betsy@dartvax.UUCP (09/15/83)
On managing money: Joint checking accounts are all very well philosophically, but I find they have a great flaw: it is nearly impossible to keep track of your balance! My husband and I tried one when we were first married, and neither of us ever knew where we were financially. I don't think this is just our idiosyncracy; I remember great emotional crises when my parents (also a two-career couple) tried to balance THEIR joint account. We have a system which works well for us: each of us has a separate account (which the other partner co-signed and co-owns) and our paychecks are deposited to our own accounts. We've divided up our monthly bills by ability to pay; if either of us is caught short, the other writes him/her a check. (I.e. electric bills are always mine, gas is always his, etc.). Surpluses go into our joint savings account. As a result : 1. All of our money is legally jointly-owned, but 2. Each of us has private property for day-to-day purposes. (Note: service charges on accounts are not a factor, as our bank waives them if you keep a certain amount of cash in savings) Good luck! Incidentally, we find that money isn't really an issue anymore (after 2+ years of marriage). Part of the reason is that each of us knows when not to push the other; as a result, disagreements rarely turn into quarrels.
bmg@tekecs.UUCP (Barbara Gniewosz Theus) (09/16/83)
My husband and I have maintained all the bank accounts and credit cards we had before we were married. (1.5 years ago). We opened one joint account for investments. I pay all the bills because it's a task I dislike less than he does. Because of this, most of our checks go into my account. There are two reasons we do it this way. First, we were too lazy to change anything. Second, if one credit card or checkbook is lost, or if one of us should die, the second account will always be clear. The extra cost has turned out to be minimal.
preece@uicsl.UUCP (09/20/83)
#R:dartvax:-21800:uicsl:16400020:000:996 uicsl!preece Sep 19 09:59:00 1983 My wife and I have a joint checking account with two books. Basically each book is kept separately, with pseudo-checks transferring funds from one to the other as though they were separate accounts. This isn't really any harder than keeping one book balanced. My wife was still in college when we married and had no credit of her own, so we were careful to acquire accounts in her own name as well as listing her name on my existing accounts. We've never felt any great need to fuss about separating funds or expenses. We realize that there are people who've gotten screwed that way in divorces and that deaths can cause temporary problems, but I guess we're secure enough in each other to not worry about that. I don't think either of us would spend a large amount without checking with the other, but I think we would both feel free to do so if we felt it was important. Maybe it would be more of an issue if there were more left over each month... scott preece pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece