We took a slightly different approach to most, which seems to work for us. My wife likes spending, and earns well, so she pays all the bills, buys all the food, pays whenever we go out, and pays for everything for our son. She pays all this from her own account, and then sends about $1-2k per month to our joint savings (offset) account. All I have to do is pay for our cars (as applicable), and push the vast majority of my income straight to our joint savings. I collect the rent from our IPs and push it straight to the savings also. All our property loan repayments come out of our joint savings.
We maintain our own accounts to be paid into, purely so we can meet our respective responsibilities.
The savings, and all assets, are joint.
Using this approach we are typically able to save $40-50k per year in cash. We invest jointly. All financial decisions over and above regular housekeeping type stuff is joint. (But we do buy birthday and Christmas presents from our own accounts).
My view is that everyone handles and manages finances a bit differently, and the trick is to set your affairs up in such a way that your own personal patterns are supported.
We maintain our own accounts to be paid into, purely so we can meet our respective responsibilities.
The savings, and all assets, are joint.
Using this approach we are typically able to save $40-50k per year in cash. We invest jointly. All financial decisions over and above regular housekeeping type stuff is joint. (But we do buy birthday and Christmas presents from our own accounts).
My view is that everyone handles and manages finances a bit differently, and the trick is to set your affairs up in such a way that your own personal patterns are supported.