<prompt> Human: Every now and then I see a mention of a joint household account next to the persons individual accounts, and I must say it puzzles me. I grok that people keep their money separate while dating. But once you marry, and become responsible for your common happiness and well-being, as well as typically being co-signer on mortgage, house deed, etc - it doesnt make any sense to keep his and her money separate. Perhaps Im way too fair or Marxist or whatever, but whats the point of keeping your money separate while sharing a bed, a home, a family?Edit to clarify - thanks for your responses. My context is that Ive been happily married for years and I find it much easier to just have one single checking account. Its our shared money. Theres only this one account where inflows and outflows take place. Makes tracking and handling absolutely simpleand good budgetingrynab doesnt care where the money is, only that you have it. And its sad that divorce is an argument but such are the times we live in.  <response>: My response is: why not? Why bother closing my accounts just to open up a new one? And one which has money going in and out from someone else? That makes it a nightmare to budget and track.I want money in an account I control, so I can set my own goals and track my own spending. After all, Im ultimately responsible for my own spending, and if Im accountable, I need the right tools to do so an account.And accounts are just logical segments of money - its not ownership. My money is my wifes and hers is mine. My wife wanted to buy a truck a year ago, and there wasnt enough in her account to cover it, so I just transferred money to the dealership from my account. That was just one easy transfer. Imagine if we had done that with a shared account. I would have had to transfer money in there every month for years or whatever, and then see it all disappear - for a truck I dont drive. I wouldnt want to earmark all that.I can see how budgeting for a common goal could be easier for many with a shared account. Or at least one joint account for shared expenses and his and her separate accounts for play moneygifts. So Im not arguing against joint accounts, but we personally have no use for them. Why split it all up and put XY into some joint account to pay bills from, when I can just pay x to the water people and she can spend y on groceries?And in that vein, in the end, as long as our common goals are being met, why not just have it separate? If my wife wants to spend 50 on some shoes or something, what do I care? I dont have any say in that, and I shouldnt, Im not wearing the shoes. If it was 1,000, then sure, wed have a talk like we did with the truck. But everyday stuff literally 99 of all purchases are up to us to make our own personal decisions. She can buy her stuff, I can buy mine. 