When Lauren and I got engaged last year, we had an important decision to make: did we want to combine finances or keep them separate?
We are on the same page financially, we have similar goals, and are equally frugal. We buy what we want but also have things we want to save for in the future.
There are couples who keep their finances separate and there are others that combine their finances. It can work either way, so every couple needs to find out what works for them.
Advantages of Keeping Our Finances Separate
Since we have the same goals, why combine finances? Lauren doesn’t need me looking at each of her purchases and questioning the little things. We’re focused on the big picture, so why worry about individual transactions? She should be able to spend money guilt-free without me looking over her shoulder.
As we began to talk through it, we realized one thing: we didn’t want to have an allowance.
Since I am working full time and Lauren is in school full time, keeping our finances separate meant that I would be transferring money from my account to hers. We thought that would have the potential to create a rift where I would want to reduce the amount she gets each month. This was definitely something that wouldn’t work for us.
So, we thought about joining our finances and what that would mean for us.
Advantages of Combining Our Finances
We’re about to get married, and we love thinking about how everything will be shared. “Ours” is our new favorite word. We’ll be able to consolidate accounts, which I like. Lauren won’t feel like I control how much she spends.
Lauren has some student loan debt and by combining finances, we can pay down the debt together. With separate finances, Lauren would be responsible for her student loan debt. It would cost us a lot of money if we had to wait until she finished school to stay paying off her loans.
However, when we combine our money, she’ll have my help paying down “our” loans. This is especially true since she has some loans at a high interest rate that I would love to pay off in the near future. Now, we’ll be able to tackle them together.
Both emotionally and financially, it makes sense for us to combine our finances.
Readers, do you have separate or joint finances with your spouse? What do you think of our decision?