Should couples have joint or separate bank accounts? What works best?

Great. Let’s throw some divisive domestic distributions into the mix of these Generations questions. What am I? A marriage counsellor?

You’re making me Danny DeVito between Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in The War of the Roses here!

It’s a tough question, but a really important one.

From a financial/tax perspective: If you have a mortgage and maximising your finances is your goal, then the only place to have any savings is the offset/redraw account. That’s your one savings account and all money should flow through there.

Your return will be your interest rate (between 6.8 and 7.8 per cent). But because you don’t pay tax on those savings, your real return is far higher.

From a relationships perspective: That’s just not realistic for many couples. Money is a major source of relationship fighting, so you have to find your own unique solution.

Sit down together. Open a good bottle of red. Chat about your finances. Talk about a budget. The solution for your joint finances is going to be as individual as your relationship.

Every relationship starts on a different financial footing. Some people come in burnt by previous relationships. Some people have no money sense. At all.

If you’re renting, a combined bank account for joint expenses can make sense. But then what’s fair to contribute. Is it 50-50? Is that fair if one person’s salary is quadruple the other’s, but the other does most/all of the housework? What if one has a spending problem or a gambling addition?

Most financial disharmony is caused that “failure to communicate”. So talk about it.

Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and principal adviser with Castellan Financial Consulting.