how do married couples handle money?

That depends on which one was paid for!!

We did the DR thing too. It's works really well when both people are bad with money.
 
Blow money...

That's what got a lot of people in trouble in the 80's.
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Ok, I'll bite -- what's your alternate plan, and is it nearly as accessible to the public as Ramsey's FPU is? I'm not against looking at my alternatives -- I just found something that a lot of our friends were comfortable with and seemed to work for them, and in the end, had a lot to offer us. It's not a bad thing at all. Perhaps there's something out there better . . . but that doesn't make FPU a bad thing in any way.

It MAY however, mean that the alternative isn't marketed for ****.
 
ramsey has made bazillions for himseld b/c he is a master marketer and uses simplicity.

my advice? take the truck with the better gas mileage. it'll keep more of your money in your pocket. duh
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our separate accounts have very little in them, more like lunch money, gift money, not much else. big ticket personal items come out of a joint account.

we were one account for 10 years, but got tired of having to discuss small purchases at the end of the month, usually do to aggressive debt payments or saving transfers.

we have two joint accounts to be able to better track food spending -- we buy, or used to buy, a lot of fancy groceries in addition to eating out. So its helpful to see one number on a bank statement to know, ****, we blew $XXXX on food last month.
 
I'm still looking for the fraud in this way of thinking. 70% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and have a negative savings rate.

1. $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund
2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball
3. 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings (4 walls expenses in a money market account. This money is insurance, not an investment.)
4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement
5. College funding for children
6. Pay off home early (if possible)
7. Build wealth and give! (Invest in mutual funds)
 
imho, part of his fraudulance comes from his lack of properly educating people on ALL of their options. The other part comes from his investing principles. what DR is offering with his cookie cutter steps may work for some, and I think that's awesome. i can show you a better way to do it, but as a poster mentioned above, you may prefer a double when you can get a triple. if you're happy with that, then that's great.
 
Completely comingled. 23 years married. Never really saw the purpose of seperating OUR money.

Here is the scenario I see in that for most folks that keep seperate accounts there is some underlying issue with money. Tropheus' system seems to work well for him, but it's more like the money is comingled and then redispursed to seperate accounts.

Of course the guy I know married 3 times, the other guy I know married 2 times, and another guy that married the same gal twice and divorced twice who now live together with their teen daughter all believe firmly in seperate accounts.....
 
Unless you have a pre-nup, your incomes are all community property if you're in Texas, with few exceptions.

So, what is it you're trying to tell your future wife? You don't value her money as much as yours? You don't trust her?
 
We pool everything and have since we were married 12+ years ago. My wife was a teacher and that was a concious choice to better support a family (summers off, same/similar vacations). We knew she woudn't be the bread winner. So, what's mine is hers and vice versa. This became even more important as she took 5yrs off to be a stay at home Mom before 3 sons were all in school full-time.

My wife and I are both pretty frugal. While we don't budget to any great detail we do pretty well.

Most of the situations I know where the couples keep the money separate they don't appear to have near as strong a relationship as I have with my wife. I know this is a vast generalization but I think those couples that keep their money separate more easily separate in a divorce later.
 
^^^ give me a break. You're going to make this broad of a generalization? Funny how the way you do things happens to equate to a stronger relationship.

I think it's really bizarre to feel so strongly about whether money should be all together or divided up. I think as long as people are happy doing what they're doing then who cares.
 
I understand the generalization. Most fights are about communication or control, and money's a good flash point for both of those.

But you can have just as just as many control issues over how one pot is spent as you can over how things are split into two.
 
I agree with that...and by using that logic I would say that fights are more likely to arise when all of the money is put together. Sure it sounds great to say that you and your wife are equally frugal and neither of you have to ask for permission to buy XYZ....but you guys don't think a situation could come up where maybe they aren't?

My wife and I don't fight about money ever...because I don't give a **** what she buys and she doesn't give a **** what I buy. We put enough away to take care of everything and what little bit we siphon off into our own accounts is used without even the tiniest bit of "what will the other say."

I don't believe for one second that there is never an issue with your wife buying too much makeup or you buying that new smoker. It might not become a fight, but it's hard to believe the conversation of 'why did you buy xyz' never comes up.

Thus, it is absurd to say that one method is so superior to another that it can actually lead to a lower divorce rate. I just don't believe it.

I think they key here is that it's all about open communication when money is concerned. Financial issues are most likely the number one stress causer in relationships (other than the fact that my wife's family is mostly aggie). As long as you both agree to whatever system is in place and both understand the limitations of your income, I think you're going to be fine. I don't think it matters one bit if you pool it, keep it apart, or a little of both.
 
i have to agree with Bevo5. No matter how you set up your money, it is the communication that is the key. Its the reason my wife and I set up the $100 rule. It is to make sure we are communicating - not so we can control what the other person is buying.
 
I'll repeat:

if you think that you need to pre-nup to protect your possessions, you should maybe rethink the decision to take the step towards marriage.
 
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