The subject of money is so important in a relationship that it is always one of the first topics that couples want to discuss. When a couple marries, the two are expected to combine their finances or else it appears as if there is a problem. Maybe, he doesn’t trust her, or they aren’t truly committed to each other, but this doesn’t have to be the case.
Couples can maintain separate bank accounts and be as committed as they could possibly be. They are still a team headed in the same direction. Keeping their finances separate is what works for them.
The truth is that you can have both. That is, you can have separate finances and combined finances at the same time. We will see how right now.
Separate and combined finances
My husband and I have maintained separate accounts since we were married, and we never had a major fight about money. For most couples, money is the topic of most of their arguments, but this isn’t the case for us. I believe this is because we are keeping our finances separate.
A couple of months ago, my husband took a camping trip, and he needed to buy a few things for this journey. They were a new jacket, a new camp mat and a tree stand that cost $300. Our garage is already full of camping gear, and we use it a lot, but we can’t say that about the tree stand.
We couldn’t go camping as much as we wanted to because so many fires started in our area. There was no longer any need for a tree stand, but my husband didn’t take it back to the store. I hope that he will find a use for it in the future, but if he doesn’t, I really don’t care.
The reason that I am not concerned about this purchase is because my husband and I maintain separate savings accounts. I don’t have access to his account, and he doesn’t have access to my account. We don’t plan to end this arrangement in the near future.
The combined
After we were married, we opened a joint savings account and a joint checking account. Then, we deposited the money we received from our wedding guests so that we could begin saving for our first home. We also opened a joint credit account to begin building our credit history for the time when we would apply for our first home mortgage.
When we first got married, we didn’t have very much money, so it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to combine our limited finances, but we didn’t do this.
Why You Need Separate Finances
Couples need to have separate finances because there is the possibility that each person may have to start over again on his or her own. Of course, we don’t anticipate ever filing for divorce, but no one does. If one is financially dependent on the other, that person will have financial difficulties after the couple separates. Because our finances are already separate, we will both be financially stable if we separate and divorce.
