Joint bank accounts

[freebird 0]

Just a question. For all of you married folks. Do you have joint bank accounts? Is it the norm to have a joint account (if your married of course)?

[mujie96 0]

I've been married twice and didn't have joint accounts either time. I think if you both work and already have separate ones when you get married, why switch? Or if you really want one, keep separate ones and have a joint one for bills and such. I guess it just depends on your own personal preference. Also, on the not so happy side it made my divorces a lot simpler, but who wants to think about that part?
Jess

Just keep swimming...just keep swimming....

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Someone after more jump money?

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Say no to subliminal messages

[dropdeded 0]

My wife and I have a joint bank account.Even though my names on it I aint got no control of our $$$.Thats probably cause HER name is on it.
dropdeded

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The Dude Abides.
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[Jessica 0]

I, personally, would be extremely happy to hand someone my paycheck and let them deal with it.

My parents have always had joint accounts and my mom always handled the money, even though she didn't make any. I vaguely suspect if my dad had been in charge we'd have had to move into a cardboard box.

Skydiving is for cool people only

[seedy 0]

We have a joint checking account for household and then I have a separate account that I use for my travel expenses. We used to have just the one, but she would take money and forget to tell me and I would withdraw money from the ATM and that would cause problems. This way, she has access to money in the joint account when I am on the road and I don't have to worry about what is available when I need cash for expenses.

I intend to live forever -- so far, so good.

[Deuce 1]

We have a joint account and we each have an individual account.

Our paychecks are direct deposited into the joint account. If we get any money for whatever, or some kind of personal windfall it goes into the solo account.

If we had made it easy for us to get divorced we would have. At times, being married was like sitting on broken glass in a dirty corner of the basement of hell. We got married young, though, so we didn't have diddly to start with.

The money arguments are the worst, they lead to the arguments about other stuff.

"What's this $1600 on the Amex bill?" "My new video camera" "oh...."

The Mrs. will now get something large and sparkly for Christmas. It's never really even, but you do kind of keep score.

[moodyskydiver 0]

My parents have a joint account and then my dad also has a business account.

Personally, I don't know what to tell ya. I was engaged to be married and let the F***er hold a joint listing on my credit cards. Now I have no fiance and over $4000 worth of debt the he accrued in my name that I'm liable for. He did the same to my bank account.

Whatever you do, think it through and be sure you can trust the person first. Hopefully you wont end up where I am now.

"...just an earthbound misfit, I."

[nws01 0]

I strongly recommend thatyou get seperate bank accounts! Just Do It!

[freebird 0]

Hummm. I guess I was wrong .I thought it was the norm to have them joint. My parents did until they stoped living with each other 11 years ago

[michaeljanzen 0]

my wife and i keep seperate accounts so none of the money she makes gets thrown out of a plane.
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"the sweet just aint as sweet without the bitter "

[slotperfect 7]

My wife and I have joint everything except the cars. Mine is mine (I don't have to pay property taxez 'cause I'm a non-resident), and hers is hers ('cause it's considered business equipment). It works great for us. We are very solid, and started with very little so we built it all together.

My folks, in their seventies, have always had separate accounts, and have divided up the bills, even "paying each other" monthly for equal shares of some things. I don't begin to understand it, but I don't judge it because it has always worked for them.

Arrive Safely

John

[Luna 0]

We have a joint account, but then we were 19 and 22 when we got married...I was still in college and he was in the Air Force making diddly squat. I have heard of a lot of marrieds keeping separate accounts, which kind of rubs me the wrong way, but I guess if you were both already established and had jobs and everything when you got together, why combine it. I just hate hearing people say, "I pay the mortgage and car payments, she pays the utilities..." etc. I mean, to me a marriage is a TEAM, and doing things like that seem to drive a wedge between you. That is just my opinion though, after ten years of marriage. Take it for what it's worth.

I'm walking a marathon to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Click Here for more information!

[skymama 37]

I had a joint account for 17 years with my ex. It worked out well. But, when I decided to take up skydiving and needed a second job to pay for a rig, that money went into a separate account for me.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[tigra 0]

Just because our parents may have done it.... Anyway, times have changed. In my parent's generation, a lot more women were housewives and stay at home moms, and the men liked it that way. Now, as women, we are expected to pay our own way, and there is a whole new generation of under- employed men being supported by their wives and girlfriends.

I think the best way to handle the finances is to agree what your share of the household expenses is every month, and put that in a joint account (or hand it over to the designated bill payer), but keep the rest separate. He shouldn't feel obligated to pay for your jumps and you shouldn't have to buy an expensive wedding gift for his 2nd cousin. Think of it as one less thing to fight about.

If one of you is bringing home significantly more than the other, just decide what is fair for the other person to put in every month, stick with it and play fair. Like, if you're the one bringing in more money, don't hold it over the other person or make them feel bad about it. And if you are the one making less, don't spend every cent you have on yourself and expect the other person to be OK with it.
(Unless you married a millionaire)


just my thoughts.....

bobby sue, ttk #27

[Snowbird 0]

Joint accounts, from day one. We got together while I was in college, and then married young, and both our parents kept joint accounts, so neither of us questioned it. As far as income goes, we've always considered it to be more about time than $. So long as we both work the same amount of time, actual income is unimportant. Everything is pooled. On the occasions when I wasn't working much, I didn't expect to have any extras. Even our RRSP's and investments are combined. Although, if one of us takes extra work, we keep that income for ourselves. I do all the banking, but only because I'm WAY more organised than him. The only thing that is MINE and NOT HIS is my rig

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
-Robert A. Heinlein

[jtval 0]

hey Bird,

Um Im pretty sure the only type of bank account the US GOVT will allow is Cash Bank account. if you want a JOINT bank account you may have to go to amsterdam!

