Having both spouses work can really help alleviate financial stress.
If only one spouse (or partner) works and they get laid off, a family’s financial situation could deteriorate quickly, especially if the other spouse has either never been in the workforce or hasn’t worked in a long time.
Companies are all about the bottom line and they will lay people off with little to no notice.
To diversify risk, some people recommend spouses/partners dont work at the same company.
We both work. All of our accounts are joint. We share everything. We don’t fight.
Question about joint credit cards. What’s the difference if it’s joint vs not, if they are paid out of a joint account? H & I had our own credit cards before we were married, and it never occurred to me to combine that. Same if we get a new one. That way if one gets compromised and has to be shut down, at least the other has a working one. Of course now I have multiple, so it’s not a big deal. I also added H as an authorized user to my Venture X, so he could access the airport lounges himself without being a guest, but I never gave him the card lol…
When statements came in the mail, you could see what everyone charged. Online, I have access to everything. H technically does too, though he won’t. He doesn’t even look at his own. That’s my job. I beg him to look at my financial sheets that shows everything, but he doesn’t want anything to do with financial stuff.
We’ve always had to both work. Always will. We did have our own little credit union accounts when we got married, so we could buy the other presents without them knowing. But over time, those have morphed into joints too.
I’m not 100% sure how my kids and their GFs split things. I know older S/GF split the rent, utilities, and groceries equally. I tease them that’s not fair for the groceries since S eats WAY more than GF. Way more than most people. She said that S pays for most of the entertainment/eating out. S also earns a fair amount more than GF too.
I have no idea about younger S. He’s pretty private about that stuff, and I don’t pry. I could see him being traditional and wanting to pay for GF’s dinner, especially as he makes a lot more than she… but I can see her wanting to do things for him too. Dunno.
As an authorized user if the account owner dies you will no longer have access to that card. The bank will close it as soon as they are notified. If you are both owners of the account it will remain open with you as the owner.
But if you have your own separate card elsewhere, what does it matter if it’s closed?
I have my own bank and investment accounts - both established long before we were married. We have a joint account as well and I am the joint owner of several of husband’s investment accounts. During the years I was a SAHM, my husband put money into my IRA (which is in my private investment account) - I already had quite a bit since I didn’t take time off from paid work until I was almost 40 (had kids late). When I started my own consultancy over 10 years ago, I started putting my own earnings into my IRA.
That depends on your circumstances. When my dad died the card that had all the automatic payments for car insurance, cable, etc., was closed and we had to scramble to get those bills paid. It was also the card with the higher limit which my mom didn’t really need but it made her feel insecure knowing she couldn’t make a big purchase if she should need to do so. We eventually got her another card but the limit is still lower than the card that was closed. But if you don’t have auto payments on that card or need the credit then I don’t suppose it matters.
That is a good point. In our case, that vast majority of our bills are autopay out of our joint checking account. I have a chart (in my “what to do if I die” document) that shows which bills are autopay out of which account/credit card. It looks like 2 (one monthly, one yearly) would need to be taken care of, so I made that another big red note at the top of the document that those would need to be taken care of - right after making sure someone takes care of getting H health insurance since I carry the insurance.
It’s a lot of pressure on me to make sure I stay alive. If H goes first, since i take of everything, it should be easier…
But back to 18-29 year olds…
Today is Groundhog Day. Regardless of what you think of it, it made me think about Groundhog Day, the movie with Bill Murray. (FYI: It will be airing a lot today on AMC, if you’re interested in checking it out.)
Anyway, I bring it up because I actually caught a part of it recently. Today made me think about how it sort of reflects the discussion in this thread. Bill Murray’s character, Phil, goes through a transformation by reliving the same day over and over and over. At one point Phil talks with his prospective love interest, Andie MacDowell about her wishlist of what she wants in a partner. How one views this talk and Phil’s transformation might reflect one’s perspective on the current ideological gender divide.
I guess this is the scene?
What do you think she’d leave out or add nowadays?
I can’t reply right now but yes, that’s the clip. I remembered it but hadn’t searched for it to rewatch. Thanks!
My wife and I had a net worth of probably negative $60K when we got married a year after college. So we always had everything in joint accounts. My IRA is much bigger than hers because she was a SAHM for almost 10 years. We did put our after tax mutual funds in her name.
We don’t have bank accounts on our own. It is probably for the best especially for me. I would buy some dumb stuff if I didn’t have any accountability.
I can see if two adults get married later after they have accumulated some wealth that keeping some things separate might be a good idea.
She will not let him buy her cup of coffee 
I saw a couple of articles today that might help explain this:
And:
At least she didn’t say, “tall.” This is the one that gets me as the mama of a 5’9” son.
But unfortunately for my 6’2" son, she did say “plays an instrument”. Here’s hoping that’s one thing that isn’t preferred anymore 
When I was growing up it did seem that everyone wanted to be in a band. Is that still a thing?
This is certainly a weird thread when most the people commenting are probably nowhere close to the 18-29 age group (kidding…).
As someone in the mid-point of that age group, honestly, it feels like politics comes up far, far less than you’d think. I’d argue that as shown by the Israel/Palestine conflict, there’s a small group of vocal people out-shadowing the large majority who don’t really care either way.
Sure, people have political stances but I’d argue that it doesn’t really matter that much for most people what you believe in.
I go online and find that politics comes up far more often online than in actual real life.
My wife and I never talk about politics. I virtually never talk about politics with my sons. I can promise you that neither of my boys talk about politics frequently. CC is the land of the highly educated, high SES activist class. The virtual population here in no way represents the actual population that walks among us.
But is the proportion of activists amongst the “highly educated, high SES” people on CC larger than the proportion of activists amongst the “highly educated, high SES” people that we might hope/expect our kids would choose as partners? (answering my own question, there is probably some correlation between people having a lot to say about various issues on a random message board and people having a lot to say about various issues in real life)
Yes, sometimes girls will express the desire for a tall man (genetic), and in the next breath, play moral police when they hear a statement specific to a race or nationality (also genetic / no choice). LOL