Finances

kidlets2

For those of you paying for your own wedding, how are you keeping the wedding stuff separate from your regular spending? Are you even separating them?

We have a certain dollar amount that we intend on spending on the wedding/HM. For now, it's sitting in my savings account. I hate the thought of transferring money every time I buy something wedding related so we were thinking of getting a separate checking account that for now will only be used for wedding related items & we will both have access to it. After the wedding, the intent is that will be our joint account.

Then that brings up another question...how are you planning on doing your finances after you're married? Keeping separate accounts or combining?

Another question...what's better - a credit union or traditional bank? I've been with Wells Fargof or 15+ years but have been toying around with trying a credit union.

wittyschaffy

DH and I have separate bank accounts and one joint one.  He has a portion of each paycheck deposited directly into the joint account and I shift money manually into it.  I pay the bills from that account. DH is awful with money and his credit was in shambles when we first met so it was the best choice for us.  We both felt it was important to have our own money to spend as we want without having to be accountable to the other.  We discuss big purchases over $100.  

DH used to bank at TCF and I am a lifetime credit union member.  DH eventually ended up moving his money to my credit union.  The benefit to the credit union is that YOU are the owner (well partially anyway) so they're very interested in keeping you happy.  Their rates tend to be lower for loans.  I have noticed that there are far fewer user fees at my credit union than DH had at TCF (they would nickle and dime you to death I think!).  We even get up to 4 ATM withdrawal fees credited back to us a month so we don't have to eat that cost since they don't have a network like the big banks do.  

DH had some money he owed his parents from school loans back in the day that they wanted paid in a lump sum which we didn't have and when DH approached the credit union about a personal loan, they worked with him to re-fi his car loan because car loan rates are MUCH lower than a personal loan.  We did the math and by re-financing that loan, we're paying much less in interest over time, even though it stretched the loan out longer.  I just can't picture US Bank or Wells Fargo jumping at the chance to get LESS interest from a customer.  

jennipea382

We opened a savings account at ING Direct for wedding money. The interest rate for a savings account was higher than either of our own banks, which are both credit unions. We both like our banks too, though his is going to start charging for checking accounts (I've never heard of a credit union doing this!). I put in a certain dollar amount from each pay check and the rest goes into my own account. We haven't actually paid for much yet with the wedding but we used my own check card for the reception venue deposit because I get money back for using it. So our plan at the moment is to keep our money in the ING savings account and transfer it over to my checking account, and use my check card to get the rewards. It's really easy to transfer with linking the accounts. The bank I use that gives me the rewards is Wings Financial. We did also open an ING checking account in case we need to pay for something and can't wait to transfer between banks (plus we get money for opening one!).

I'm not sure what the merger with Capital One will do with the ING interest rates but I can't see them going down (they just went down earlier this year, boo), at least not too much.

After we're married I'm not 100% sure. I actually really love both my banks for different reasons. Now that FI's is going to charge, I think he is switching to one of them. Right now we are planning on having a joint checking account for bills that we put a percentage of our paychecks into. It's tough because he makes more than I do (I work part time) and I think we're both struggling with the idea of him paying more. It should be "our" money, but it's a tough thing to get used to I guess. So anyways, we'll pay our bills out of that, and as of right now have separate savings accounts. Eventually I think we will combine them. I'd love to hear more opinions on this though before we decide :-)

ETA - I personally don't like the "big banks". I always hear about them charging a lot for things. I've never had a problem with my credit union and I've banked there my whole life. I also really love ING because they don't charge fees and I just really like the company's philosophies on things. I'm hoping this sticks with the merger. I have no idea what Capital One banking looks like!

MrsBassPlaya

FI and I opened a joint checking and savings account at FI's bank for wedding funds when we started saving for the wedding.  The intent was to use it as a joint account after the wedding.  However, FI has been toying with the idea of moving to a credit union after the wedding.  So we may do that instead.  I always assumed we'd have a joint account and that's what we decided, but now that it's getting closer, I'm not too thrilled with the idea.  FI and I are very responsible with finances, etc, but I just bought him a big birthday present and realized I'm not gonna be able to hide stuff like that if he has 100% access to my finances.  So we'll have to figure something out.  We'll definitely be combining the majority of them, though.  For the most part we already have.

SSaltzman87

FI and I have separate checking and savings accounts, we're both putting a specific amount of money into our savings accounts each month that's pretty much dedicated to our wedding. That money will primarily be used for paying deposits and remaining balances to vendors when the big day comes. 

