Saying “I do” affects more than just your personal life — it also means a shake-up in how you manage your money. After years of handling everything individually, you and your new spouse will have to figure out how to merge finances after marriage.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean you have to pool all your assets when you tie the knot. It just means you need to get on the same page and create a system that works for both of you.
The following approaches and tips can help.
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Common approaches to combining finances after marriage
With couples getting married later in life, you’re more likely to enter a marriage with your own assets, income, and debt. When it comes to managing money with your new spouse, there are three basic options: combining all of your assets and income, keeping everything separate, or using a hybrid approach.
Fully combined
Pooling all of your assets and income might be, logistically, the simplest approach to managing money as a couple. Rather than using individual accounts, you and your spouse join everything. Both of your paychecks land in the same joint bank account, and every expense comes out of your shared pool of money.
The 100% combined setup makes it easier to set financial goals together as a couple and get buy-in from both people. It also evens the playing field if one spouse earns less or steps out of the workforce to raise kids.
However, if couples have different attitudes and habits around money, getting on the same page can be difficult. And if one person has been financially burned in the past, this level of financial intimacy can be hard to achieve.
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Read more: Should unmarried couples have joint bank accounts?
Fully separate
The opposite approach to a completely merged financial life is keeping everything separate. In some ways, this approach is easy: You don’t have to go through the hassle of setting up new joint accounts, and you can (to an extent) continue operating as you did before getting married. If you’re a spender and your spouse is a saver, maintaining separate accounts can help keep the peace.
But because you aren’t co-managing any assets, you may avoid working through the important money conversations that could strengthen your relationship. Additionally, deciding who pays for what and maintaining “what’s fair” can be exhausting.
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Paying for joint expenses, such as housing and groceries, can be logistically challenging when you don’t have a joint account
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Setting and working toward joint goals requires more intentionality
Read more: More couples are ditching joint bank accounts, and experts see a benefit
Hybrid model
Also known as the “yours, mine, and ours” approach, the hybrid system for merging finances maintains some level of separation — but it also involves at least one joint account.
With this strategy, you can keep your individual bank accounts when you get married, but you’ll also open a joint account with your spouse. You might use the joint account to pay for household bills and save for shared goals. Meanwhile, you can continue to use your individual accounts for personal spending.
This setup can create a healthy mix of autonomy and shared responsibility, but it requires a lot of communication up front. You’ll have to decide how much money goes into the joint account, which can get tricky if one partner out-earns the other.
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Can get logistically complicated, especially when one partner dramatically outearns the other
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May need to tweak the system anytime expenses or incomes change
Factors that may influence how to combine finances
When thinking about how to combine finances after marriage, consider the following:
Income disparities
How much each partner earns can affect what you each think is “fair” in marriage. If one partner earns more, the fully combined approach might be the simplest to manage. If you take the fully separate or hybrid approach, you’ll have to determine how much each person contributes to shared expenses and goals.
Existing debt
Some couples want to tackle debt together, no matter who it belongs to. Others treat it as an individual responsibility.
For example, if one person comes to a marriage with a lot of debt while the other has worked hard to get debt-free, it might make sense to keep things relatively separate until the debt is paid off.
Spending habits
It’s not uncommon to have different spending habits than your partner. If that’s the case, maintaining some degree of financial separation might reduce tension.
Financial trust
For someone entering a marriage with a history of financial abuse or trauma, fully combining finances might be uncomfortable. But if you and your partner both value transparency and trust one another to act in your financial best interests, shared finances might strengthen your relationship.
Read more: What is financial infidelity? Why lying about money can be just as bad as cheating.
Long-term plans
If you and your spouse plan to have kids, care for aging parents, or step out of the workforce for any reason, think about how this will affect your finances. These situations can complicate the fully separate or hybrid approaches if one partner stops earning an income for a period of time.
Read more: 8 financial questions to ask your partner before considering marriage
Legal and tax considerations
Whether you combine your money or keep separate accounts, marriage brings about legal and tax implications to consider.
For example, if you live in a community property state, any assets you or your spouse acquire during marriage are generally considered jointly owned. But in equitable distribution states, assets acquired by one spouse are usually considered theirs individually, unless both spouses are named as owners.
Debt is another big consideration. In some cases, both spouses can be responsible for repaying a debt, regardless of who did the borrowing.
Finally, married couples can file taxes jointly or separately. It doesn’t matter how you manage your finances within your household; you can file jointly even if you maintain separate accounts. Filing jointly may offer more tax savings, but there are exceptions.
Because taxes and laws vary by state and circumstance, it might be worth consulting a tax professional or attorney before walking down the aisle.
Tips for combining finances after marriage
Whether you keep things separate, combine everything, or take a hybrid approach, use the following tips to help you and your spouse manage your finances successfully:
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Be proactive: Don’t wait until after the honeymoon to decide how you’ll handle money as a married couple. The sooner you start talking about it, the more time you have to create a plan that works for both of you.
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Set up regular check-ins: No financial plan (or marriage, for that matter) is perfect. Regardless of how you handle money management, you’ll likely need to course-correct along the way. Schedule regular check-ins to discuss financial goals, progress, and any issues that come up.
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Revisit your plan with each major life change: The birth of a child, a career change, or receiving an inheritance may require you to change your financial setup. Don’t be afraid to recalibrate as needed.
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Consult a professional: Even with the best of intentions, combining finances can be difficult. Don’t hesitate to consult a tax professional, financial advisor, or attorney to help you and your spouse get on the same page.
At the end of the day, there’s no one right way to combine finances after marriage. The best system is the one both partners agree on and feel good about.
Read more: 4 common financial mistakes couples make that lead to divorce
