[MontyCarloHall]

If you or your spouse don’t always agree on purchases the other makes, this is the way to go. Having just a single joint account only works well if both of you are always on the same page about everything you purchase, but many (most?) couples are not like this.

It’s great to be able to blow money on something your spouse would consider stupid or frivolous without needing to come to a consensus on it. I once asked a friend who’s a big foodie (and whose spouse couldn’t care less about pretentious molecular gastronomy restaurants) to try a new fancy restaurant with me, and they said “I’d love to, but isn’t that place like $200 a plate? I need to run that by my spouse first.” My friend ended up joining me, but I could tell their spouse was extremely resentful about it. I just can’t imagine living like that. If I want to blow the entirety of my individual account on something my spouse finds silly, I am free to do so without any consequence.

[withinboredom]

My wife and I have “personal” accounts that are really joint accounts. I lol at some of the things she buys, but it’s “her” money. We are free to take money from each other, and it doesn’t usually lead to an argument or anything. I’d rather just take or have her take money she needs rather than trying to present a reason for borrowing it, especially when the other person may not be in the best position to hear why you need 20 bucks, when you need 20 bucks.

Being able to see what the other person is spending money on though is super helpful. I know what monthly expenses my wife has, and she knows what I have, allowing us to you know, have a single Netflix account instead of two separate accounts.