One account or individual accounts? While the discussion has been interesting, this is a pretty unimportant topic compared to some of the things that newlyweds should be talking about. (BTW, my wife and I have been married for 27 years and have always had joint accounts. I like it that way.)
A much more important thing to be discussing is philosphies about money. I'll remind you that I'm a financial planner so I deal with this stuff every day. I've seen marriages torn apart by serious differences in financial priorities and philosophies, but I've never seen as marriage destroyed over this joint-or-individual-bank-account? argument.
One of the most destructive pitfalls is when one spouse is a dedicated saver/investor and the other is a big spender. Sit down with your spouse and discuss your priorities, goals and philosophies. If one of you is a big saver and the other is a big spender, trust me, you're in for trouble.
If you use a financial planner, have that mediate this if you can't agree. I suspect very few of you do, however, because my experience is that people on sites like this tend to be young and have little money. Or, you could have a friend or relative mediate this for you.
I'll repeat: this one thing can kill a marriage. If you have differences in this area, work it out or you won't be married long and you'll wonder why you ever worried about having separate bank accounts or not.
Good luck to all of you.
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