Mike Randel, an accountant with Schiff & Weiss of Farmington Hills, said the vast majority of young cou- ples follow this simple formula: joint savings and checking accounts, joint tax returns and a joint investment portfolio. But that strategy is for married couples only. If you're merely living together, it's best not to marry off your money. "Until you're married, keep every- thing really separate," said Myndi Grauer, 24, who lives with her boyfriend and splits expenses with him 50-50. "And don't get joint cred- it cards. You can't just assume you'll get married to that person." Paul and Nicole Shapira still keep one separate account each — leftover from before they were married — but now apply the all-for-one and one- for-all theory. 'Although she's got her account and I've got mine, I look at it as joint money," said 29-year-old Paul. "If I lose $10,000 from that account, that's still going to affect her." Going with the joint system helps to avoid basic money squabbles. Randel says most monetary problems crop up in young marriages when the investment portfolio goes sour. "Lots of times only one of the two in a couple is interested [in knowing the details of investments]," he explained. "What happens then is that person will invest in something, and a year later it will have lost money. And that's when the other person shows up asking tough ques- tions." To avoid such problems, Randel suggests leaving your money in the hands of a financial planner. As a financial planner, Cohen agrees. "If you're working with finan- cial planners, the tendency to back- fire is a lot less, because they're doing this every day and they're up on changes and new things going on." She advises her clients to make specific goals when investing their money. If you want to buy a house, she recommends conservative, short- term investments that won't risk what you've saved for a down payment. But if a future college fund is on your mind, Cohen has more time to go after high-return mutual funds that could land you in the penthouse — or the poorhouse. Either way, she says, the biggest mistake you can make is going too conservative and keeping your money in low-interest savings accounts. "A lot of people are putting their money where their parents have their money — in the bank," she says. "Just get it out of the bank. It's not doing any good there." She recommends keeping no more than three-to-six months of living expenses in the bank. Both Randel and Cohen tell their clients not to zero in on any single financial priority. "Diversity" is today's financial buzzword. "Different people have different goals and needs," Cohen said. "I tell people that you have to strike a bal- ance between saving for the future and having fun today." An important part of that financial balance is making sure you are con- siderate of your partner when you spend money. It's harder to go to the mall now because you have to consid- er someone else before losing control at Best Buy. "When you meet with the rabbi before you get married, he'll scare you with stories about the fact that you've got to consider the other per- son when you're buying something," said Renee Weiss, 27, who has been married for a year. She and her husband, Jason, just bought a house in West Bloomfield. Although most of their cash flows in that direction, they still make month- ly contributions to their investment portfolio. Jason, 27, said organizing money makes all the difference. By making investment contributions via "direct deposit" from their paychecks, the Weisses don't even have a chance to frivolously spend that money. "It's not like I'm buying stocks and bonds and CDs every day," Jason said. "But we put our future first, before we go out to dinner." Getting organized isn't hard, says ege h soon Randel — even for those non-mone- tary types. "The best thing that people can do is write down your net worth on a piece of paper," he advises. "If you can trace all your assets so you know what you have, then you know what you can spend." Paul Shapira says that the "chal- lenge is to live within our budget. We have ups and downs all the time." Knowing what you can and cannot spend won't necessarily make things easier to swallow — especially if that number is depressingly small. Cohen warns her clients to expect some rocky times. But if you can save all your marital conflict for pocketbook problems, she said, you're on the right track. "If you've got a good, workable relationship," she said, "money should be the only thing you fight about." en ou you wor anners, ask ecessari en lais radon cowl cates> fr Burial S ecuri ty ifi Again, a problem It has been thr e e and Nicole, 26, is tilting at wind mills tryin to link the accounts "I'm sti l not done," she said with more.than a'hint of frustration. ;both; Shapira and C o hen ~ . quickly as possible. In advance, ask bank iCial§.::4ihat should be ne to ge t the name plyyp4r.::: a ccount Ausr rheycanr give yyou a' straight answer or if they tell you they'll have go : fin d our frein-S some o 6ne.:at headquarters, that's' a sure sign of trouble ahead. ti min. eacf; ones ough ` that's usually lust a few fora s and'phone calls per investment ; it coup take time', investments are diversified.