Should married couples merge their bank accounts?

No, because my husband was a spender and I was a saver. He spent it all.
Keep accounts separate and split bills, cleaning and cooking. 50/50 otherwise get a maid and split the cost. That way you can save if you want to.

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They don’t have to my in laws have been married 51 years and have separate bank accounts but imma tell you it is easier to pay the bills with one card lol :joy:

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Keep separate bank accounts and have a joint account for bills and whatever necessities. Separate accounts are your own money that you can spend however you want

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I have my own account that I opened years back and he has a savings account in his name at my credit union .but he has one opened as a checking that I had to open for him at my credit union because he wasn’t a member before making public .my name is main name on account but his is on it to he mainly uses it and I transfer money in my account if needed by asking or telling him to help pay bills I have checks he has debit card.no charge on checks.

Only account with both our names

We have one together but still have our own personal accounts. We have been together 11 years and are engaged, but not planning a wedding yet.

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My parents have been married 60 years and they have a joint account and they have their own checking and savings accounts. It’s worked for them. I merged totally and ended up getting burnt when we divorced. Never again. Ours yours and mine is gonna be it if I ever get in another long term relationship or marriage.

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We have a joint account for joint bills and put an equal amount in it each month and then separate accounts. As long as bills are paid we’re free to do what we want with leftover money in our personal individual accounts. You can also see if you guys bank with the same bank, you can sometimes have a joint account set up from your personal accounts right away. We just went with an entirely different bank for a joint account/mortgage. 

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Do both. Have one a joint for bills and then your own separate.

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My husband and I have a joint checking account. We share everything and it works for us. It may not work for you. Some relationships need to keep things separate still. It’s whatever works for you as a couple.

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I can’t imagine marrying someone I’m that incompatible with that we couldn’t share an account. Seems I’m in the minority and that’s fine. But if I was lacking trust or we had that different of opinions on finances that we needed separate accounts I would seriously question if they were the person I should be marrying.

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It’s going to be all over the board. You’re going to hear do it with happy stories and don’t do it with horror stories. I say wait until you’re married for sure because it is all community property anyway after that but be sure you each have trust for each other to know one is not going to abuse the finances. Money should never be a issue in a relationship if you work together.

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Depends on if you trust each other with money. If you don’t then keep the finances separate. And if that’s the case maybe you shouldn’t be getting married. But every couple is different. We kept ours separate. And now we are getting a divorce because finances weren’t the only things he couldn’t be trusted with

From personal experience, it’s best to maintain separate accounts, and open a joint account specifically for household expenses and bills. I had to learn the hard way…lol.

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Both. A merged account to pay household bills out of and seperate accounts to have money that is simply yours.

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My husband and I have been married 39 years and we’ve actually done it both ways in the beginning we had a joint account now we each have our separate accounts it just it works well

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Whatever works for you

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Have joined account but each keep a account or your own

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If I can’t trust someone to share finances with, I’m not marrying them.

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I have my own savings account & so does my husband to be I’ m saving for my retirement in 4 years

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Married 43 yrs, have separate accounts

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I think if your ready for the commitment and trust each other with everything else then one account is just fine. Talk about finances and budget together. Make sure communication is really good in the relationship so they don’t hound you about random purchases you might make. You can always try it and if don’t work out recommend separate accounts.

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Separate accounts, split the expenses

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I think married people should have a joint checking and a joint savings account.

And each have his or her own individual accounts.

Make up your household budget.

Decide how much you each contribute to the joint accounts.

Decide how much you each get for your own checking and savings accounts. That way no one feels controlled. Also you each have your own money to spend as you wish, to save for each other’s birthday and anniversary gifts, for splurge items, etc.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

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Shared for expenses, but keep one for personal things,

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My husband & I had joint account for 40 years. My daughter & son in law have seperate accounts & they decided early on what bills each would pay. It’s worked for them for 25 years. So whatever you two talk over & decide. Besides it can always be changed. Main thing is talk it over

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Get a mine account his account an one for bills so if you part you keep your money an he keeps his

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Completely up to you. My husband and I have joint accounts and have never had an issue

Me and my husband have a joint account it works for us. We each get spending money and the rest for bills and whatever. You gotta do what works for you

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Why combine them before marriage when you probably both have jobs seperately? Set up a joint account when you have a house loan and both can contribute to pay bills. Keep separate account for personal concerns only.

