When you get married it is not just your hearts that become one, but also your money.

Even if you are one of those financially independent couples where ‘his is his’ and ‘hers is hers’, when you live together, have kids together and hopefully retire together, there is an inevitable merging of finances.

On a really practical, day-to-day level, you need to figure out how you are going to pay for all those joint expenses – should you have a joint bank account, a household credit card or just keep a running tab?

The joint bank account

While this may seem the easiest and most practical solution, it can be an administrative nightmare should a spouse die. If you do decide to opt for a joint bank account you should know that in South Africa there is no such thing as a “joint” account. In South Africa there is only an option for a main account holder whose spouse has signing rights. This means that if the main account holder dies the account is frozen, along with all the money to pay the bills. The Receiver of Revenue’s new powers, which allow them to take money out your account without asking, also means that if the main account holder has been a bit tardy with the tax return, SARS can effectively clean out the account including the spouse’s salary deposit.

(As an aside on marriage contracts – if you are married in community of property your separate bank account can still be frozen should your spouse die as it forms part of your spouse’s estate. But you can usually convince the executor not to apply the rules.)

The running tab

If you decide to run your finances very separately then you need to have an agreement as part of your monthly budget as to who covers which expenses. For example one spouse could pay the mortgage/rent and household insurance whilst the other pays for groceries and utility bills. This arrangement only really works if you have sat down and worked out a proper budget. You need to know realistically what groceries cost each month and what you expect to pay for electricity and water. It is not uncommon to hear arguments between spouses about their expensive food/drink tastes!

The household bank account

In most cases when a couple gets married they already have their own bank accounts along with their own relationship with their bank and a credit history. So it makes sense to keep banking the way you did but then form a household bank account where each spouse deposits funds at the beginning of the month. This account is then used to pay joint expenses. If you are going to run debit orders off this bank account for things like mortgage payments and insurance then both spouses need to make sure the money is paid in at the beginning of the month – a standing stop order into the household account would be a good idea to ensure that all the other debit orders are met.

The household credit card

Some couples simply have a household credit card which is used for day-to-day household spending and which they settle at the end of the month. This is less expensive than running a household bank account as there are no transaction fees, however you would have to decide how to split monthly fixed costs like mortgage/rent, utilities and insurance. A credit card can also be a dangerous financial tool as you get to spend money you haven’t earned yet – one of the main arguments between couples is the credit card bill.  A sensible approach would be to calculate what your monthly day-to-day living costs are and to pay the money into the card at the beginning of the month. Then you can ask the bank to give you a really low credit limit.

This article first appeared in The Change Exchange