Do you and your spouse have separate bank accounts, and if so what is wrong with you?

[Guest]

I noticed a couple I know send each other money on Venmo for stuff all the time and I’m just like…but why?

 

It seems needlessly complicated

[Fizzzzle]

They probably don't want their spouse seeing how much they spend on onlyfans

[CitizenVectron]

We have the bank accounts we had from before we were married, and then we have a joint account that we both put monthly expense stuff into. All our bills, mortgage, and other subs come out of that one automatically. 

[Jason]

Probably to avoid being one of those couples where you have to ask the spouse permission to buy yourself a videogame.

[SuperSpreader]

We have different jobs and different accounts. We split costs based on income. We have access to each other's accounts if something would go wrong (death) but we have no idea what the account info is without looking it up. 

[Ominous]

Yes. We also have a joint account, where some of my paycheck goes, but the majority of my assets are in my name only. Same with her. Only jointly owned thing is the house, she's on title but not on the mortgage.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

It's worked extremely well for us for nearly 12 years of marriage. We have access to each other's accounts in case something were to happen to one of us. We split the mortgage, makes it easier, since he tends to pay more of the extra than I do. I pay some bills, he pays others. Nothing difficult about it. And we can spend what we want on ourselves without question.

[Joe]

We have shared accounts. Works out well for us.

[Fizzzzle]

Better question is "why get married?"

 

(Half kidding, I know there are plenty of reasons. Before my mom died her partner had a heart attack and she couldn't even visit him at the hospital. They had been together like 15 years)

[Brian]

11 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

We have the bank accounts we had from before we were married, and then we have a joint account that we both put monthly expense stuff into. All our bills, mortgage, and other subs come out of that one automatically. 

This. I find it works smoothly. With a joint account, it typically leads to one person handling it. I want my wife to be an active partner in our finances. 

[Mr.Vic20]

Joint account here, just works for us. 

[Chris-]

12 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

We have the bank accounts we had from before we were married, and then we have a joint account that we both put monthly expense stuff into. All our bills, mortgage, and other subs come out of that one automatically. 

This is what I anticipate doing once we are married. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

After we got married, we turned my personal accounts into joint accounts.

 

The only accounts that aren't joint are RRSP/LIRA accounts that legally can't.

[Guest]

So what do you do guys do if somebody needs a surgery, hit the other person up with a Venmo request for their share? Or do you cover your own medical expenses?

[Ghost_MH]

We have a shared bills account and then personal accounts on the side. We just dump our portion of all the bills in the shared account and then let autopay everything take care of it from there.

 

13 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

So what do you do guys do if somebody needs a surgery, hit the other person up with a Venmo request for their share? Or do you cover your own medical expenses?

 

We have a separate health saving account for medical expenses.

[Ominous]

44 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

So what do you do guys do if somebody needs a surgery, hit the other person up with a Venmo request for their share? Or do you cover your own medical expenses?

Insurance / HSA. It's cheaper for us to have separate insurance too. She has the kids on her plan and mine is essentially free because I get a credit for being vaccinated.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Ominous said:

Insurance / HSA. It's cheaper for us to have separate insurance too. She has the kids on her plan and mine is essentially free because I get a credit for being vaccinated.

Do you send her over some money to cover your portion of the kids premium?

[Brian]

55 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

So what do you do guys do if somebody needs a surgery, hit the other person up with a Venmo request for their share? Or do you cover your own medical expenses?

Most expenses gets paid out of the shared account. If there isn’t enough money to cover it, then we both contribute after discussing the split.   

We have separate health plans, credit cards, investment accounts, bank accounts, cell phone plans, and retirement accounts.  

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

Most expenses gets paid out of the shared account. If there isn’t enough money to cover it, then we both contribute after discussing the split.   

We have separate health plans, credit cards, investment accounts, bank accounts, cell phone plans, and retirement accounts.  

 

I mean, whatever works for y’all. This is just incredibly foreign to me 😂

[Brian]

3 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

I mean, whatever works for y’all. This is just incredibly foreign to me 😂

I have remained on the family plan with my mom and brothers since I got a cellphone. It costs me $10 a month. 😂 

[Chris-]

34 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

I mean, whatever works for y’all. This is just incredibly foreign to me 😂

Look at it this way: you got married young, so you and your wife joined your finances together at a time when each of you had more straightforward situations. Getting partnered or married later in life means a more complex puzzle.
 

For example, I’m trying to sort out whether or not my fiancé and I should file MFJ or MFS next year; if we do MFJ I can get the Lifetime Learning Credit since I’m in school, but then her student loan payments (all of which are income-based) will balloon. If we file MFS her student loan payments won’t balloon, but then I can’t claim the credit. That’s a particularly complex example, but in any case it highlights how tricky it can be. 

[Derek]

She can't stay off Amazon and Lord knows we don't need a fifth diaper bag.

[Ominous]

1 hour ago, sblfilms said:

Do you send her over some money to cover your portion of the kids premium?

Every paycheck a portion of my direct deposit goes to her account as well as some to another account for the kids.

[SuperSpreader]

3 hours ago, sblfilms said:

So what do you do guys do if somebody needs a surgery, hit the other person up with a Venmo request for their share? Or do you cover your own medical expenses?

 

We have insurance bro. 

[SuperSpreader]

2 hours ago, sblfilms said:

 

I mean, whatever works for y’all. This is just incredibly foreign to me 😂

 

Not all of us are the sole breadwinner in a multi-million dollar company. 

[stepee]

10 minutes ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

Not all of us are the sole breadwinner in a multi-million dollar company. 

 

most of us are though

[SuperSpreader]

20 minutes ago, stepee said:

 

most of us are though

I meant who own one. 

[Fizzzzle]

I'm grandfathered into an AT&T cell phone plan from back when my brother worked for them that is $25/month for unlimited everything, I will keep that for as long as I can, fuck everyone else

[TheLeon]

I barely have my own bank account. 

[foosh]

not only separate bank accounts, separate investment and retirement accounts too!

[Fizzzzle]

28 minutes ago, foosh said:

not only separate bank accounts, separate investment and retirement accounts too!

Playing the long game, I respect it.

[SuperSpreader]

6 minutes ago, Fizzzzle said:

Playing the long game, I respect it.

Quick eject button 

[CastlevaniaNut18]

We have our own health insurance plans through our employers. Own retirement accounts. Own credit cards. I’m still on my parents’ cell phone plan and I pay them monthly for it. He uses some stupid basic cheap plan with t mobile and Google voice. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

We have insurance bro. 

You don’t have any out of pocket costs though?

 

3 hours ago, SuperSpreader said:

 

Not all of us are the sole breadwinner in a multi-million dollar company. 

We had joint accounts even when Juanita was making $30k a year and I was making $18k back when we first got married! And my wife is actually 50/50 owner of our holding company with me too  

[CastlevaniaNut18]

Since neither of us have any serious health issues, our out of pocket costs are pretty negligible and we just take care of them ourselves like every other expense. I'm on a few prescriptions, but they're cheap.