Money question

FutureMrsL.R.Allen

Hi ladies- I am just curious, when you get married, or if you alreay are, how do you hadle finances? Do you have one joint account, did you keep separate ones, something else? We want to join our accounts but I guess I just do not know how to go about doing that! Any insight on what you did or what you plan on doing will help! Thanks!

shellybeth

We still have ours seperate. However, we have discussed and I think after we are married we will begin joining our checking accounts (which will be way easier to pay bills), but keep our savings seperate for now. I don't think we will do anything with our money accounts until after I change my last name (which won't be until January since I have to do it after the honeymoon.. darn passports!).

danigirl9

We actually already have a joint account, we're not married yet but we live together and all of our bills are together. We just went down to B of A and got it switched. I think it works out great especially if you have all of your bills together. Its really quick and easy I think we were there MAYBE 30 minutes.

Cola1511

we're not married yet but we have one joint checking, one joint savings, and then we both kept our own checking accounts as well. a certain percentage (like 90%) of our pay goes to our joint checking, the other 10% goes to our individual checking (for personal spending). whatever is left over in our joint checking each pay period goes to the joint savings.It works well but I think once we're married we'll have it all in the joint checking.

vmilesic

Great question! We have joint accounts. One checking, one savings.

FutureMrsL.R.Allen

With your combined checking accounts, do you set a limit that you are allowed to spend without consulting one another?

NillaWafer10

We started off with a joint rewards credit card for all of the big wedding purchases.  I would suggest starting small, because it's been a little difficult to explain when FI asks about my $50 cosmetic purchases... It can take time to adjust to each other's spending habits.  It can also be difficult if one person makes significantly more than the other.  Definitely have a plan for who is going to be the main accountant of the family, if you are going to live on a budget, spending money ect.  Working this stuff out now can save a lot of marital headache.  Some marriage counseling classes also help you plan your finances.

FutureMrsL.R.Allen

Thank you, I think starting off small is a good idea!!

sms274

We have separate accounts right now and plan to keep separate accounts for a bit after we are married. We use the same bank so it is easy to transfer money back and forth if needed and I just transfer money for bills and whatever as needed because he takes care of this. Many of my friends have kept separate accounts but opened a joint account after getting married that they transferred fund into for mutual spending like bills and home repairs, etc. They each agree to transfer a certain amount into that account and then have their own money to use at their disposal. Other friends who do have joint accounts, from what I know and they have told me, they just add a section to their budget that allows personal spending for each in so they don't have to run to each other every time they want to spend money on something.Hope this helps on some different methods that I have seen work.

vmilesic

Hm.. maybe my situation is different. We don't really consult on how much each should spend. We trust each other and know that bills need to be paid so going extreme with personal shopping doesn't really happen. I go shopping for myself and buy something for him too.. he goes out with buddys for a drink and I don't question how much he spends. I guess we are both pretty good about not spending alot, so we never ran into problems. In our case, I make significantly more then him, but I trust him completely and whenever he had to make a big purchase, like his ski boots, he called me to ask me what I think.. communication is the key!

persphone

One little piece of advice. If you close your old checking accounts, be sure that you've switched every automatic debit that you have and make sure that everything has cleared. It can get messy when you get late notices because you forgot to give a creditor your new account number.

vmilesic

PP - Great advice! This never happened to me personally, but people do it all the time. And in this economic environment, the banks and creditors will charge you every possible fee they can charge just to capitalize..