Marriage Actually - An honest look at marriage

The Joint Account

by Bald Man on August 28th, 2007

Let’s start at the very beginning,
A very good place to start

In a marriage lots of twos come together to become a new one. Two people… one family; two dreams… one goal; two bank accounts… one joint account.

Yeah, that’s often one of the first real signs that you are, in fact, married, and it wasn’t just a random party. The joint bank account. And this money thing is something that you’d better pay attention to. It’s not random coincidence that ranks financial issues as a leading factor in most divorces and as the number one problem in most marriages. No, money can’t buy happiness; but mismanaging your money is a sure path to a whole lot of misery.

Back to that joint account. There are those who disagree with me on this, but I’m old school, and I’m sticking to my guns. Get a joint account and start thinking in terms of OUR MONEY.

How much stress in a marriage start in one of the following ways:

“Look at all the debt you brought into the marriage?”

“It’s my money. I earned it; I’ll decide how to spend it.”

“You spend too much.” (and the converse, “You don’t earn enough.”)

The common thread through all of these statements is YOU versus ME, and that’s no way to build a marriage. A marriage is about creating a WE, and you’ve got to reflect that desire in both your attitudes (e.g. “Look at our debt; we need to do something about it.”) and in your actions. The first WE action to take when it comes to money is the joint account.

If you want to keep your finances separate, get a roommate. If you want a marriage, get a joint account.

images: money | checkbook | feet

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POSTED IN: Marriage & Money