mxt. yes, i did type the word mad. i read from your response that you were inferring that i actually got mad at my wifes spending. which is what i wanted to clear up. no harm intended.

i am not attacking your spending habits, i am just trying to figure out your math/logic.

If you truly end up with any where from $.01 and $100 in your checking each month, that means you meticulously watch your money, which is good.
So, that means that you know what your mad money is for the month, and so does your wife. if you move that money to a separate account, then yes, you can check and know exactly what you have, but you already knew you had $100, so why would you try to buy a $150 item? and why would she?

my point was that a budget tells you how much to move to what account, but if you already came up with the figure, why move it? i see more risk of overdraft in your scenario than in a single joint account.

IMO, separate accounts for your purposes are a brain trick only.

 

Just put half in a shared account, and the other half in an account overseas if the sh*t hits the fan.

 

My wife and I have been married two years, but together for almost ten. We have a 3 accounts: Checking (to pay bills), an account that we put money in for the mortgage payment, and a savings account. We pay the bills, get a little cash for gas, etc. and put the rest in savings.
I make a little more than double what my wife does, but we don't look at it like that. We both agree the money is "Ours" and we will jointly pay the bills and buy things we want.
My wife takes care of paying the bills and managing the money, but I still keep an eye on it from time to time.

 

I don't.
I'm pretty sure Raj doesn't either.

 

luckily she just finished optometry school and she is still in the hungry-poor-student spending mode.

 

I tried to read through some of these posts, but my eyes glazed over.

This is just for the OP's FYI.

When we didn't have much money:
1. Joint accounts, excel spreadsheet budgets.
2. Three main budgets. Mine, hers, and "us."
3. My "allowance" and her "allowance" was equal, regardless of who earned what. Any overspending of the "us" budget was taken equally out of our "personal" budgets at the end of the month.

Now that we have more money:
1. We both try to spend reasonably.
2. We'll talk over large purchases, but mainly for informational purposes and not for "permission."
3. We still assume equal "ownership" of the finances, regardless of who brings in what.

 

my fiance and i are set to married in may after living together for 4 years. We have are own checking and savings accounts and have set bills we pay. (ie I pay all utilities and cell....she pays groceries) It works out well and like you i make about 30-35% more then she. The only joint account we have is a checking account so we can transfer money between us.

After we are married we are discussing have a savings account each and a joint checking account until we start a family. That way we can have a portion of our paycheck go automatically into our seperate savings that can be spent however we please while still contributing to each other.

 

Call me old fashioned, but separate accounts? Why not get separate beds?

First of all, I think it's...well, stupid, since it does NOTHING to actually protect any assets, which is the ONLY reason one would want to have a separate account. I see absolutely no benefits to this. If you and your wife argue over money, the fact that one earns more than the other, or that you spent $200 more this month than the other did, you made a mistake.

 

Prenups don't protect assets that are obtained DURING the marriage, so unless he is a millionaire now, there is no point of a prenup.

 

I think you guys need to read up on what a pre-nup actually is. It is a PRE nuptual agreement. It ONLY protects assets one has BEFORE marriage. ALL assets obtained during marriage (Ferrari, house, dollars) are equally owned by both. So again, unless he owned the house before he got married (owned it alone) or has a million dollars in the bank, a prenup is as good as toilet paper.