In preparing for marriage, I’ve begun to solicit advice from intelligent people everywhere. Today, I had a quick conversation with a good friend (and boss) at work, Bryan B. I asked how he and his wife managed their money. Here is his system:

All income goes into a joint bank account. Joint expenses (explained below) are paid first. The rest of the money is split equally into individual accounts for husband and wife.

Joint expenses are expenses that

  • Must be paid (mortgage, utilities, etc.)
  • Each spouse cares equally about (savings, rainy-day fund, etc)

Yes, we’ve talked about finances in marriage before

How many arguments in your marriage deal with differences over money?