Twenty some odd years of staying home and taking care of the kids then no divorce settlement to talk of.

 

[Sha]

Dh and I kept our chequing and savings accounts....but they're not considered 'secret stash' money at all, since we both know about them and are fine with it. We just did it that way because it's more convenient right now than getting a joint account.

When we thought about it, having a joint account just seemed complicated, especially since DH has some loans he's currently trying to pay down on. Aside from that, though, I like managing and budgeting 'my share' of our income. I guess I still like having that sense of control.

 

[bee*]

Date: 5/23/2008 2:58:35 PM
Author: Independent Gal
My grandmother (happily married for 48 years) taught me that a woman should always, always have money of her own. I think that circumstances were a little different in her generation but I still think it''s good advice. You just never know what life will throw at you.


I would never keep it secret though. At least not voluntarily. DH is totally bored by anything financial, so any time I''ve tried to explain our financial circumstances to him, he just yawns off!

I was always taught that also. D and I have set up our joint account and we each have our own separate accounts also. It''s not a just in case account, it''s more like neatfreak''s "fun" account. He doesn''t have to know how much I spend on shoes and I don''t want to know how much he spends on his guitars and fishing trips

 

[Independent Gal]

I just remembered that my grammy once mentioned that she actually DIDN't tell my grandad about her finances! She received a gift of $100 from her father when she married which was her 'play money' since she had inherited her father's love of playing the stock market. She used to take me with her to her broker sometimes when I was a little girl and always used to explain things to me about markets and banks and finance and stuff. The only time that was 'quiet time' at her house was when the stock report was coming on television after the news. Then no one could make a sound.

Anyway, I remember sitting with her and my granddad once when I was in my late teens and the subject of her fun with stocks came up. She said "Well, nobody knows how much money I've managed to wrest out of that $100. Even M. (my grandfather) doesn't know." She said that in front of him, mind you. And she was really grinning from ear to ear.

I remember thinking "Holy Crap!" and thinking I'd give anything for a guided tour of her stock portfolio and how it got to where it is.

One of these days I'm going to ask her to tell me the whole exciting story. I don't care to know the amounts (though of course I'm curious!) but the game, the strategies... gosh I'd love to know just for the vicarious thrill! And I get that from her, after all. It's not that she loves money, she just loves the thrill of the market, the game.

She's a gambler! A gambler! That's what she is. But oooonly with her original $100 of play money. What a fun thing to do for a whole life long!


Which is a long winded way of saying, sometimes its fun to have something just for yourself on the side, for which you're not accountable to anyone. Whether its shoes or stocks or security. Whatever floats your boat.

 

[Dancing Fire]

always keep some $$$''s stash away, just in case she/he takes you to the cleaners.

i been married for 22 yrs we never talk about money.

 

[FrekeChild]

FF and I will have two separate accounts for whatever we want, a household bills account and a savings account. And whatever investments float our boats...Both of our parents only had a couple of joint accounts. I imagine that I will be the bill payer, because he always waits until the last possible day to pay...

 

[Gypsy]

We actually have completely co-mingled fiances, but only single accounts. We used to have a joint account, but we closed it when we moved out to CA (east coast bank) and just never got around to opening another one. Now we just have our individual accounts, one checking and one savings each. With online banking and transfers and what now... its like having joint accounts. We pay bills from a joint pool... as in when we calculate bills, etc. we look at what we jointly have and then just pay for whatever it is from whichever account it makes sense to. It just works for us. I guess its weird, but well, that''s the way it is. For the wedding I suppose we''ll have to open a joint account again. I would keep my individual account either way. He has all my access information and I have his. It''s not a matter of hiding anything or worrying about splitting up... we''re just two individuals and it works for us. I think you should do what works for you.

I too have all my life heard that a woman should have her own money. And well, I don''t. I may have my own account, but it''s still ours.

I think it''s more about your mindset than the number of accounts you have or who is on them.

 

[FrekeChild]

Ours is because FF doesn''t want to know about my shoe purchases...

 

[Gypsy]

Um. That was supposed to read, "co-mingled FINANANCES" not fiances... although lol, that could be true too.

 

[Rhea]

We do have separate accounts. We both get a bit of fun money every month and we also have accounts from before we were married. I don''t think either one of us think of them as just in case, they are truly money for us to do whatever we please with. None of them has a very high balance as far as I can tell and we mostly use them to buy gifts for one another so that we can keep a surprise by the gift not showing up in our joint accounts.

 

[Beth]

Date: 5/23/2008 2:58:35 PM
Author: Independent Gal
My grandmother (happily married for 48 years) taught me that a woman should always, always have money of her own. I think that circumstances were a little different in her generation but I still think it''s good advice. You just never know what life will throw at you.

I would never keep it secret though. At least not voluntarily. DH is totally bored by anything financial, so any time I''ve tried to explain our financial circumstances to him, he just yawns off!

My Grandmother taught us girls the same thing.

 

[zoebartlett]

We have individual and joint accounts. We''re restructuring the way we do our finances but we''re both keeping our own accts. I think it''s a good idea to have money set aside (no matter how small it is -- at least it''s something).

 

[ljmorgan]

Hey Robbie,

My husband and I have all of accounts joint, save our 401k''s of course, and our Roth IRAs. I would recommend your Roth IRA as your "just in case" money because you can contribute up to 5k a year, it will be in your name only, but it''s serving a purpose of hopefully adding on to your 401k when you retire. So I treat it like retirement money, but since there is no penalty for early withdrawal like a 401k, it can be used for an emergency. That''s good enough for me, since the husband and I already have a joint emergency fund. But I guess if anything ever did happen, I''d be fine because of that money set aside in my name.

 

[Pandora II]

We have separate accounts - I sent him a direct debit every month and he pays for everything.

The rest of the dosh in my account is MINE, ALL MINE - until I spend it on a new rock that is....

He''s the money whizz - my method is check account, in black, hooray. He has SPREADSHEETS that track things.

If I suddenly earn more money than I can spend I might get him to put it in some of these things with acronyms that he has, but right now I''d rather have a nice new garnet!