Four Things to Consider When Merging Money with a Life Partner

For couples where both partners work, and especially if you’ve both been earning independently for awhile, the “yours, mine, and ours” approach to bank accounts often works best. The idea here is that each person has some money set aside that they are free to spend (or save!) without discussion and there’s also a shared account for the bulk of your expenses and shared financial goals. You’ll need to decide together how to allocate income among these accounts and what rules you might need or want for spending from the shared bucket.

If you decide to keep your bank accounts separate (as is the case for many couples opens a new window), decide up front who is responsible for paying which bills and discuss how you’d handle things if job loss or illness/injury changes household income.

Whether you’re paying bills from a joint account or divvying them up between you, you’ll need to decide how to keep track of everything and who is responsible for doing so. Having a household budget can help keep things on track and gives everyone an understanding of where the money is going. It can be as simple as a list of regular monthly expenses, a spreadsheet, or you can use one of the many available apps to keep track of income and expenses in a variety of ways. Nerdwallet has a breakdown of their favorite budgeting apps opens a new windowto help you decide what might work for you.

Once you have a budget, decide if one person will be primarily responsible for keeping it up-to-date, or if this will be a shared responsibility. If one person is “better” with money, more of a natural with numbers, or simply has more time to devote to keeping family finances in check, they might be the official budgeter, but it’s a good idea to regularly set aside time to discuss and make adjustments togethe

Whether you combine all your money, keep it all separate, or choose a hybrid approach, you’ll need to discuss shared financial goals – paying off any individual or shared debt (like student loans); how much to keep in your emergency fund; what you need to save for retirement; whether you have goals like saving for a house, going to college or grad school, or having a college fund for children – and then make a plan for how to reach those goals. The Motley Fool has some advice for setting financial goals with your spouse opens a new window. Getting on the same page financially can help avoid some of the most common relationship stressors and give you successes to celebrate together.