As a couple you’ll share most things in your life – your home, holidays, interests and perhaps children.

But should you share your finances with a joint bank account?

Of course, joint bank accounts have advantages but there are also some benefits to keeping a personal account, too.

Below, we list the pros and cons to opening a joint bank account with your partner:

The Benefits of Joint Bank Accounts

When you’re with someone you trust implicitly, opening a joint bank account can be the ideal way forward. Not only does it solidify your unification but it also makes it so much easier for you to keep on top of your finances, pay your bills and so on.

All those shared expenses you both have, i.e. your utility bills, rent or mortgage, food bills and other expenses come out of the same pot, so there’s never any of that, “Well, I paid for that so you can pay for this.”

Equally, it also helps you budget a little better and can be an easier way to start saving towards future things, e.g. getting married or buying a house.

You could arrange it so both of you pay the same figure into the account each month. That way, there won’t be any arguments over someone paying more than someone else. Plus, if there’s any money left once all the bills are paid, you can put this towards doing something together.

The Disadvantages of Joint Bank Accounts

When you have a joint bank account with someone, you’re committing to giving your partner access to your money and sharing your financial details with them.

For example, you’ll both know how much each other gets paid, you’ll both know what each other spends and how much, and you’ll learn each other’s habits when it comes to finances. While this won’t bother some people, it may be an issue if you like to keep your finances to yourself or you prefer to have a bit of privacy and control over them.

Equally, if anything happens and you split up and you find out that your partner wasn’t being honest with you about their financial habits, you could end up getting into trouble or having a bad credit rating yourself. You might also have difficulty splitting the account – who gets what?

The Best of Both Worlds

Overall, then, there are a lot of advantages to sharing an account with your loved one. It makes things a lot easier when you’re paying for things, it allows you to track your spending, and it shows a depth of commitment from you both.However, if you do like to keep things private (which there’s nothing wrong with, of course), having a joint bank account may not be the ideal move forward.
That said, you could get the best of both worlds by opening a joint bank account that you both pay a certain amount into for bills, food and so on, but keep a personal account for spending money (and where your salary is paid into). That way, you’re making things easier for the two of you but without relinquishing all of your financial freedom just yet.