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Should You and Your Spouse Have Separate Bank Accounts?
Since you and your spouse share everything, you might as well share a bank account… right? Not necessarily.
You may love your spouse to death, but sometimes our monetary habits don’t quite line up. Maybe one of you is more interested in frivolous spending habits that you just haven’t tackled yet and you don’t want to run the risk of coming up short when bills roll around.
Here are some things to consider if you’re looking at either starting a joint bank account or two separate ones.
The Two Of You Have Different Income Levels
Let’s say one of you earns quite a bit more than the other. Is it fair for your spouse to spend a good portion of your hard-earned cash? That’s honestly up for you to decide, but if that thought troubles you, think about starting different accounts.
If you earn significantly more than them (or vice versa), the more financially rich account can be designated for certain bills and your spouse’s account can be designated for groceries and things like that.
You Want Financial Independence
Some of us just want to keep things the way they were before marriage. 41% of divorced Gen X-ers and 29% of baby boomers cited financially stress as the number one reason they got a divorce…