It's funny that this thread has been started as it's been a topic of conversation among my friends and I find the entire topic fascinating. Some observations from someone who's single.
I find a lot of the people who advocate for keeping all income and expenses joint generally come from traditional backgrounds. They may have grown up in a traditional household where mom may not have worked or didn't work full time with a full time salary. These people also tend to be of immigrant backgrounds or children of immigrant backgrounds who might have grown up in a household described above.
I also find the way some couples deal with expenses very interesting and in some ways, counter initiative to a "family unit" mentality. A few friends who swear by keeping things separate are not able to take advantage of savings when combining things like home and auto insurance, mobile phone plans and lines, gym memberships, credit card and banking products. It can just end up increasing the cost of life with less income left over for everybody.
Just the other day two couples had a similar scenario but dealt with it totally different and in a different mindset, was amazing to see and hear the deails.
Couple #1: Lower income spouse (male) is complaining about the state of his car which is very poor, meanwhile the higher income spouse (female) drives a luxury car and has sizable assets and flat out says "Well, he can't afford a new car, so what should I do about it?"
Couple #2: Higher income spouse (male) mentions that him and the wife are looking for a new car. Her car is in poor shape and they are buying something so that she can have a safe, reliable car for the wife to drive around the children. It came across as "Well, this is what WE need as a family and I am in a position to have it done"
Just a different way of looking at things. Everybody has their own way and their own opinions.
Either way best of luck!
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