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View Poll Results: Net worth: by person, or household?
Household 129 86.00%
Each individual 15 10.00%
Other, see thread 6 4.00%
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Household or individual NW?
Old 09-09-2020, 07:24 AM   #1
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Household or individual NW?

I've seen this mentioned a few times recently, so I'm curious; do you think NW should be calculated per household, or per individual?
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Old 09-09-2020, 07:26 AM   #2
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I would think it depends on your intended objective/use in calculating the net worth.
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Old 09-09-2020, 07:28 AM   #3
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Personally, I always look at our household NW, because we have one checking account, and although we have separate 401(k)s and Roth IRAs, I count my inherited IRAs as "ours". More importantly, we pay bills as a household, so expenses aren't easily separated.

I know some couples maintain separate banking and credit card accounts, nothing wrong with that if that's what works for you, so for people like that I suppose separate NW makes more sense.
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Old 09-09-2020, 07:34 AM   #4
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My rule is household if legally married. Individual otherwise, even if cohabiting. The exactly details of how you calculate NW is really up to you though, and largely meaningless to others.
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Old 09-09-2020, 07:55 AM   #5
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We count only household NW. We've been married 47 years next month. I doubt anything will change on that front. Neither of us have any mine-vs-yours children. We are both beneficiaries on our individually owned IRAs. Why separate that which was common property all these years? Under different circumstances, maybe I would be inclined to separate the NW's.
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Old 09-09-2020, 07:56 AM   #6
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Personally, I always look at our household NW, because we have one checking account, and although we have separate 401(k)s and Roth IRAs, I count my inherited IRAs as "ours". More importantly, we pay bills as a household, so expenses aren't easily separated.
As do we.
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Old 09-09-2020, 07:59 AM   #7
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Most studies and all government studies AFAIK use household NW. Works for me.
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:03 AM   #8
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DW and I use household net worth
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:18 AM   #9
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We use Household here, also.
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:34 AM   #10
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Household. I also think any published study should specify whether they mean household or person. It leads to confusion when they don't.
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Old 09-09-2020, 08:40 AM   #11
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I would think it depends on your intended objective/use in calculating the net worth.
+1
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:20 AM   #12
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Always have thought of it as household. After 50+ years of marriage separating us out as individual financial entities does not compute.
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Old 09-09-2020, 09:27 AM   #13
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I calculate it as households NW...
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:04 AM   #14
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Household. After 52 years of marriage everything kinda blends together.
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:06 AM   #15
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Household, if you are married/partnered under the same roof.
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:10 AM   #16
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In the Gumby household, what's hers is hers, and what's mine is also hers. So she has a very high net worth; me not so much.

Nah, not really. We started out together with nothing. In the intervening 36.5 years, everything we've acquired has been the result of a team effort. We've only ever had a joint bank account.
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:13 AM   #17
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I have been with DGF for 27 years so, although not married, I often forget we aren't. I would have to say household at this point. When someone ask's why we aren't married, we tell them we are still trying to make sure we are compatible.
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:19 AM   #18
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Net worth is the sum of all assets minus liabilities. I don't know the value of my non-portfolio assets, so I don't calculate it. I calculate value of my portfolio only. I can guess DW's portfolio value or ask her if need be. But she handles her $ and I handle mine.
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:28 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by The Cosmic Avenger View Post
I've seen this mentioned a few times recently, so I'm curious; do you think NW should be calculated per household, or per individual?
Are you preparing for divorce?
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Old 09-09-2020, 10:34 AM   #20
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Most literature is household income, so I assume that means whoever you are sharing finances with regardless of marital status.

We co-habitate and track both separately and together since we want to be aware of what happens if we part ways.
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