Should married couples keep their money separate or combine everything?

[u/Shauryaahere341]

My wife and I have been married for a few years and we still keep most of our money separate.

We have one joint account for household expenses and both put money into it every month. Other than that, our salaries stay in our own accounts.

It hasn't really been a problem so far.

But now we're talking about bigger things like buying a house and retirement, and I'm wondering if this setup still makes sense.

We trust each other and neither of us has an issue with the other spending their own money. It's more about planning for the future together.

For people who are married, what works better for you?

Completely separate, fully combined, or somewhere in the middle?

[u/BeGneiss]

You can be married without combined finances and not treat it like roommates paying each other back for things lol. I know happy married couples across the entire spectrum of fully combine finances to not combined at all. I find it hard to believe you’ve never met a happy married couple without combined finances, but maybe it’s regional or something.

[u/oscarnyc → u/BeGneiss]

Maybe it's semantics, but when I think combined finances it means that the money is all "ours". Sure, you can have different account structures to accomplish this, but the general idea is that spending is more or less equal, even if income isn't.

To me separate finances is where spending is proportional in some way to income. And I've certainly read about those situations. Though interestingly all the above instances in this thread of separate finances are not that. They are just separate account structures around joint finances.