--- title: 'Dollar Scholar Asks: Should I Share a Bank Account With My Best Friend?' description: "Sharing all my money with my BFF in a joint bank account can give me a built-in accountability partner —\_but it can also be super risky." authors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-03-13T14:52:08.000Z' modified: '2024-03-13T14:52:08.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - dollar scholar - News word_count: 799 canonical: https://money.com/dollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Dollar cholar banner featuring friendship bracelets](https://img.money.com/2024/02/DollarScholar-Share-Bank-Account-With-Best-Friend.jpg) *This is an excerpt from Dollar Scholar, the Money newsletter where news editor Julia Glum teaches you the modern money lessons you NEED to know. Don't miss the next issue! Sign up at **[money.com/subscribe](https://money.com/subscribe/dollar-scholar/)** and join our community of 160,000+ Scholars.* * * * My girlfriends and I share everything: appetizers, clothes, opinions about which Taylor Swift rerecord is dropping next (it’s gotta be *reputation*). So why not share our [bank accounts](https://money.com/best-banks/)? This question is brought to you by a [video](https://www.tiktok.com/@caitlin.emiko/video/7314780211747261702?lang=en) I saw on TikTok recently with the on-screen title “All my money is shared with my best friend 💸.” The user, Caitlin Emiko, goes on to explain that for the past year, she has split her salary with her (platonic) pal: “Anything I make, she gets, and anything she makes, I get, as well,” she adds. Big if true. Honestly, when I first saw the clip, I recoiled. I know longtime *married* couples who still don’t have joint bank accounts, so taking that step with a mere friend seemed outrageous to me. But then I began thinking about how tedious it is to Venmo my roommate every time we pay rent, order DoorDash or go on a mid-day Starbucks run. Wait, does this idea have legs? ## Get more from your Checking Account with cashback rewards from Discover® ### A cashback-enabled checking account not only provides the convenience of managing your finances seamlessly but also rewards you with cash incentives for everyday transactions, putting money back in your pocket. Click on your state to learn more. [See Details](https://money.com/pr/y52cd0cece7f?ap_referrer=%2Fdollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend%2F) ## Is it a good idea to share a bank account with your BFF? According to Jordan Gilberti, senior lead planner at financial planning firm [Facet](https://facet.com/), there are definitely some pros and cons. On one hand, it’s convenient and can start setting me up for the future, assuming I’ll eventually combine my finances with a romantic partner. If my friend is trustworthy, he says, it’s probably not that different from having a joint account with a parent or sibling (which is relatively common). It can be good practice, getting me in the groove of sharing money before it’s crunch time. It could also help me be a smarter spender. Having someone else on my bank account, Gilberti says, can give me a built-in accountability partner, which can keep my splurging in check. “Every purchase you make will be seen by another set of eyes, and you might think twice before going on that big shopping spree,” he says. Alas, that’s… pretty much it for the "pro" column. And there are a LOT of potential cons that come with opening a joint account with a friend. The first is that there’s no guarantee that my BFF will act right once she has total access to my cash, according to Michelle Winterfield, co-founder of the expense-splitting app [Tandem](https://www.usetandem.com/). Friend breakups happen all the time, and if things go south she could simply drain the account and leave. Even if I trust my friend not to bankrupt me after a fight, there’s a good chance that we’re not 100% aligned on our financial habits. Say my friend is a bigger spender than I am — if she buys a designer bag and uses more of what I consider to be “our money” than I think is fair, it could lead to issues. Or say that her salary outpaces mine — I could start secretly thinking that I don’t “deserve” to spend as much as she does because I’m not able to contribute on her level. See how this gets really tricky, really fast? “We all have our own money styles, and getting aligned with another individual on how to spend your money can be extremely difficult,” Gilberti says. If I’m set on trying this, though, there are responsible ways I can dip my toes into the water. Gilberti suggests doing an experiment where [we create an account](https://money.com/pr/wea882befc14?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Dollar+Scholar+221+-+01%2F17%2F24+%28Official%29&utm_campaign=dollar-scholar&ap_referrer=https%253A%252F%252Fmoney.com%252Fdollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend%252F) that’s specifically earmarked for a joint goal, like a trip that we’ve decided we want to take together next year. If everything goes well, then we can expand into using the account for day-to-day stuff. He says I’ll need to set some strict boundaries with my friend. How much are we each going to contribute, and at what frequency? What are we allowed to use the money for? Can we set budgets for how much we can spend in each category? Winterfield says I could open a joint account but only deposit some of my salary. That way, if something does go wrong, I still control the majority of my money. “You should have some sense of independence, always,” she says. ## The bottom line The cons of opening a joint bank account with my BFF probably outweigh the pros because we have different financial upbringings, goals and habits. “The safest bet is to keep the bulk of your cash, including your emergency fund, in a separate bucket for only yourself,” Gilberti says. ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/19978/medium_09303199-0eb1-4bc1-81f4-bba87bf39bd2.png) Open a SoFi® Checking and Savings account today [See Details](https://money.com/pr/e2eb41300f54?ap_referrer=%2Fdollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Dollar Scholar", "item": "https://money.com/dollar-scholar/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Dollar Scholar Asks: Should I Share a Bank Account With My Best Friend?" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/dollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend/", "name": "Dollar Scholar Asks: Should I Share a Bank Account With My Best Friend?", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-03-13T14:52:08.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-scholar-shared-bank-account-friend/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-03-13T14:52:08.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Dollar Scholar Asks: Should I Share a Bank Account With My Best Friend?", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/02/DollarScholar-Share-Bank-Account-With-Best-Friend.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "DollarScholar-Share-Bank-Account-With-Best-Friend" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Julia Glum", "url": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/#author", "description": "Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. 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