I know that this is a little off the topic but I've seen a couple of references to "my" money or "his" money. This is something that I have never understood in a marriage. IMO, it's suppose to be "our" money. When I was married we always had a joint account, and all the bills and extras were paid out of this account, there was no my & his to it, even when she stayed out of work when the kids were born or when she went back to school. I just don't get couples that this one pays this and the other pays for that, I thought you were suppose to as one.
As far as the topic goes, as long as everyone wants to have everything now, since we seem to be such an instant society and we have to keep up to others, very few couples can afford to have a stay at home parent.
Ideally it would be "our" money, but I've seen too many cases where it is abused.
I've thought about this actually, and what I'd prefer (of course, I'd have to get his opinion on the matter as well, since it would be OUR money :smile

is that...
we would both work outside of the home,
we would have a joint account for the bills
we would each have a separate account for personal purchases, that would only come from the money each of us made at our jobs; such as my account would be from money I made at my job, and his account would be from money he made at his job. That way, using a stereotype (which I generally hate, but it's what pops into my head) he can't get angry with me for spending "his" money on more shoes. (This is just an example, since I'm not as much a shoe person as some of the women on here).
Fully half of what he earns and what I earn at our jobs would go into savings and investments - a contingency plan, in case one of us gets laid off, fired, or disabled. (I've seen this happen way too often, can you tell? Having had at least two friends I know of lose their homes due to foreclosure, for instance...) So, actually, we would in a way, be living on only one income, so to speak. (And of course, if the contingencies don't happen, that'll be a really nice nest egg for retirement!)