When to Consider Sharing Finances in a Relationship
It is suggested that when you get married or live with someone, you are pooling finances. This works for many couples, but not all. In some cases, it is better to split your finances.
If you and your partner have fundamentally different ideas about costs, Credit.com offers:
There are many options for a split-finance approach: in terms of expenses, you can maintain a joint account where you both contribute to common expenses like mortgages and utilities, and the rest of your money stays in your own account. When it comes to savings, you can save yourself, but you will have common goals, for example, each person is saving 10% of their salary for retirement .
Financial consultant Lori Itkin suggests a similar approach. In an interview, she told me that she is very frugal, and her husband is more wasteful. To compromise, they have a shared account and separate individual accounts to spend as they see fit. Of course, they agree on the amounts on each account.
You may also want to consider keeping things separate if you don’t share the debt. For example, if one person brings a large amount of student loan debt into a relationship, they may feel obligated to pay it back, and it would be easier to fix the problem with separate accounts.
There are strong opinions on both sides of this argument. In the end, this is a personal decision that depends on your relationship and financial situation. And there are some valid scenarios where you might think about keeping things separate. Check out Credit.com’s full publication for more details.
3 Signs You Should Be Dividing Your Finances | Credit.com