Combining Money: Tips for Couples

Congratulations, you’ve just gotten married! Or maybe you’re about to be married, or maybe you’re in a committed relationship, or maybe you’ve been married for years. It doesn’t matter your situation; if you are looking for a way to fairly combine your monies together, I’ve got a few suggestions for you. But keep in mind this is for people who are in long-term, committed relationships. You do not want to combine your money only to have to go through the hassle (and legalities) of un-combining it.

My philosophy is that couples should have his, her, and their checking and savings accounts. There are many reasons why I believe that each person should have their own accounts in addition to joint accounts. One reason is for budgeting purposes. It’s easier to budget together when you know exactly what your expenses will be. If I decide to buy a new laptop on a whim, I won’t have to worry about affecting our joint account or our budget because I’ll be using the money from my personal account. I feel that this setup allows more personal freedom while still ensuring that all fixed expenses are funded. This setup also makes it easier to make purchases for gifts for your significant other.

As for the checking and savings accounts that you will use regularly, I suggest having all these accounts at the same bank. This is just for convenience. So if your significant other had accounts at Bank A and you had accounts at Bank B, you’d need to decide which bank you want your accounts at, close the accounts at the bank you’re not going to use anymore and open up new accounts at the chosen bank. I won’t go into how to choose a bank (or credit union, if you so choose) right now, but remember to check on interest rates for savings accounts, fees, availability of ATMs, and so forth.

If you’ve counted it up all ready, between yourself and your significant other, you will have a total of six accounts at the chosen bank: a savings and checking account for you, a savings and checking account for your significant other, and a joint savings and checking account.

Before opening the accounts, you might first want to determine how much each of you will put into the joint savings and checking accounts when you first open them up. To do this, you would want to know what your monthly budget is. Please see my hub on budgeting for more information. My suggestion is to start out the checking account with at least the amount you’ve decided to budget monthly and start the savings account with the amount you’ve decided to save per month.

A good piece of advice I’ve gotten from my father is to create another joint savings account, preferably one with a very good interest rate, or maybe even a CD, or stocks or any other financial tool you are comfortable with. This account can be at any financial institution you choose because you won’t be withdrawing from it in the near future, so convenience isn’t the number one factor here. This additional joint savings account will be for big purchases, like a house. What you’ll do with this account is have part of each of your paychecks directly deposited into this savings account. You won’t miss the money because you’ll never see it in the first place, and you’ll be saving up for something big. Don’t ever withdraw from this account! If you need extra money for some reason, that’s what your other joint savings account is for. Just stand back and watch this account grow! Only withdraw from this account when you're ready to make your big purchase.

So in the end, you may have well over seven accounts between you and your significant other. It’s ultimately up to you how you want to share your money, but the above tips have worked wonders for my husband and I.