Merging Finances

March 30th, 2006 @ 2:12 pm by Mrs. Bee

I was planning on writing a post about the pros and cons of merging finances after marriage, but looks like thenest beat me to it - they have a helpful article today on joint vs. separate accounts.

Also check out their tax prep guide which tells you the pros and cons of filing taxes individually or jointly. I actually sent an email to my CPA today about this very topic because I thought it’d be helpful for both me and weddingbee readers with tax day just around the corner.

Mr. Bee and I have a joint account because I wasn’t making any moola while launching this wonderful site. But I do have a separate checking account (even though I don’t use it that often). Eventually I think I would like for us to maintain separate checking accounts only because I think it’s easier to track spending (and saving) that way (I’m horrible, he’s not). But who knows - a joint account is working for us now.

What are your financial plans once you get married? Will you maintain separate accounts? A joint account? Or separate accounts and a joint account?

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3 Responses to “Merging Finances”

Guest

Andi

i see the logic of having separate checking accounts, but i dont agree with it. personally, i’m merging everything when we get married - credit cards, bank accounts, savings, etc. why? because i dont see a reason for it.

people say that its easier, because then the girl can buy a 500 dollar handbag and he cant get mad. or he can splurge on whatever he wants, and i cant get mad. but isnt that what a marriage is? to come up with how to spend your money jointly? shouldnt i be understanding when he wants to buy a big purchase? and if i want a very nice handbag as a gift to myself for doing something well, then shouldnt he be supportive of that?

as long as neither party feels that they can spend all the money in the accounts without consequence, and as long as both parties are pretty responsible about spending and saving, then i see no point in having 3 different accounts.

3/30/06 @ 4:00 pm (reply)

Guest

I agree with Andi. Well said.

3/30/06 @ 5:23 pm (reply)

Guest

dingbatkim

gavin and i will probably have 3 separate accounts - our own individual ones and a joint. he was all for having just the joint but i’m stubborn and want my own. a lot of couples do it that way as well as my parents .. it just seems to put added stress on one of the spouses if one of them blows it on a big purchase. plus how else are you going to purchase secret presents when you both know the activity that’s going on in your joint bank account?

3/30/06 @ 5:50 pm (reply)