Sharing is Caring

During a recent conversation with my mother, she said in passing that her and my dad don't share money. It came out like "Hi, how are you today?" I was a little surprised when I heard that because how do they pay bills, spend money, manage their finances? So I started asking her questions about their way of handling money. My husband and I have always had a joint checking account and a joint savings account. We also share the credit cards we have. We can both see what goes in and out of the pot any time or day of the week. Both our paychecks go in, and all the bills are paid through those accounts. It's a communal money thresh hold for our 2 person family. My parents, and other couples from that generation, have 2-3 accounts. They either each have their own accounts with their own money and they split the bills 50/50 or or each have their own accounts for their own spending and use the joint checking for bills. I guess to me there's no need for this. Why wouldn't you just have one account for everything? I was then greeted with the idea of surprising their spouse with a trip/gifts without the other knowing about it. Which I understand but my husband and I use cash for that. In my parent's case, that's just the way they've always done it.

Most people who are from my generation and maybe even a little older all seem to share their accounts. I'm wondering now if that has to do with the fact that we're young and we'll end up like our parents. Or if things have changed in society to make us think sharing out account is better. As a woman, I completely understand the idea of making your own money, fending for yourself and knowing that should something happen, you have that cushion. However, I also feel as though I trust my husband enough with the money I make and he trusts me with his. I can only speak for my marriage but sharing is the best way for us. We're savers by nature and we hardly spend frivolously which is why this method seems to work for us. If there are big purchases to be made we discuss it and usually always agree on the purchase and move on. In the 6 years I've been with my man money has never been an argument. For young people I think we're very responsible with our money and know when and where to spend it. But who knows, maybe once we're in our careers making more money the multiple account idea will be much better. I'm interested to see what happens 10 years from now.

EMM