Bank accounts. Yours mine and ours?

[Čternity]

I'm curious. What do people think about bank accounts once you close the distance? Will/do you only have 'our' money ie a joint account, or your own, and their own and a joint account? or something else?

[sam]

I've never thought about that, or spoke to Elina about it, but I guess we'll each have our own, and then one joint account :s

[Andy]

I've never thought about that, or spoke to Elina about it, but I guess we'll each have our own, and then one joint account :s

Yeah this is mine and Tanja's thinking too. Surely the best way of doing it no?

[NaNi]

I know that my SO likes the thought of having a joint bank account. So do I! We didn't talk about if we would also have our own bank accounts too though.

[michy]

Prior to my LDR, I was married for close to 10 years- we had a few different accounts for different purposes, but I think all of them were jointly held. Initially we had separate ones, but as years went by our financial lives became so meshed together it was just plain easier to have both our names on them. And there was nothing I really *needed* to have a separate account for- if either of us wanted to do/buy something purely for ourselves, that was fine as long as it was within the budget. We were both very financially responsible people, so we were never worried about mismanagement.
And my SO is the same, so I'd have no problem sharing assets with him when he gets here.

Actually, I went to the bank a couple weeks ago and opened an account with the intention of having his name added to that once he's here... it was exciting to do, in a way it's his first permanent roots here in this country

[Karringtyn]

After being in my marriage for 17 years...we had two seperate and one joint. For us it caused many many problems...and I won't delve into them here.

We will definitely have one account.

[garnet]

Eh this came up with us recently. Right now we are going with one joint. When Rane moved to the country, we added him to my checking and savings. Part of me prefers the idea of two separate and one joint though. My reasoning is, how do you ever surprise them for a holiday? If you are allowed bits of fun money, is communication good enough that you never both say "oh just this once" at the same time and end up bouncing? Things like that.

Right now that wouldn't look so good though, to immigration. I wouldn't want to explain it, even though in my mind, the thoughts are valid! o_O

[XX, Lexi]

I would want to have two separate accounts, one for each of us, and one join account with Luke.

[Thad]

I'm not 100% sure what exactly we will do. I suppose that we'll definitely have a joint account for all of our everyday expenses, but I suspect we each might have our own accounts -- albeit much smaller in size for our own personal uses. This brings another important issue to discuss to the forefront.

On a related note, my SO and I currently have a shared account. We each put $20 in it every two weeks on pay day. Its sole purpose -- at the moment -- is for vacations and other fun activities. We used a couple of hundred dollars out of it last March to go to Disneyland, and we used some money out of it this summer when we were both in New York together for several weeks. We're planning a road trip next May after I graduate and move back to celebrate that will also be financed from this account.

This is a great way to have guilt free fun. Since we both already put the money in, we don't have to worry about coming up with it when we want to do something fun together. I'm not sure how or if this will work when we're finally together, but we'll figure that out and in the mean time we can have fun together guilt free.

[noodle]

I think we would have one each and then maybe once we get married and have kids and stuff one account together dunno... or rather seperated, the one who has less money pays the bills and the other is for the rest (thats how my parents have it lol).
In the end the money is all mine anyways muahahhaha xD jk haha

[xMesmerize124]

My bf already flat out told me we would NOT be joining bank accounts on account of he doesn't want me wasting our money and because i'm not responsibility enough yet to have a joint bank account with him since he worked hard for his money blah blah. I don't mind, i wasn't really offended when he told me this because its true i'm young and i need some time to be a little more responsibility with money. So we will be having our own bank accounts.

[Frank]

Part of me prefers the idea of two separate and one joint though. My reasoning is, how do you ever surprise them for a holiday? If you are allowed bits of fun money

That is my feeling as well. I think, in my non experienced mind, that you should each have your own account. Then a joint account where a large percentage of your pay check goes. This joint account is used for food, housing expenses, car, whatever else you both need (without being petty...you don't have to separate a Twix bar when you are buying groceries). Then, you save some money in your own account for buying a Playstation game or buying gifts, or saving up for something big.
I do appreciate there may be problems, especially if one abuses the joint account, or doesn't contribute a fair share.

Thad's idea of having a joint account now is really cool, as long as you are very committed to your SO. I would think people wouldn't want to jump into that situation after a few months of knowing someone.

[Thad]

Thad's idea of having a joint account now is really cool, as long as you are very committed to your SO. I would think people wouldn't want to jump into that situation after a few months of knowing someone.

Yeah, forgot to mention that we did that after knowing each other for about two years. We also had a close distance relationship for a few months before going long distance. We both agreed to put in the same thing, and decided that should we ever split that we'll split things half. And we're also both in the same country. Definitely not something to jump into lightly, but as I said, it has been a help to be able have enjoyable time without worrying about money. More so for me since I'm the poor one at the moment going to school.

[Kirschlein]

We both have our own accounts. We will know eachothers passwords, but never get money from it if the other one haven't given permission for it. In my opinion you should still divide the money, it will be still 'ours' because it will get used by us... but in fact its mine and his. Difficult to explain... i just don't like the fact to have the same account as him, because i saw what happens when this is the case.. *glances at parents*

[paulawriteslove]

I think that me and my boyfriend will have our separate accounts until we get married, and then make them a joint account