Let's Get Controversial - Joint Accounts in Marriage

I’ve decided to use this week to get through some of the controversial issues I see on other blogs. I’m simply going to post my opinions and see what you think.

Today’s topic:  Joint Finances in Marriage

My husband and I have joint finances…joint bank accounts, checking accounts, and both our names are on the mortgage.  My husband insisted this was the only way to go a couple of years before we actually got married.  Honestly, I didn’t care.  I wanted to be able to see all of our money.  I wanted to talk about our money.  I wanted to set joint goals.  BUT, I couldn’t care less about joint accounts.  Obviously, he cared, I didn’t, so we did it.

Looking back, it is SOOO much easier this way.  So, yes honey, you were right.  :-)

We both knew that I’m more detail-oriented (aka anal) when it comes to money.  Almost immediately after getting married, we just settled into the flow we have now.  I manage our budget, bank accounts, checking accounts, my 401k, and our only Roth IRA (for now).  I hate dealing with stocks, so he manages our Scottrade account and will be managing our second Roth IRA as well.  We talk about all these things all the time since we love talking money and goals…it’s our thing… :-)

As a side note, I doubt I will blog much about stocks…sorry people, the research involved bores me.  If you really push me, I will get my husband to do a guest blog post.

So, we didn’t have a come-to-Jesus meeting or anything…our financial responsibilities were pretty easy to figure out.

Here are my questions for the non-joint account married people:
How do you handle your retirement goals?  Is it still going to be mutual money when you both retire?  Do you currently split the bills and plan to in your old age as well?  What happens if one person just doesn’t save, does the other one have to save for both retirements? 

Thanks in advance for any answers.  I’m sincerely curious and not judging at all.

For those of you who have joint finances, how is that working out?

For those of you who don’t have to deal with this right now, what are your future plans in this area?