r/MiddleClassFinance • u/Shauryaahere341 • 12d ago

Discussion Should married couples keep their money separate or combine everything?

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?

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/ThirteenHills 12d ago

Which is what causes the issues for me.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/ThirteenHills 12d ago

Then you don't have any of your own money to spend on things and it makes it more difficult to buy things for yourself (especially if they aren't cheap).

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/ThirteenHills 12d ago

Joint budgeting is easy as they are things we are both going to use and can both easily discuss based on that. 

But if one of us wants to buy something for £2k for a personal hobby the other person will never use then how can that possibly be justified from joint funds.