Joint bank account - how does it work?

[PierreBear]

Hi PS Friends,

I went to a party this weekend and the host was showing his two debit cards since he personalized it with a picture. One was for a joint account and the other was for his own account. I've been married for quite awhile and happy that we share all finances. However, I know it is common to have separate accounts as well. I'm just curious if anyone is open to sharing how ya'll make it work? I'm guessing you put money into the joint account and split the rent, utilities, groceries etc? Just thought it would be interesting to hear about different styles since there are many ways to make a marriage successful.

Have a great day!

 

[chrono]

We have joint and personal accounts. We put money into the joint account based on the % of income earned and all household expenses are deducted from this account (taxes, mortgage, utility bills, children's expenses, and any maintenance expense for the house such as annual yard maintenance, home appliances, and such).

He takes care of the groceries, we take turns to pay when dining out, and we pay for the small items out of our personal accounts.

 

[momhappy]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

 

[sonnyjane]

The way I've seen it recommended is that you each contribute an equal % (like mentioned above. So if one person makes 60% of the combined income and one makes 40%, then you add up all the expenses and one spouse should contribute toward 60% of the expenses while the other covers 40%. This money is put in a joint account. Everything else is for your own personal account, so each spouse would have a private account as well.

That said, DH and I don't have a joint account. The bottom line is he makes WAYYYYYY more than me (not that he is rich, I just really don't make much haha!) so I pay for my car, my student loans, my gas, and my groceries, and have a "travel" account for the two of us, but he does the other expenses like mortgage and utilities. We each contribute to separate retirement accounts. It works for us.

 

[Maria D]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Yep, same here.

 

[PintoBean]

We finally got a joint account because it was the easiest way to handle checks that were signed to Mr. and Mrs. Pinto Bean!

 

[Dancing Fire]

We have separate accounts my wife don't let me spend any of her money...

 

[telephone89]

We have separate accounts and one joint account. I have mine hooked up so it will automatically deposit a certain $ amt bi weekly for bills. He goes to the bank and transfers $ once a month.

We figured out a while back how much our bills average. Obviously gas/water are variable, however we were able to figure out a good average. We add in a bit for property tax so that we aren't surprised by a huge bill at the end of the year, and just pretty much leave it to do it's own thing. Everything is set up to withdraw from that account so we don't have to do much.

 

[dk168]

I never had a joint account with my then hubby when we were married.

I guess if we were to have a joint account, then each of us would pay into it an agreed sum on a monthly basis, so that all the regular bills relating to the house will be paid out from it, such as mortgage, utilities, insurances, broadband, council tax, etc...

DK

 

[missy]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Yep, same here.

Us too. There is no his money/my money. It is all our money.

 

[CareBear]

We finally got a joint account because it was the easiest way to handle checks that were signed to Mr. and Mrs. Pinto Bean!

Funny, because that sounds like the reason DH and I got a joint account, to cash our wedding gift checks!

We don't really use the joint account for anything these days. Both of us work and have our own individual accounts. We split the household expenses and pay them from our individual accounts. For leisure 'stuff' like eating out, traveling, whoever feels like paying, does. We don't have an exact % breakdown or anything. But I'm a bit of a feminist in that I don't like contributing less than DH, even though he makes more money.

 

[Puppmom]

We have all joint accounts. We have since before we were married. For us, it's just easier that way. I know many think separate is easier especially for the fun money. I would not be opposed to DH and I, in addition to our joint accounts, having separate fun money accounts. We were a one income family for two years so there is not much of that though. We're getting there.

 

[purplesparklies]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Yep, same here.

Us too. There is no his money/my money. It is all our money.

^^^ same


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[amc80]

We had separate accounts for the first couple years of our marriage. Not for any reason, we were just to lazy/busy to combine. We also used different banks so we needed to figure that out as well.

We now each have our original accounts, plus a joint account at the bank DH uses. All of his check plus most of mine goes in the joint account. He will transfer money out to his individual account as needed. I have part of my checks go to my account, just because I have bills set up in there that I haven't switched over, so it's easier that way.

I make significantly more than DH (like twice as much), plus I have two side jobs/businesses on top of my normal pay check. I never thought of it being my extra money...it's all both of ours.

 

[NOYFB]

We have 3 joint accounts (general checking for day to day expenses, an account strictly for auto-pay bills, and a savings account), and we each have a separate savings account for our own personal "fun money". It works well for us.

 

[Elizabeth35]

We are older (60-ish) and married 5 years with blended family of 6 kids.

We are old fashioned and view finances, as well as everything else, as a team effort.
We are both financially responsible so are fortunate that there are no trust issues or spending issues.
It is all joint--from checking to investments, although we each have trusts that leave our estates to our kids.
I would gladly work to pay for his kids college and he has done the same for my kids.
We both have ex spouses who contribute zero to kids/college. So it is on us to launch all six kids.

