Should married couples merge finances or keep them separate?

Experts say merging finances is good to meet financial goals but keeping them separate helps in case of divorce

- Shipra Singh

Sharing is a way to multiply your happiness, goes the saying. Kruthika Rao and Venkat Amudhan, residents of Bengaluru, have been doing that for eight years now. Yet, they do not share a bank account and do not want to do so ever. That is one thing that the married couple is absolutely clear about. “My in-laws insisted that we have a joint account and pool our incomes to manage our finances. What’s the need for that?" asks Rao, a marketing professional. Amudhan, a filmmaker, agrees. The couple believe that keeping bank accounts separate gives them greater autonomy over their earnings.

Both Rao and Amudhan, in their early 30s, invest about 30% of their respective incomes in their own names. “We take turns to pay for household expenses and pool in for vacations. We pitch in for each other if one of us is facing a shortfall in a particular month. But, we have a strict ‘no- questions-asked’ policy on what we do with our earnings," Rao said. It helps that they are both frugal and do not take on debt that can affect their future.

Also in Bengaluru, Mayank Mishra and his wife Ojashwi Singh follow a similar approach but are meticulous about recording their spends, to the extent that they list each household expense, from groceries to their 4-month old child’s diapers , on Splitwise, a mobile application that tracks bills and other shared expenses. “We followed this system during our 10 years of dating. It has worked for us," said Mishra, a software engineer.

The couple, who have been married for just two years now, believe in equal partnership and jointly shoulder their financial responsibilities. “This format does not put pressure on either of us," said Singh, a marketing professional.