If your married, quick question..

[Greg S]

All joint accounts for checking, savings and vacation fund. Just easier that way. We have our own retirement accounts, 2 for her, 3 for me. If you are going to have joint accounts though you need to have a very good understanding about money between the two of you, I you are not comfortable talking about money to each other or one of you has a problem with controlling your spending on toys then you damn well better have a joint account for bill paying and seperate accounts for spending otherwise you are going to have a lot of problems. I know too many people who have joint accounts but have hidden credit cards to spend with and the other half doesn't find out about them until it has already become a major problem.
It just mostly depends on how good you both are with money and how realistic you are in spending it.

 

[TX Speed Demon]

Married 1 year, together 8 years (I know I'm slow)

Both accounts.
Joint for bills which gets 90% of our combined income
Seperate checking for personal fun money.

 

[+ friction]

Married nearly 2 years, and we have seperate accounts...good damned thing too, as I have kept everything in my name paid on time and we have at least one person w/good credit!

I pay the mortgage, my own car payment, both of our insurance policies, etc.

She pays utilities and her own car payment. Works out pretty well for us.

 

[Rickman]

My first reccomendation about getting married is always live together for a least a year first.

My wife and I kept seperate accounts from '96-'01 (while we were dating) and from '01-'03 while married. We got a joint account when we bought a house. We never had problems either way.

Joint is better for me personally, because she keeps track of the bills and expenses... and pays them all (except things setup to autopay). So long as my paycheck is in everytwo weeks we got no problems. And any money I make that is OT is mine to do with what I will (right now it's my car payment and business funds).

My brother & his wife keep separate accounts and they've been married for going on 10 years now and they don't seem to have a problem.

I think it's about finding out what works for you, and making sure the bills get paid.