Married with separate bank accounts

[avoschmado]

Are we the only couple who do this?? We share out the bills to pay, split holidays and days out etc but our own money is our own money.

Separate here. I have no interest in doing bank statement analysis

Separate here too. He doesn’t need to know what I spend on shoes (it’s my money as I work full time) - suits us both!

We have separate accounts and a joint account for bills and other family expenses which I fund 100% as I earn significantly more than DH. He has a card for the joint account so can spend what he wants out of that, he uses it for shopping and kids expenses.
I pay the kids school fees and other stuff directly from my account.
I have no idea what he spends his own wages on - clothes, gadgets and pension probably.

We have the same amount of 'pocket money', and that is separate and our own to save or spend. Everything else is joint. We are on a tight budget, so can't just go all in otherwise one might spend it all and the other be left with nothing.

I think that’s fine. We’ve always had separate accounts. It seems much easier than having one joint account. I can’t quite imagine how people manage that. I like having my own money, knowing what goes in and when and what’s going out.

I think what makes the difference is our ‘separate’ money really is ‘ours.’ We’ve been together a long time, both had spells when we were students or working low wage jobs and both had spells as the main earner. Generally we earn about the same when we are both working full time (I’m currently on my 2nd mat leave), but neither of us is precious about our money. We share it freely as needed and neither of us ever struggles while the other has loads of disposable income.

We do talk about opening a joint account (for paying mortgage, childcare, major bills), but just have never gotten around to it yet, one day maybe, but this system works fine for now.

We have been married over 20 years and have always had our own bank accounts. We also don't "split bills". We don't nit pick over who pays what we have our specific things we pay out of it which is proportionate to our different earnings. Any eating out or entertainment between is paid for by either of us.

Married for 27 years, always had separate accounts.

We have separate accounts and a joint account. Each pay an amount into the joint account relative to our salary and sll bills come out of that. What's left is ours to save or spend as we wish - so i buy clothes and get my nails done, OH goes to gigs.

I'd had financial independence for nearly 15 years when we married, no way was i giving that up!

We have separate accounts too

We split bills 50/50. The bills come out of my account but I have access to his account and transfer his half to me every month

It works for us. I would hate to have a joint account tbh. I like knowing exactly where I stand financially at all times

Did you post this same question a couple of days ago?

Joint accounts are illegal in my home country. So they are not something that make sense to me, they aren't part of the culture etc.

I have never shared a bank account with anyone including my exDH with whom I owned property, etc. It was never an issue in any way tbh

My partner's parents have been together 40+ years and also have never shared a bank account. They are very staid and traditional, nothing unconventional about them, they just don't fancy it.

My dp and i don't live together and don't share accounts, but we split holiday expenses and take turns buying meals/food shop etc. Again, never been an issue

My husband and I have separate bank accounts. We wouldn't have it any other way. He pays most of the bills and I pay for our grocery shopping and a few other bits. It works out just fine. I'm not quite sure why anyone would have a problem with it.

Seperate accounts here too.

Different strokes, for different folks.

Separate accounts here also.
Our UK accounts and our Asia ones too.
When we moved here the bank couldn't understand why I needed my own account when my earnings can just go into husband's.

Bank also wouldn't open my account without my husband's signature. FGS.

I always have a bank account of my own. No matter how hard it is to open one.

We do have a joint savings account.

We have a joint account and always have through every possible different financial circumstance over the years. It works for us. I honestly don’t think we’ve every argued about money. However we are both sensible and neither of us wastes money. We don’t discuss purchases in advance with each other under a certain amount. I don’t feel my spending is ‘scutinised’. I feel we are a team and for us, that means our money is all shared.

I don’t have an issue with separate accounts- each to their own. I must admit to a slight prejudice that with separate accounts women end up missing out or having to ask for money if they have time out of work with babies/ young children. I also think it’s a bit weird not to know how much your OH has in the bank/earns. To me that’s just bizzare. But if everyone is happy, then it’s absolutely none of my business.

My advice would be to keep it that way. We have a joint account and it leads to no end of arguments...

We are the same as are most people we know.

We have separate current accounts (joint savings account), but all money is completely shared. So the separate accounts are a bit meaningless really!

Also separate here, DH earns about 10-15k more than me (depending on bonus) but he pays more of the bills. I transfer money to him every month for mortgage/ bills etc then we alternate weekly food shopping. Both of us like having financial independence and choice! Works for us and seems fair! I wouldn't want anyone questioning or being bothered about me spending £60 on makeup or £150 on a concert ticket. That's my business!

I'm divorced (for reasons not to do with money) but when we were married we never had joint accounts. Not even for bills. He earned more than me so he paid everything to do with the house and I paid for things like the food shopping and extras. It worked fine for us. And when we got divorced everything was straightforward because we had nothing joint, no issues with "dividing money". My wages were mine and his were his.

I will never ever share finances with anyone.

Joint accounts are a problem if it's not clear what they pay for, or if one person doesn't trust the other. Then there will be arguments about what you spent money on, so a kitty, or all split is better.
But you can still argue about who drank all the beer, ate all the biscuits, whether to shop in Tesco or Waitrose, whether children need new clothes, how high the gas bill is because you have the heating on all day...
If only one earner or big difference in incomes people can transfer between accounts, joint or separate, so each has some personal cash.
Whichever system you have doesn't matter, it's whether it feels fair to each of you, which will depend on personal style