Comments on: The Pros & Cons of Joint Accounts

By: Carrie

Carrie — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:28:01 +0000

Joint accounts are very important in a relationship if you are married and especially if you are common-law. When my common-law spouse was diagnosed with Cancer we opened a joint account, closed all open bank account and moved everything to the joint account. Very glad we did this because it made it easier for me to pay the rent and his bills when he was in the hospital for two months.
On another note, a joint account is important when the other partner does not have a Will, especially in a common law relationship – tried to get him to complete a Will but that is another story. He passed away with out a Will and if his accounts – in his name only – were existing upon death all the money in those accounts would have went to his next of kin – mother, father, sister ect. and not to me because we were not married. At least I had money in the joint account that his family could not touch!!
If you are in a common law relationship get joint accounts ASAP!!!

By: moneymagnet

moneymagnet — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:57:50 +0000

What I’m getting from Gail’s post is it’s not a ‘what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours’ view, but rather that while you join your life spiritually and emotionally with another, you must still maintain a separate financial identity for the sake of your credit history should things fall apart. It isn’t that you don’t trust your partner or doubt their love, it is about being financially responsible for yourself. The Bank doesn’t care that your spouse cleaned out the joint account and you can’t make bills. As many posters have stated, figure out what works for you as a couple. Life happens – the high divorce rate is quite evident that vows made can be broken. I believe it’s just prudent to make sure you still maintain your own credit history while ‘jointly’ managing the bills and having fun money for each to spend as s/he wants which doesn’t affect the daily expenses of life. It’s about making sure that you are never solely (wholly) dependent on another for your financial well-being.

By: John

John — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:18:47 +0000

I am never skeptical about couples who have their finances separate.
You don’t know their in and outs of it….. the personal details.
Let alone a legal/business reason for such.
Most of the time like us you wouldn’t know we or they have a joint bank account besides.

Its simply not the other partners business if a mother/father in law gives your partner money.
Why is it your business? You got it spent already? Its not your parents who handed it out.
My parents did this while living to me they came down and handed off cash to me with a comment like this is for you.
Lots of zoomers parents did it.
With a comment like that is it for anybody else ?
No
But they also would phone and ask the wife would she like to go out for dinner and get a break from the kids to.

By: Jessie

Jessie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:28:16 +0000

My boyfriend (of two years) and I have a joint savings account (our house fund) and we recently opened a joint chequing account. We figured out how much rent and utilties are each month and then decided on a fair bi-weekly amount that each of us would contribute to the account.

The three household bills, and rent, are taken from this account – and the rest is managed fairly individually (except for groceries where we each put $100 in a jar each pay day).

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:50:56 +0000

To Frugalistas,

Sorry for the misunderstanding. English not being my first language, I really thought that by saying that everything was “together” or “ours”, I was also meaning that everything was “joint”. I’ll take a few more minutes to read back what I wrote the next time

Like I said, my spouse and I are in this together. We had tried in the past to have separate accounts, but it did not work. Since the day we’ve put everything together, it seems that the “management” part is now easier. And as a result, figuring out a strategy to get to debt free has become easier. There is hope for us and having everything together is what works for us!

By: Frugalistas.blogspot.com

Frugalistas.blogspot.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:26:52 +0000

Disagree with you here. Accounts are joint and it’s the only way to build trust and unity in the family. My wife owns the cars and the house – it’s for liability purposes only.

By: Anne

Anne — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:00:23 +0000

Presently, my spouse and I are working really hard to get out of the debt we accumulated while he was out of a job. Everything is considered as being “ours”. I can’t see how we would manage getting out of that hole if we had “yours, mine, ours”. We don’t have anything left after paying the mortgage, the debt, the monthly expenses, the emergency fund, the savings fund, etc. For now, having everything together works for us: we’re in this together and we’re managing to make a dent in that debt of ours.

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By: winkwink

winkwink — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:10:51 +0000

Also – if splitting your costs works in your relationship then power to you… but I can’t imagine how you work that out when children come into the mix…

By: winkwink

winkwink — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:08:14 +0000

Right now my fiance and I have everything separate with a joint account for in-and-out money (we each put in 1/2 of rent, utilities, car payments, etc. as needed). Our roommate can deposit her rent there, but she does not have access to the account. We both can withdraw money. When we first opened it we knew the only risk was the other one taking off with a month of rent money.

It’s getting a little out of hand though because between my banking (savings, chequing, RRSPs) and his (savings, chequing) we use 4 banks.

Sometimes I miss the simplicity of living alone, utilities included, no car, one bill coming every month (landline, internet, and cell in one), one credit card, two banks, and RRSPs and gym membership coming off my paycheque. We’re still trying to figure out what’s going to work for us. There seems to be a reason why we should maintain each and every account with these branches.

By: Tara

Tara — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:10:12 +0000

We keep our finances separate except for one joint credit card, and we divvy up all the bills between us according to our incomes. This has worked very well for us over the past 8 years and it does not mean that we are not entirely committed to one another.

We also have a complete set of paperwork done with wills, beneficiaries, and legal and medical powers of attorney so in the event of the death or incapacity of the other, we have access to each others’ accounts.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:49:11 +0000

Manda – I’m with you, and was when I was the primary financial provider and now that I’m not (I make agood living, wife makes a better one) I still believe that. But I can trust my wife to not spend $250 on shoes without asking me, and she can trust me to not drop $250 in some kind of investment scheme. I personally agree, yours, mine and ours doesn’t really work that well with money anymore than it would with anything else (what, I’ll take care of kid #1 and you take care of kid #2? oops kid #1 needs braces, that’s your problem!)

By: Manda

Manda — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:26:32 +0000

I really am skeptical about couples who keep their finances separate. I’ve been engaged to my fiance for two years now, with him for three, and we’ve had entirely joint accounts since we bought a house together a year ago.

Here’s the thing; he works more than I do, and when he does, he makes more. I’m in school full-time, working a part time minimum wage job. My tuition is more expensive than his ($8500 for me vs. $3000 for him). So basically, he’s supporting me financially.

We’ve received a lot of flak (mostly from his relatives, who are oddly prone to divorce) for this setup. Personally, I don’t like to prepare for the seeming eventuality of divorce. Eventually, when I’m earning more than he is, I’ll pay him back, in a manner of speaking.

It’s not my money or his money. It’s our money. We have common goals. Why not share a common financial basis for those goals?

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By: Megan

Megan — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:45:03 +0000

I think it really comes down to if your similiar in how you handle your finances.
My fiance and I joined our finances when we moved in together a year ago and everything has been great since! I would of never agreed to join our finances completely unless I knew we were practically indentical in how we handled our money.
We both have our own RRSP’s and TFSA’s. We each have one credit each in our names with the other as a cardholder. We keep the credit limit on those very low in the event something does happen it can be easily paid off.
If this situation ever stops working for us then we will try something different.
Every couple is different and they have to find out what works for them.