How do my partner and I decide whether to keep a joint or separate emergency fund?

For a shared household, a single joint emergency fund is usually simpler and more powerful because it pools your resources and reflects that most emergencies, a job loss or a broken furnace, hit the household, not one person. Keep it in a joint high-yield savings account both of you can reach, and agree in advance on what counts as an emergency so neither of you is surprised. Some couples who otherwise keep finances separate still maintain one shared emergency account funded proportionally to income, plus a small personal cushion each. What matters most is that both partners know the fund exists, agree on its size and purpose, and can access it if the other is unavailable. Talk through the rules during a regular money check-in rather than in the middle of a crisis.