Marriage & Finances: When Do You Combine?

When you're getting married, when do you combine finances? When you're engaged? Once you return from the honeymoon? Never? I had a therapist tell me that money was the single biggest factor in marital issues, so what's the best move?

How does all this work? I like to surprise Stacy with something once in a while so I don't think I want her being able to see everything I spend money on. But is an occasional surprise worth seeming kind of sketch by not having a shared bank account?

They say if a couple has a shared Facebook page, one of them cheated. But what about a bank account? I was also thinking we could keep separate accounts but also have a shared checking and savings account together.

How and when do you combine finances in a marriage? How important is this in all actuality? Who has dealt with this before? I only bring it up because I'm starting to think about the possibility of buying a house and obviously that's a shared effort, but we're not married yet. Why is being an adult so hard?