My wife and I are coming up on our 15th anniversary.
Shortly after we got married, we consolidated everything into one joint checking account, and it has been like that ever since. The advantages for me over the years has been diverse.
She was the bread winner through my years of university, so I could never complain about what she has contributed.
My wife is fully self employed, while I do a little consulting on the side. This allows for a little grey area and flexibility when preparing statements of income at tax time.
... and finally, she is a book keeper, and keeps the finances in order, with very little stress on my part. I usually don't even know when I get paid, I just take out my weekly spending money, and that's that.
As for the cons, you have pretty much defined it. If there is a difference in priorities, I usually end up losing the battle. There have been times where I would horde my spare loonies and toonies, saving for a "WANT". We have friends, who we just had this very discussion with the other night. She wants to consolidate, while he likes things separate. He also makes WAY more than she does. I started looking around their place, great stereo system, HDTV projector, custom bar, lots of geeky/tech toys, no wonder he likes things separate.
I think the answer is in the middle somewhere. Have the joint account that everything goes into initially. Pay the bills, take care of the "NEEDS", and then give each other an equal amount of allowance to spend, save, gamble, invest as you see fit.
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