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[Snowbird 0]

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
-Robert A. Heinlein

[Deuce 1]

I really have to disagree here.

The situation you discribe is perfect for roomates, but marriage is a lifelong commitment, or it should be. I just shake my head at the "first marriage" attitude that some people express.

If you keep everything separate and "fair" you have one foot out the door of separation. Keep one credit card in your own name, and your own checking account for the amounts of money that are really "yours" at the end of the year or whatever, split up the cash you don't need to spend on the house or vacation and put it in the individual accounts. But marriage should be an equal partnership. Nobody gets to be the majority shareholder cause they make more money, or brought more furniture to the relationship.

A divorce should be a disaster. That's why making the decision to get married should be taken seriously.

I can't think of many things that would piss me off more than desperately wanting to go to Perris and do 20 jumps with my DZ.Com boddies next labor day weekend, and not have the money to do it, and my wife sitting on 5 grand in "her" account and needing to "borrow" money from her to go, or having her tell me she wouldn't lend it to me.

When my wife took 2 years off when the twins were born, did she make nothing, so could spend nothing? Was I supposed to pay her a wage? (she would have earned more at home than I could make working chasing bad guys!)

When we scrape by, we both empty our "personal" accounts into the joint account, like at property tax time.

I'm sure it's harder when grown-ups get married and have lots of stuff.

I'm glad it works for you, bobby-sue, but I think a partnership where one partner has more stuff and one has less, where they have different standards of living, is doomed.

Criminy I get long-winded when I do this from home!

Night all!

[narcimund 0]

My boyfriend and I have shared our joint personal account for almost 4 years. We own all of our money, our house, our car, and our business exactly 50/50. It's an exactly equal partnership in both responsibility and rights. We bring different skills and needs to it of course, but in no way is either one of us more equal than the other.

It's the only way I'd consider having a serious relationship. If you aren't close enough to share your possessions jointly, how could you possibly share the more important things?

Edited to add: Duece, I'm am simply FLOORED by how much I agree with what you wrote.

First Class Citizen Twice Over

[GroundZero 0]

If you need to ask... you don't need a joint acount.

if you have joint accounts and it poses no problems... you don't need to ask.

Chris

[Phil 0]

been married for over 16 years now. no we don't have a joint bank account, my wife has the signature to access the account, a ATM card, credit card and what ever else she would need to spend all thats there... so why bother to have a joint account?

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how high can you fly with broken wings ...
life's a journey not a destination

[flyhi 24]

Quote

I can't think of many things that would piss me off more than desperately wanting to go to Perris and do 20 jumps with my DZ.Com boddies next labor day weekend, and not have the money to do it, and my wife sitting on 5 grand in "her" account and needing to "borrow" money from her to go, or having her tell me she wouldn't lend it to me.

I wouldn't blame her. If you know this far in advance that that is what you want to do, and you haven't save up the money for it, what does that say about your money handling skills?

I am still feeling the pain of being burned in my first marriage. I will keep my individual account for now. Maybe I will mellow, but I will never again have the same level of trust that I did.

[jfields 0]

I'm pretty much in the same mind frame as Deuce. Keeping everything exact and separate like an accountant is like a pre-admission of defeat.

My wife and I have a joint account. Everything we do together gets put on a joint credit card and paid for out of this account. Most little stuff is paid of of the joint account also. We don't nitpick each other them. It also gets the biggies like mortgage, utilities, daycare, etc. About 90% of our income goes right into this joint account.

We also each have an individual account. We each hold back a little bit for frivolous stuff that the other doesn't approve of or for surprises. I used my individual account to buy my wife pearls when our daughter was born. If that money had been in the joint account, it would have been impossible to surprise her. I also booked a weekend getaway for us from my account so she wouldn't know in advance. I also use it for skydiving money. She uses her account for areas where she splurges and doesn't want to see me roll my eyes over how much money it cost.

The mostly-joint system works well for us. Almost everything is handled from the joint account. The individual accounts are for things we do separately and surprises. We don't try to contribute exactly 50% each to the joint account. I make more, so I put more in. Sometimes if my individual account has grown unusually large, I'll do something like put extra money into our retirement plan or make an extra payment on the mortgage.

We also do electronic banking, so we can see everything very clearly, and balance it instantly. I don't carry a checkbook, but I can still see everything on the computer. We use the ease of electronic banking to make things easier and as a tool to eliminate squabbles over who spent what.

[tigra 0]

Deuce,

I think you misunderstood me. I'm not saying anything about "majority shareholders"- just the opposite. A lot more goes into a relationship than money, but money and money problems can break one up pretty quick. So, you have to "play fair", have realistic expectations, be grown ups, work together and respect each other. Its a 2 way street. But this is one of the challenges that we face in relationships these days. No one said marriage was easy!

Face it, we have an expensive hobby, and it is important to keep our "fun money" separate from our living expenses, plus remember not to spend the rent money on jumps!
bobby sue, ttk#27