Post # 1

Member
46 posts
Newbee
My fiance plan on putting all of our money into one savings. We figure neither of us are huge spenders, so when one of us wants something we will buy. If something $500 or more we discuss it. Is this the norm? Do any of you get “allowances” or keep your money completely separate?
Post # 3

Member
1602 posts
Bumble bee
We are keeping things seperate. We have done this for five years – no need to change it up now.
If one of us needs a little cash or wants to do something fantastic then we just talk it over. We haven’t ever had money issues or woes yet so I think it works pretty good for us. 🙂
Post # 4

Member
3967 posts
Honey bee
We plan on keeping accounts prior to marriage separate. All money made after married in one account, minus a percentage allowance from each person’s salary.
Post # 5

Member
9876 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
We combined ours after getting married. It’s all “our” money anyway.
Post # 6

Member
9680 posts
Buzzing Beekeeper
@flowermower: Whatever works for the two of you. There is no right or wrong answer, it is just whatever works for you and what you both agree on.
Post # 7

Member
8434 posts
Bumble Beekeeper
We have everything together, my husband works and I manage the finances. I think how a couple handles their money is completely dependent on what works for them, there is no “right” or “wrong” way to do it as long as you communicate.
Post # 8

Member
3551 posts
Sugar bee
We are separate right now, but plan to combine after the wedding. We haven’t quite worked out how we’re going to do it yet.
Post # 9

Member
904 posts
Busy bee
We have a joint checking account and a joint savings account, and each of us has our own checking and savings accounts. Every payday, we each put a set amount into the joint checking, to be used for household expenses like rent, utilities, groceries, the car, entertainment, etc. Whatever is left in our personal checking accounts is used for our individual expenses like student loan payments, credit card payments, and fun money. I guess that counts as our “allowance.” We each try to keep our individual savings accounts at $1000, and if a big expense comes up like a major car repair, we each pull an equal amount from savings to cover it. We’ve been doing this for several years, and it works great.
We don’t have plans to change our system upon getting married. We might get a joint credit card and focus on making more contributions to the joint savings account (it’s empty right now), but we’ll still keep our individual checking/savings accounts and remain responsible for our individual expenses.
Post # 10

Member
1108 posts
Bumble bee
We currently operate with separate accounts, and we split all expenses. Once we get married, we going to have one chequings account, and separate tax free savings accounts for our long-term savings (which we have now). We will put our paycheques into the joint account and pay all our expenses (together and personal) from there. I’m really looking forward to seeing how much money “we” actually have, rather than having to add up our separate accounts, which we always owe each other money out of.
Post # 11

Hostess
3367 posts
Sugar bee
DH and I were dead set that we would never combine finances. We got married in May and one day about a month ago he called me and told me he wanted to add me to his bank acocunt to make it joint. I didn’t have my own bank account, and we share all of the money anyway. The rule is we talk out big purchases before they’re made. We don’t ask permission necessarily, but if it’s something over $100 we’ll chat about why it’s important and what not. It works out really well for us so far! 🙂
Post # 12

Member
169 posts
Blushing bee
When you marry, you are a joint unit. Everything should go into one “pot” in my opinion. Works great for my finace and I!
Post # 13

Member
668 posts
Busy bee
A lot of financial advisors advise doing a “Mine, Yours, and Ours” situation. Get a joint checking and a joint savings. Pay household expenses out of the checking and put an equal amount into the savings for joint big purchases. Keep separate savings and checking for personal purchases etc. Youc an work together what goes where.
This also helps should you ever need to separate. What is in your name is yours.
Post # 14

Member
337 posts
Helper bee
During premarital counseling, our pastor said he recommended we join finances unless we had some good reason not to (we were kind of indifferent about it). He also recommended that we set a limit for things (like, you can’t spend more than X amount of dollars on something without discussing it with your partner, so he can’t come home with a $2k TV and I can’t come home with $200 shoes as a surprise
)
We liked both these ideas so we’re going for that.
Post # 15

Member
12244 posts
Sugar Beekeeper
We talk about all purchases over $50. But we did that even when we had seperate accounts!
Post # 16

Member
3092 posts
Sugar bee
We’re in the process of combining and then I will take over management etc. It’s quite a task!