Are joint bank accounts a bad idea?

Only one in eight married couples combine finances, says a study*. We ask...

- JENNY ACKLAND

YES

‘I have financial independence’ Meryl Clements, 40, is a birth coach and hypnobirthing teacher. She lives in Surrey with her husband Miles, 42, and their children, aged five and three.

I can still remember opening the budgeting book my mum gave me as a Christmas present when I was 12 years old. It wasn’t the most exciting present in the world, but the lesson it taught me about managing your own finances was priceless.

When I started work in 2005, as a marketing recruitment consultant, I liked to see exactly how much was going into my account and how much was going out. So when I got married in July 2013, my husband and I decided to keep our separate bank accounts instead of having a joint one.