Joint Account for household expenses

Last week, Dear1 and Dear2 started a joint bank account for our new house. There are basically two choices for us, DBS or POSB. The main difference being, DBS only offers alternate joint account, meaning it only requires any one of the owner’s signature to process any transaction. POSB offers the other version (which I dunno the actual name for it) where both account holders need to sign. We opted for the more convenient one which is DBS. Next, we are considering whether to make this a cheque-ing account or not, but alas, there a fee associated and we didn’t want to incur any extra cost so we decided not too apply for it.

Now, back to the main point. Why do we need a joint account when we already have our personal accounts? The reason is, for household expense. Now that we have our own place, there are various various types of bills and expenses to pay, as mentioned by Dear2. As time goes by, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of all these expenses. Our personal bank book will be littered with lots of other transactions like NETS payment for clothes, withdrawals outdoors, top-up ezylink card, etc. Not to mention some debit card transactions being mixed in. Plainly, it’ll be a mess to organise and account. We lived with that for a few months, but now, it’s time to set the records straight and start a joint household account.

Thanks to Giro, alot of these monthly payment can be made automatically, provided u have enough money in the account of course. This way, Dear2 won’t complain about the troublesome trip of going to the Town Council to pay our monthly conservancy bill when both of us work long hours each day and can only visit the Town Council on Saturdays but they only open half day so have to quickly rush down in the morning and can’t even laze abit longer in bed. Hmm… But Dear2 will still complain about the expensive conservancy. Gee… Some other bills like water and electricity can also be linked to Giro to make life a little simpler. So whatever that can be directly through Giro, Dear1 and Dear2 will do it. Every month, the bank will send us a consolidated statement, not to mention the individual billing companies will send us their receipt too, so tracking should be no problem.

Another reason for this joint account is so that this can be view as a sort of household fund which can be used to purchase household items, again making expenses easily to track. For example, if we need to get a new microwave, it’s going to come from the household account. If Dear1 wants to buy a new speaker for his laptop, it’ll come his personal account. And if Dear2 wants a new pair of shoes, that comes from her personal account too. We’re very systematic people around here yo! Gee…

However, there are some things to take note. Remember that with every new account, u need to maintain a certain minimum sum, otherwise the bank is going to charge u some adminstrative fee for it. As of today, the pervailing minimum sum is $500. That means to say, the $500 is locked away and cannot be used until u decide to close this account. Including our personal accounts, that’s $1500 locked away as a family unit. Also, DBS doesn’t issue a bank book nowadays, instead, they send u a monthly statement. I didn’t check with other banks so I’m not sure, but if a bank book is a necessity to u, then it may be worthwhile checking with other banks first.

I think many married couples are already doing this, and I recommend this to couple who have not done it yet. Start a joint account for household expense. The key to managing one’s wealth is to first make it more managable.

-Dear1