Tip of the week: How to merge finances with a spouse
Finances should be handled wisely becaused disagreements over money are the No. 1 cause of divorce.
Keep expenses separate. Disagreements over money are the No. 1 cause of divorce. Some couples avoid them by keeping “completely separate finances” with individual checking accounts.
But don’t go too far. Rather than “splitting every bill down the middle,” have one person, say, buy groceries while the other pays the
utilities.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Share the burden. “Consider debt a shared expense”—and pay it off as quickly as possible. “Having a poor credit score will make it harder to get joint credit down the line.”
Plan for retirement together. Make sure “one of you doesn’t have to carry too large a share of the burden” when you both stop working. Also, establish durable powers of attorney and set up a bank account to be transferred to your spouse upon your death.
Source: Details
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation: the group behind Gaza's controversial new aid programme
The Explainer Deadly shootings and chaotic scenes have been reported at aid sites after US group replaced UN humanitarian organisations
-
Is UK's new defence plan transformational or too little, too late?
Today's Big Question Labour's 10-year strategy 'an exercise in tightly bounded ambition' already 'overshadowed by a row over money'
-
How much should doctors trust parental intuition?
In The Spotlight Study finds parents' concern can be better at spotting critical illness than vital signs