by Simon Wright

Created on: November 17, 2008

Getting married is a wonderful thing and shows that two people are meant for each other and have already had the notable success of finding love and nurturing it. Marriage is also an event that often triggers us to re-evaluate our finances, with a view to ensuring that we are working towards a successful financial future. One of the fairly immediate decisions that has to be considered is whether to move to a joint checking/current account or to remain with separate accounts?

Deciding whether to opt for a joint account isn't always an easy decision. The chances are that you have been used to having your own account for many years, so the thought of sharing an account may be quite daunting. There are certainly both pros and cons to this approach and many couples these days are choosing to retain their separate accounts rather than going down the more traditional route of having a joint account. In this article, I'll look at the advantages and disadvantages of joint accounts that may need to be considered before you reach your decision.

Advantages of joint accounts:

Simplicity:

The more bank accounts you have, the harder it is to keep track of your consolidated financial position. Having just one checking account clearly scores high marks in terms of the simplicity that it brings to budgeting and paying bills.

Transparency:
Married couples have taken oaths signifying their love and so it could be argued that there should be no financial secrets between spouses. Having a joint account means that you can see every purchase that your partner made and have the reassurance (hopefully) of seeing that they are spending your combined money sensibly and on things that you don't disapprove of.

Lower costs:

There can sometimes be costs associated with the running of bank accounts. Clearly, if this is the case, you can halve costs by switching from two separate accounts to one joint account.

Benefiting from value-added features available on one partner's account:

It may be that one of you qualifies for an account that offers value-added benefits such as free annual travel insurance, or access to a relationship manager. By having your spouse added to your account, they will be able to benefit from the same benefits. This scenario will probably be more common where one of the spouses has a higher salary than the other.

Disadvantages of joint accounts:

Perceived loss of financial freedom:

You have been used to having your own bank account and being able to spend your hard-earned money without

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