Partner and I (I always say "wife", because practically but not legally) are in the camp of having joint and individual accounts.
Heck, I have multiple accounts for myself for different types of expenses - basic personal checking, emergency slush fund, mortgage and house upkeep expense. That just makes a lot of sense to me. Earmarking accounts for different expenses is easier for me to manage than lumping everything into a single account. With most banks, there's no additional fee for checking accounts, as long as I keep a positive balance. I suppose that really only works if you've got some extra cash that you can keep in each account as a buffer, and not be constantly bouncing off a zero balance.
In reply to Duke :
My mom used to make a simple guacamole sort of thing that was just literally Pace salsa and avocado.
I don't know if it's just a happy childhood memory, but man....I love that version of guacamole
JThw8 said:
While everyone has different methods and they all work depending on the people and the situation count me in the separate accounts camp. We've been together 18 years, she has her money, I have my money. She can do what she wants, I can do what I want. We're adults, capable of making good decisions. We'll often confer with each other about larger purchases but because we respect each other's advice, not because we need permission.
I recall about 10 years ago wife was out for the day with friends so I went to look at some cars that interested me just for giggles. Fell in love with the one and texted the wife a photo of my new car. Her friend lost her E36 M3 that I would go buy a car without her "permission" or her getting to have any say in it. She just responded, I dont drive it, I dont pay for it, why should I care?
Obviously her friend views money as a way to control, which is terrible.
Although money is a necessary evil it's also a fairly easy form of gaining power too. I've found that the worst people I've met are very attached to how much money they can get because they view it as power.
I view money as an object which I can get things with and can get me more comfort if wanted. This is confusing to the people above and I've been called crazy before because of it.
We have had joint accounts since our wedding 36 years ago. My wife keeps the books on our three accounts and can see everything. I do all the dealing with our financial advisor, but she has online access to those accounts, too. I have had to educate her a couple of times since I retired though. I took a voluntary layoff and severance package in November 2008, as the world was dive bombing into the recession and that made her very, very nervous. I put about 60% of the severance into the market in late February 2009, and to keep the peace, relented to her wish to keep a sizable chunk of it in cash. The remaining 40% went into a savings certificate at the bank. All summer I routinely informed her about the returns on the invested chunk and when it came time to renew the savings certificate she looked at me and said "How much did I cost us?". I told her it was about 45% and it hasn't been an issue since. The other thing I did was to have our FA run a projection and I had him up the "Discretionary spending" row until we would be broke when she gets to 100 years old. Then I showed her how much more we would have to spend monthly to die broke and we'll never spend it, so stuff like my Challenge car are no longer issues. It's all about maintaining her comfort level with our overall financial health. Now, if I were to suggest I "need" a Ferrari the conversation would likely be different. 
