I'm just wondering how other couples do it, as it is always interesting to see different ways of doing this.
May as well get the ball rolling myself. My wife (hope men are not too unwelcome) and I do it as follows:
Joint account into which we pay half the living expenses each month.
Savings account into which she pays.
Savings account into which I pay.
No doubt some will ask why we don't combine the savings into one account, which is a good question. Well, my wife has saved substantially more than I have, as she's older than me, so she has had more financially active years, and also, through fortuitous circumstances, has never had to pay rent. Neither of us do now. We earn more or less the same amount from our main jobs, although she has better pension arrangements than I do. I have a second job, through which I'm hoping to catch up with her savings. Hate the word "catch up", as it sound more competitive than I feel, but can't think of a better way of putting it. I don't actually know why we don't, we just didn't at the start (which wasn't feasible at the beginning as we couldn't live together until a few months after we got married) and we just haven't since then
Neither of us waste money, and big purchases are discussed together unless they come out of the money budgetted to frivolous expenses every month.
My parents are baffled that we don't pool our savings. We don't live in the UK, so I don't have many similar couples to discuss it with. Is the done thing still to pool all the money, if both partners are working?
We don't see the saved money as mine and yours - more like money for our future. But somehow it would feel odd bringing it up now, as it isn't causing any arguments between us.
Would like to read comments on my situation as well as how other people do it.