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My ex husband and I had a joint bank account from the time we moved in together. My fiance now we have separate accounts but we both have access to those accounts. This was just due to the fact that we were already established in those banks and had car payments etc in those accounts. It works for us though :slight_smile:

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Not married don’t do it. Or go ahead and live and learn.

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We have a joint account for house bills only which we transfer into half each month… had it since we had our first house together

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Each to their own…but if you can’t trust someone enough to have a joint account I’d advise against marriage tbh

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Keep your own way less arguments

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Every couple needs 4 accounts:

1 joint checking account for household expenses
1 joint savings account to save for the future
2 individual checking accounts with each person putting their own money into that account to spend however they want.

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Not married (been there done that.) We share an account. (we both work)… and it works for us. It’s not his or mine… it’s ours. We just pay what is due when we get paid.

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Is different for every couple, in my case I will not have a join account, I like to have the control of my money , you can have a joint one for the bills and keep your personal one as well

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My fiancé and I had a joint bank account for a while. It got a little messy, so we split them again. We discussed our monthly incomes and expenses and decided who is responsible for which bills. Any money we have left after bills is ours to spend as we please.

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First marriage I did what a disaster but the second marriage we keep things separate and it works out great that way we each pay certain bills from our accounts and if we need to transfer money to each other account we can do that plus this way you are building your own credit

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My husband and I have joint saving’s and I have checking

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No. Keep finances separate.

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We have joint account

Been w/ my husband 16 years and never had a joint account of any kind. We talked about it, but he doesn’t want to and I could care less.

Totally dependent on the couple. My husband and I have had joint accounts since we were dating. (Together now for 12 years) My parents have separate accounts and always have. It’s whatever you want to do. There’s no right or wrong answer :slightly_smiling_face:

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It’s really a personal preference. Some couples like having all of their money together, some don’t. Some like having separate accounts then transfer funds for bills into one joint account. It’s whatever the two of you decide on.

It’s whatever works for you. Married for 5 years and never once even considered having a joint account.

We have a joint account

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Always keep your money separated. He can clean you completely out if he ever gets mad or decides to leave. Don’t do it.

I would NEVER! I have no trust for people tho… And with cashapp/venmo/etc there’s really no reason to anymore.

When me and my ex were together I hadn’t had a bank account in 7 yrs lol… he went and opened one for me and started putting money in it. I asked him if we should get a joint account and he said hell no lol! …

I’ve been with my guy for 8+ years and we still keep our accounts separate, he has my account on his phone and has my card and I use his card whenever I need too. It helps us keep track of what We are spending and what money is coming in on both ends. It also helps because of our subscription’s to everything comes from one account and not the other so if we have extra money but forget to pay something it comes out of his account and leaves the money in my account alone for things we need. We have a 7 year old who knows how to tap so it helps to keep one account for spending and one for saving :woman_facepalming: we talk about getting a joint account all the time but we just use each others anyway lol

I wouldn’t merge your accounts. I would keep everything separate

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My husband and I have always had our money together since we moved in together. We married 3 years later. We been together 25 years now.

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Both. Keep your separate accounts and get a joint one. Put half of your earnings in the joint account and half in your account. Pay bills and household expenses with joint account. Pay for your vehicle and your wants with your account.

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What my husband and I do, is we each have our own accounts but have a shared one that we both put money into for bills

We have seperate accounts that our pay goes into and then a joint account. Every pay we put money into our joint account for mortgage, bills, savings etc and what we have left in our accounts is ours to spend. It works very well for us.

Keep it separate but open a joint account for bills, vacation and etc. I made the mistake of opening a joint account with my ex husband and he cleaned and closed the account out, leaving me (former SAHM) and our children without means.

We merged when we decided that I’d be a stay at home mom!
That being said, I don’t have to ask to spend money and my husband has never once said that he’s worked for our money! Here we are 21 years later

I’ve been with my spouse 20 years. Married 9 and just recently added her to my account only because we got a big check in our names. I feel it should be sperate but equal pay of bills and such. It works out in the end if one saves better then the other.

I wouldn’t create a joint account for everything. But I would create a joint account that you can both contribute to.

So you still have yours and he still has his and then you have a shared one as well.The shared one can be used to pay bills, make big purchases for the family ect and then you still have your own. I’ve seen too many horror stores about one of the partners being controlling about finances so I wouldn’t ever only have a joint account.

