Should you merge finances for a happy married life?

I don't what is best either.
We have seperate accounts and one joint account. We use the joint account for paying monthly bills and family expenses. On the seperate accounts, the money is accountable for the account owner. We both agree on a general direction, what percentage of money we should save in order to reach long term goals so in theory the seperate account money is money left over from saving and budget plan, which can be spent or saved or donated however wanted by the account owner.

 

We practice seperate account strategy as it was before marriage . We continued to invest substantial amount in individual names worked well for tax purposes when in India . We do have some joint investments and property is in both names . I am happy keeping accounts seperate , it works well for us . We don't feel we own each other income so have no issues related to money spent on parents , inlaws such. But we do plan and invest surplus income and consider it as family savings .

we both spend for family expenses but not in a very defined fashion. I pick some expenses and he picks up some . Depends on the situation .

I suggest continue to have seperate accounts . Discuss how you want to handle expenses and investment and go from there . Always have some say in how your income is being spent , don't just leave it to husband . It is good to retain some financial independence

 

We had a partial joint finances. Three accounts, one used for household expenses (and both contributed to that) and then our own personal Accounts. When we were younger (and poorer ) we gave money to the other if he/she run out of money before the salary date. We agreed jointly on bigger things (major things for the house, house buying, saving targets) but the small stuff both decided separately.

 

I think there is no one answer to this question beacuse the best is what you and your partner is comfortable with.

Personally for me, the man I love and who is the father of my child is more important and I do not want to have anything seperately from him. We have everthing jointly. He pays all bills, vacation, discretionary etc. and my salary goes to savings account. The important thing is trust and transparency and if that is there, that is all that matters. I have never felt having joint accounts made me feel less financially independent.

 

Having separate accounts does not mean you don't trust your partner .

Actually I think it requires more trust to let your spouse maintain a separate account and let the spouse take decisions regarding that income without consulting you for everything .

 

salary account separate... you can have a joint account separate and invest in tht if u wish to

 

It is ok to have joint accounts or separate accounts - what does your employer say - did they ask you to open a separate salary account to deposit your salary in?

Keep some cash for your personal expenses and office travel expenses !
Start investing some amount every month into some SIP of a mutual fund, or PPF or LIC or some fixed deposits
If there is more remaining - discuss with your DH if he wants you to contribute to home expenses - if he says no, accept with grace and add the remaining to savings or for your family or for splurging !

I've usually seen husbands taking care of all expenses and saving the wife's for a rainy day as wife's income is supposedly not "permanent" so they wont include in every day expenses! (Not all husbands may think so)

So, whether they make the savings on their wife's behalf, whether the savings is in the wife's name or both their names, whether the savings go to the husband's FOO as gifts and luxuries for them - it all depends on the attitude of the husband and the wife and their relationship!

Personally, although I'm not working in any corporate right now, I still have my old individual accounts operational - and DH transfers into it regularly !

I do all the savings from this account, so all our joint savings are in my name only !

We know each other's passwords and use them whenever required - and inform each other about all expenses !

Nowadays - with most women working before their marriage, they already have bank accounts and since the banking is done mostly online or it is at par in all cities, it is easy to keep them operational - so having separate accounts is not a matter of trust or new generation etc - it is just convenience and ease of use !

 

When we moved to the US we had only one joint account for a while (for some practical reasons as we tried to prove as quickly as possible that we can have credit cards issued in the US). That was actually quite tricky to use the same account. Sometimes by mistake I paid some big invoice and at the same time my husband did some bigger purchase and we had forgot to coordinate. That is why it is better to have separate Accounts. The regular household costs (rent/mortgage, utility bills etc) can be paid from a joint account.

There is also the risk that savings are put only to the other parties name. In case of divorce it depends then do you get your share.

 

We dont have seperate incomes. We just have one pool of income for our family.

Again it is just different family dymamics. Since the day we got married, I have never seen him make a decision -financial or otherwise that is of any importance without talking to me. I have not done that either. Neither one imposed that on other. It just happened that way.