How to manage finances as a newly married couple?

There’s no right or wrong. Personally I use the “live off just one income” approach just so it’s cleaner when it comes to bills and misc. expenses. If there’s a big ticket item, we still discuss irregardless of our contribution proportion.

End of the day, just be financially prudent and manage your risk. Baring in mind, bad decisions implicate 2 families and not just yourself.

I think the method depends on your personalities and you need to communicate which way you prefer. Maybe both of you are all for one, one for all types and it will be perfectly fine as well. Once you settle on the style you wish to manage your finances, you can decide what you budget allocations are.

Personally, we’ve never really thought about the one account for all method. We’ve been together since our JC Years and known each other since secondary school. So we were sort of an old married couple by the time we really got married. We started our Joint Account before we BTO-ed. Contribution was based on proportion of income. As years passed, it became 50/50 it is now. The money is purely emergency funds, insurance costs, and common funds for investments and our child’s investments and education.

Expenses are split between us by allocation. Each of us don’t worry about the bills we allocate to each other and we trust this is paid every month.

Groceries are budgeted for and we split the expense at the end of every month. The splitwise app is good for that. Our son’s childcare fees is taken care of that way as well.

Other than that we maintain our own personal savings and investments. We don’t comment on what each of us spends on and we take independent views on our investments though we do discuss a lot.

As for eating out, depending on what our credit card spend has been like for the month, we ask each other if we need to charge our cards at checkout.

I had the same question when I got married!
My hub and I have a joint acct which we contribute to monthly. This acct is used for mortgage payment, household related payments and any adhoc stuff which we agree to use it for from time to time. We do not keep much excess in this acct as it isn’t a high interest savings acct.

We keep the majority of our money in our own personal accounts to allow greater flexibility when in comes to investments as we do not always see eye to eye for everything, so there’s no need to make the other person buy smth which you love! It also allows us to buy whatever we like without having to ask our spouse for agreement, and of course to surprise each other on special occasions. Do note that women may also spend on things like facial, cosmetics and clothings which the other person may deem as “unnecessary” XD.

Along the way, i make it a point to check in with him to see his acct health status to make sure we are both on track to be prepared for retirement.

I would think whether it is a combined acct or keeping separate accts, as long as the agreement is set out clearly it shouldn’t be a problem. Be transparent during the discussion, share your honest opinion on the pros and cons, and reach a consensus:)

All the best!

Hi there, a quick share on account setup. For my spouse and I, we manage separate accounts, no joint, but we have monthly check-ins on overall state of finances. Ie are we on track to reach out financial goals. We are flexible with account set up to maximise our potential interest earned/cashback on our bank balances.

My take on couple finance mgmt is that focus on communication and understanding each other relationship with money. Seek to understand each other individual financial goals and align on a family one.

More impt things beyond account setup

• Save in Bank vs Invest
• Size of couple/family emergency fund
• Take on big ticket items (car, child education overseas or local, Reno budget)
• Take on property
• Insurance