What do you do now that you're getting married from a financial perspective?

Sometimes combining checking accounts can complicate relationships prior to marriage and sometimes after people are married.  Its not a necessity but its generally a good idea to have at least one account with both names on it for a variety of legal and financial reasons.  Additionally, as financial backgrounds are more complicated with former marriages, trusts, pre-nuptial agreements, student loans, existing mortgages, its important to organize and sometimes maintain some financial independence. With all of this confusion and tension, what should a couple do with Joint Checking Accounts?

The Options:

1.  All in!  Many newlyweds setup an account and have all of their earnings go into a single account.  This is by far the easiest solution but causes problems sometimes because some individuals may not be good at keeping track of accounts and information for their transactions from ATMs and checks.  One account gives a clear view of spending habits and good for tracking who is spending money on what.  This may be the best option if the couple only has one income supporting the household.

2.  Yours, Mine and Ours.  The process of budgeting expenses is important in either scenario but if you maintain one account for living expenses and maintain separate accounts for extraneous items may be better in the long run.  This was couples can have some "fun" money after they know how much is going in to cover living expenses.  In the DINK (double income, no kids) scenario this leaves a couple with the most flexibility and autonomy which is good for some couples.  A consideration for this scenarios is determining how much each person is contributing to the joint account.

Money matters in a relationship and can be an issue that can grow unless it is discussed and maintained to make both people happy in the relationship, not just one.  Couples should discuss financial matters when considering getting engaged or married. 

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