# I'm married. Now what do I do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311 "2011-05-09T19:13:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311/21 "2011-05-11T19:23:14Z")
Never go to sleep angry at each other. “Sleeping it off” is not good practice. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311/22 "2011-05-11T20:10:01Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Aw, I missed it. What was the picture before, and did something mention marrying her or finding her hot? [This](http://www.lfexaminer.com/img_0322.jpg) is the picture, taken in January 2006, at James Randi’s Amazing Meeting 4 in Las Vegas. [I’ve](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7109219&postcount=5) [taken](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7433518&postcount=62) [every](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7408212&postcount=46) [opportunity](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7612595&postcount=32) [I](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7739036&postcount=13) [could](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8374581&postcount=7) [find](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8393104&postcount=15) [to](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8884451&postcount=88) [show](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9267180&postcount=17) [off](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9381570&postcount=13) [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9765223&postcount=25) [picture](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9628136&postcount=58), [which](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9735135&postcount=199) [I’m](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10704952&postcount=80) [really](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10981126&postcount=69) [very](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11019583&postcount=12) [fond](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=11914563&postcount=59) [of](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10210957&postcount=115). ---
**Author:** ![toofs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311/23 "2011-05-11T23:34:53Z")
My wife and I both came into our marriage with our own bank accounts. We kept them. All we did was add the other person as joint holders on each account. Her accounts are as much mine as hers, and mine are as much hers as they are mine. Both names are on both accounts. She continues to run her life through her original accounts, and I run mine through my original accounts. We have set savings goals we meet each month, with the money going into only one savings account. We have bills that we split 50/50 along with our set savings goals. Bills are paid electronically out of one bank, and we can log into our bank accounts and transfer funds between banks and accounts. We treat our accounts like our cars: both names on both cars, but she has “hers” and I have “mine.” ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311/24 "2011-05-16T08:03:32Z")
> [@Moonlitherial](#): > > Taxes you should run the numbers both ways and see what gives you the best return. Assuming you’re healthy, in the US, and only interested in financial benefit, this is almost certain to be “Married, filing jointly.” I don’t disagree that you might want to try it both ways, but given the US tax code, it’s hard to even come up with a contrived example where married filing separately would work out better, even with wildly disparate incomes. The usual reasons married folks file separately are to be able to claim the medical exemption (which requires that medical expenses exceed a certain percentage of your income – easier if you just count one income), privacy (if one spouse has a job where their returns are made public, for example), or weirder examples where one spouse is missing and/or criminal, and you either lack information or don’t want to become an accessory to something. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311/25 "2011-05-16T12:41:58Z")
There was also some education credit that I could only take when I filed separately, but I agree that you should run them both ways and file under whichever is more financially desirable. ---
**Author:** ![Void1967](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e274bd/32.png) [@Void1967](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Void1967)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311/26 "2011-05-16T21:53:27Z")
Make sure that your health provider (here in Canada it’s a government agency) has both of you on as closest relative–In case something bad happens I’ve heard of last minute hospital issues ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311/27 "2011-05-18T03:10:05Z")
Your life is now over. There is nothing you can do. Just kidding! I’m not married so the only advice I’ll offer is to keep on going out on dates from time to time, keep things exciting. That’s just something I hear often. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-married-now-what-do-i-do/581311.md?page=1)