Hi friends! Hooray for Thursdays! And hooray for another Marvelous Money post! I was tempted to launch right into budgeting this week, because it’s so important and so many of you are interested in the subject, but I thought it might be better to talk a little bit about managing joint finances first. Let’s start with a little timeline of our joint financial history, shall we? Consider it a case study. Senior year of high school: We begin dating. Our finances are completely separate. Sometime during college: We both independently open savings and checking accounts at the same bank, ING Direct. We keep our own budgets and have our own savings goals, but talk often and openly about what’s going on with our money. (What can I say, we love personal finance!) When we do something together like go out for dinner, we either take turns paying, or reimburse each other after the fact. (ING has a nifty electronic transfer feature which makes this very easy.) We have the same campus job and earn roughly the same amount, so this system works well for us. Summer 2009: We graduate – whoo! We move to NC and became a one-income “family.” We consider ourselves a financial unit, even though we are not married. (However, all of our accounts are still separate.) 2010: We begin keeping one joint budget instead of two separate budgets. We both contribute to mutual savings goals like our emergency fund, wedding, and vacation. John becomes the point person for our investment and retirement accounts while I manage the day-to-day duties of making sure every bill gets paid. We agree that neither of us will rack up a large joint expense — or really any unexpected joint expense — without consulting the other. 2011: We co-sign on each