DH handles actual bill paying. I trust him implicitly. He trusts me as well.
We discuss larger expenditures.

I understand many split expenses but that is foreign to me based on how I was raised.
I had depression era parents with a stay at home mom. Everything was joint with the expectation that the good of the family came before individual wants.
I think also I was raised with absolutely no expectation of divorce or ending up on my own--and that is certainly different now.

 

[azstonie]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Yup, same.

 

[LLJsmom]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Yep, same here.

Us too. There is no his money/my money. It is all our money.

Yup, that is us too. No issues. Well, except for the little heart attack he gets the months I buy bling. But a little excitement is good for the circulation right? At least I TELL him when I buy bigger stuff, right? No seriously, I just keep it in my head if we have bigger expenditures coming up. I reign myself in. I spend way more than he does. So I try to be considerate about it.

 

[marcy]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Us too.

 

[Resonance.Of.Life]

We have both joint and separate bank accounts--- we both contribute to the joint and our separate savings as well. Anything of a substantial amount we consult with each other. I must say though, besides our mortgage (and 20% DP), my bling spending has been the most hefty expense on our accounts

 

[jordyonbass]

At first we had separate accounts and found that as we changed jobs we would have one of us earning more than the other and helping support them and never actually kept track of how much we would spend on or give the other person. So eventually we figured why keep everything separate and got a joint account. The only thing we really agreed upon is letting the other know of any big purchases planned or having to be made etc and it has worked for us. I'd say the biggest positive by doing it is that we have probably been able to make some big purchases that wouldn't have been able to make had we kept our finances separate.

 

[swingirl]

Joint accounts. All the money goes into the same pot. I pay all the bills and make all the investment decisions. We have separate IRAs which I manage. When my husband got a big bonus at work I told him to buy that motorcycle he'd been eyeing and I came to PS!!!

Unless I had children from a previous relationship I can not imagine what I would spend "my" money on if we did have separate accounts. I guess we share similar views on spending money.

 

[Jennifer W]

Our finances are almost entirely separate. We do however possess a joint account in both our names, which we pay all monthly bills from, after each paying in half every month. Otherwise, separate. I don't actually know what his income is, or care. Financial independence is more important to me than it is to him, though. I need autonomy, he doesn't really care either way, so we just deal with our own money. Works for us, we're still together!

The purchases we'd discuss are generally things that are physically large or would have an impact our shared space. My EC studs are fairly small, no chat required . The vintage car I'm eyeing will need half the garage, so discussion is going to be required. Wish me luck.

 

[redwood66]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Us too.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I deposit the check(s) and pay bills online. We don't "split" anything. Generally, we don't ask about wanting/needing to make purchases unless its a decent-sized amount and then we discuss it out of respect.

Yep, same here.

Us too. There is no his money/my money. It is all our money.

Same here, all accounts are joint with the exception of retirement. Main account his check goes into to pay all bills and monthly expenses (minus savings). We both have an extra checking account for misc things. I really only consult him about spending if it is major, as in a new diamond or car.

 

[danusia]

DH and I have joint accounts as well as separate bank accounts. But something most people don't know is that savings accounts do not have beneficiary options. If something should happen to the account owner, the funds can end up in probate court even if there is a will. DH and I have a "POD" (Pay on Death) listed on our individual bank accounts.

 

[tsavvy]

We have a few joint checking and saving accounts, but those are more his/hers accounts that we just occasionally use to share money. We don't have a joint account that we both fund regularly then use to pay bills. DH manages most of our retirement and brokerage accounts and day trades a couple of them, but they are not joint accounts. We both put most of our money into our own checking, saving, and brokerage accounts and we each take care of different bills. It seems like it would be more work to share an account and then to both have to track paying bills and what the other has done with the account, etc.

We rarely talk about money in terms of our bills or individual spending, but do check in with one another regarding large purchases. We just each take care of the stuff we've agreed on and it works really well.

 

[4ever]

We each have a personal account and share a joint spending and joint savings account.
Our income goes into our personal accounts, we transfer an agreed end upon amount to the spending account, this pays the mortgage, bills,food etc. some of this is automatically transferred to the savings account every month along with any "left over" money after everything is paid.
The money left in our personal accounts is for our own discretionary spending and unessesary luxuries like eating out, this way we can buy what we like without getting shirty about each other's spending.

 

[sarahb]

Everything is totally joint from the minute it hits our checking to the final investment style accounts. I manage everything, bills, taxes, investments etc. We jointly make the bigger decisions.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Everything is totally joint from the minute it hits our checking to the final investment style accounts. I manage everything, bills, taxes, investments etc. We jointly make the bigger decisions.

I didn't say it earlier, but I, also, manage everything you mentioned including doing our taxes.