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We have joint account, but only one debit card. If hubby had his own I am afraid things would be all messed up as he would forget to write them in the register. I pay the bills from that account. We each have our own credit cards. Being married for almost 40 years makes a difference, my daughter had a joint account with her new husband and he overdrafted it and left her in debt badly. Their marriage did not last long. I believe its up to each couple and you really need to know the other person and their history with money management.

I have a checking account and access to my husbands checking account, my husband does not have access to my account but also has his own savings account. I’m a stay at home mom so right now we both need access to his money. I think it’s good to have your own private accounts but also a shared account.

I’ve done this. Don’t. Lol

Keep a separate account always. If it’s convenient to create a joint account to cover mutual bills, wait until AFTER you are married to get one.

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Me and my husband have a shared bank account and separate ones! We pay bills and other things out of the shared and just have the separate ones just in case

Keep your separate accounts and create a joint account for bills

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If you are not married keep your own

Me and my fiance are opening a joint account but also keeping our separate accounts

I have a joint with my bf and one of my own

We always put our checks together. Then did bills, groceries.

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My husband added me to his checking and savings when we got married (I hardly ever use it) but I kept my own checking and savings accounts

Nope. My husband and I have no joint accounts or any debts together. I am very thankful too because after we married he got obsessed with Bitcoin and got thousands and thousands into debt

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My mom always taught me to have a joint account for the bills etc but also have your own personal accounts for spending money. This way you still have your own and control of your own and no need to fight about finances if the bills etc get paid.

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If that is what you’re set in doing. I want to suggest not putting everything in one account. There might be an private matter for either of you. And you have that account to count on

My husband and I had a joint checking and separate savings.

mine wanted separate…I didn’t - friend of mine told me to agree, as long as it’s clear we split the bills 50/50…she said that wasn’t fair cuz I made more…I told her life isn’t fair lol

she quickly agreed to the joint account!

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We have separate checking and 1 joint savings. He pays Certain bills and I pay other certain bills. We always pay the same bills so there is no confusion on who payed what.

I would never pool my money with anybody…

Depends on the couple and each others responsibily with money. For some it works and others it doesn’t

Make sure you have a private account he has a private account and then you both a joint account… put money in ya joint account for bills but always always keep a separate

I just don’t understand people. Don’t marry the person of you don’t TRUST them 100%, this includes with the money!

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My husband and I have our own accounts, and 1 joint account. We each put our share of the bills in the joint account and that’s it. The joint account is strictly for bills. It’s been working great for us. I don’t have access to his private account, and he doesn’t have access to mine.

Always had a joint account and separate account as well been together 30yrs

We have a joint account for bills & individual accounts for personal finances

We have both. We have a joint but we also have our own. We just use the joint for bills and to transfer money to and from it

U do whats right for u however I would never merge my account with anyone.

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It is all personal preference. My husband and I have had a joint account since we were sixteen. It’s been the best method for us.

My husband and I decided to have a joint accounts for bills and then we have separate accounts for spending money. We decided how much well pay ourselves to spend on whatever we want monthly and then we have the joint account for money for bills, house items, vacation and holiday spending and emergency funds. We both get to feel like we have our own money and known our bills will be covered. It also helps us feel like one person isn’t putting in more than the other which was my preference.

A lawyer once told me after your married, even if you have separate accounts, that money could be used in a settlement if you get divorced.

Both!! Your account his and together

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Me and my fiance have joint and our separate acct

Late wife and I kept 3 accounts. One joint and two individuals. The joint we proportioned our deposits to our individual wages the individual accounts we spent on whatever each wanted. Never argued about money in 28 years of marriage.

My husband and I each have our own accounts, plus a joint account for the mortgage payments. He takes care of certain bills and I cover others, plus we both chip in to the mortgage account. It has worked well for us so far.

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We keep separate accounts but we merge and share our money for bills and needs. We allow a certain amount to stay in each account after all the bills and such are taken care of.

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Have ur own and u could do a joint account too, basically use the joint account for bills and to send money to and from,he could have his own as well , I do this with my hubby, but do what suits you best

It’s entirely up to the couple and their financial needs. :woman_shrugging:

If he isn’t abusive then go for it if he is… don’t do it

If you decide to do joint always have an account to yourself as well

We have a joint account for bills and then we have a savings account and then a separate account for “spending” money.

Don’t do it!! You can have a household account but please keep your own personal accounts too.

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Why not bave a joint account you both contribute to for bills and vacations and stuff like that but also have your own accounts jic

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