{"id":513363,"date":"2026-03-02T06:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513363\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T06:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:48:18","slug":"warning-for-thousands-of-uk-couples-who-dont-have-a-joint-account","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/513363\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning for thousands of UK couples who don’t have a joint account"},"content":{"rendered":"

New research from MoneySuperMarket found that a quarter of people say their financial agreement benefits their partner.\"Warning<\/p>\n

Warning for thousands of UK couples who don’t have a joint account<\/p>\n

A personal finance expert has issued a warning – after discovering almost half of couples feel their household finances are not divided fairly<\/a> but many find it too awkward to start a conversation about money with their partner.<\/p>\n

New research from MoneySuperMarket found that a quarter of people say their financial agreement benefits their partner. The shift away from traditional shared joint accounts has opened the door for a variety of \u2018hybrid\u2019 financial arrangements.<\/a><\/p>\n

It includes everything from splitting finances 50\/50 to contributions proportional to earnings. Among couples with separate accounts, it is more common for one partner to pay a larger share of the bills than for bills to be split 50\/50.<\/p>\n

READ MORE UK households urged to ration popular painkiller – major shortage to last 4 months<\/a><\/p>\n

Harriet Smith, 35, a parent of three, told how having an honest conversation with her husband about money helped save their marriage after two years of disagreements.<\/p>\n

Harriet and Scott, 37, from Wiltshire, pooled their money in a single joint account after their wedding in April 2017 – believing it was \u201cjust what people did.\u201d<\/p>\n

However they decided to separate out their accounts two years later – after opening up about the resentment they were experiencing over their shared finances.<\/p>\n

Harriet said: \u201cBecoming a hybrid finance couple has had such a huge, positive impact on our relationship – it was like a weight lifted overnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cSharing a joint account was really tough. I would get annoyed about something Scott had spent on a weekly basis. We got to the point where we were arguing all the time – over things like him spending \u00a34 on a sandwich.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think it would have torn us apart, but it\u2019s easy to see how for some couples it does. If we hadn\u2019t had our daughter, it might have been a different story.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat saved us is that we have always been able to have really honest and open conversations, and we eventually sat down with each other and said: \u2018Look, something needs to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harriet said: \u201cWe now each pay a proportion of our total bills dependent on our salary – I pay 60% and Scott pays 40%. We don\u2019t contribute equally, but it\u2019s a fair and balanced way of managing our bills. And if our bills went up to a point where either of us had next to nothing left over at the end of the month, we would adjust the split again to make things fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kara Gammell, Personal Finance Expert at MoneySuperMarket, said: \u201cWith fewer couples relying on traditional joint accounts, we\u2019re seeing a rise in hybrid finances \u2013 a flexible approach that allows partners to manage money in a way that suits their individual circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important for couples to be open about their finances and work together to find arrangements that feel fair and adaptable as life changes. Splitting bills isn\u2019t a one-and-done decision \u2013 from moving in together to job changes and rising living costs, financial arrangements often need a rethink to keep things manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New research from MoneySuperMarket found that a quarter of people say their financial agreement benefits their partner. Warning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185,10894],"class_list":{"0":"post-513363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance","14":"tag-your-money"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}