Separate Finances get a bad rap. The only other blogger I’ve ever read that promoted the idea of separate finances was J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly, and he is the exception that proves the rule. But my wife and I have been keeping somewhat separate finances for most of our marriage.
We got married in the summer of 2009. We were in love and I thought that quitting my job in the middle of a recession to move across country to an area where I knew barely anyone was a great idea. Yeah, it was not a great idea. Back then, I had $200/month that HAD to be paid on my debts. When we got married, her roommate moved out and my wife made just barely enough to pay the bills for the house. I was able to make my $200 by donating plasma. At first, I would put my earnings in our joint checking account and write checks, or initiate online payments. But my wife would get frustrated with $50 sitting there for up to 3 weeks before the check would get to the other side of the country and cashed.
About 9 months in, I finally got a job. And my deferment on my student loans ended. At that point, I opened a separate checking account to put the money for my debt payments into. My wife was making a bit more these days, so her paychecks easily covered the household expenses. So the rest of my paycheck, we didn’t NEED. We just put it into savings.
Good thing, because that job didn’t last too long. I wound up eating most of that savings before I got another unemployment benefits 4 months later. Eventually, I got another job and have been near-continuously employed ever since. But, aside from the money needed to pay my debts, we didn’t actually need my paychecks. Plus, after the three-month debacle of my first job,and the seasonal cycles associated with my current job, we’ve never really trusted my paychecks to be there.
So the dynamic that’s worked for us has been that I get enough money to pay my bills, and the rest of it goes into a savings account for short & long term savings goals, like the down payment for our home, the HDTV we bought to replace our dying Freecycle tv, and the two vacations we’ve had since getting married. And my wife’s paychecks pay for the important stuff.
My parents actually have a similar dynamic. My dad makes all the money, but he drives a truck for a living, so it is easier for him to have an “allowance” that goes into a separate account then my mom having to budget around having no clue when he’s going to buy groceries.
If you’re married, do you have any finances separate? If you’re single, would you?
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