We haven't decided whether we'll have joint accounts in the future.

Smaller things like materials for decor I've been paying for out of my own pocket, and the many LivingSocial deals & Groupons I've bought for Vistaprint have been my own money since all of my paper goods have ended up costing next to nothing.

graysquirrel

We never had a speical account for wedding stuff. I knew what my budget was and how I was going to stick to it. I kept track of wedding purchases so that I could see how much I was spending. I don't personally think that a wedding account is necessary if you are tracking what you spend properly.

We have separate accounts. We were going to join them after the wedding, but when we went down to do it they told me I could get $100 for opening my own account so that is what I did. We keep track of our accounts and then take time to look at them together.

tpender13

FI paid for most of the larger WR purchases (venue, part of my ring, etc) with a specific low or no interest credit card to keep track. He was able to get it paid off in less than a year. For smaller things (my dress, silk flowers, etc) we just with "normal" money as we went along. Like I went and paid cash for my dress when I had a paycheck that wasn't eaten up completely by bills, or I'd pay for printing our invitations instead of buying new jeans, that kind of thing.

We haven't combined any of our money. We've been living together for a long time, and what we've been doing so far has worked, so if it ain't broke... We each write a check for half the rent, have our own car and credit card payments, I pay for our phones and all insurance, he generally pays for groceries and going out to eat. It all balances out.

srdavis21

We both have individual accounts at US Bank so we opened a joint checking account that is linked to our individual accounts.  We each put an equal amount of money into the joint account each money and pay all of our wedding related expenses out of the account.  We have found it handy to have one account that we each have check cards for to pay for expenses - so if I'm out and find little things we need (or vice versa) I can just pay for it with the joint account check card and not worry about transferring money or anything. 

After the wedding, we are planning on continuing to put the same amount of money into the joint account each month and this will be the account we use for the downpayment on a house.  Once we buy a house as a couple, we plan on having our pay checks deposited into the joint account and we will pay our living expenses out of there.  We each also have a set amount of spending money that we get a month, so when we move to having a joint account, we will transfer our spending money into our individual accounts so that we are free to spend the money as we like (we have an agreement that how we use our spending money is "no questions asked").

bburkel

We have a joint mortgage and a joint savings we set up for the wedding.  I deposit a small chunk from each check into it, and his debit card adds $1 to it every time he uses the card. 

We have separate checking accounts.  I did start moving more to WF, which is his bank.  I used to do all my banking at Associated Bank because I worked there, but it's not really practical anymore.  I just have that account in case of emergency with my mom, since she banks there and we are on each other's accounts.

We did get a low-interest credit card from Wells Fargo that credits money back to our mortgage every time we spend a certain amount.  So, we've moved a lot of our monthly bills to that and I just pay it off (mostly) each month.  We're planning on putting the wedding expenses on there too, and taking from the savings to pay it off.  Might as well have the prinicple on our mortgage get a little out it. 

After the wedding, we'll probably use the savings as a vacation fund.  He has a separate savings that he set up for house expenses.  And I just transfer money from each paycheck to him to cover my half of the mortgage.  We split up the bills - I do groceries and satellite, he does the utilities.

futuremrsbaxter3

FI and I got joint accounts when we got engaged a year ago and it has been awesome (particularly helpful because we live together and thus, share all of our expenses). We used to have Wells Fargo but switched to Wings Financial Credit Union for ethical reasons (Wells Fargo's racist and predatory lending, etc.). I highly endorse credit unions; they are co-ops whose purpose is only to provide a service for the individual, not a business trying to make money like a "big bank." 

misscrafty84

The money my parents gave us for the wedding is in my checking so I can pay things as needed, I just keep a budget so I know what's going where.

After we are married we will open a joint account but keep our seperate accounts as well. We will each put a % of our income into the joint account for our bills and the rest will stay in our personal accounts for now. We maybe just switch over to the joint in the future but this we figure will help us adjust to sharing our finances and know where we are at.

saric83

We're big spreadsheet nerds : ), and that's how we kept track of everything for the wedding and our regular expenses.  As soon as we lived together, then-BF set up a spreadsheet where we each add in any purchases we made, and then it's calcuated to figure out how much of each owe towards rent, depending on how much we spent on other things that month. 

In the beginning, we just did all of our joint-expenses.  But once we were engaged, we started putting every single expense and all of the wedding items on there.  It's nice because it gives us a view of where we're spending on our money, but we each still have our separate accounts, so we don't have to reconcile our balances every day or week.