Spouse has hers and I have mine

[street]

Just wondering if most couples have their own stash/investments etc.? We do but also call it ours. I do have a few different numbers when looking at my portfolio each month. When I give my gains each month or compare number etc. on a post here, I just use what I have invested. Hers is not used in the calculations.

So, in reality our numbers are different if I would combine them. In general that total portfolio would be larger but not necessary much difference in percentage for the month or year.

So, what is your style?

 

[MichaelB]

When we married we had no assets, only each other. Since then everything has been and continues to be jointly held.

We have IRA and HSA accounts that are individual, by requirement but not choice. In total they account for <3% of our total financial assets. In my mind they also are joint assets.

 

[HF63]

Yes, we have our account separate to point of credit cards. The bank accounts are also separate but she handles the check books not a problem.
We have never had an argument about money at all. I do support my mom, and she knows where the money is going so no problems at all.

 

[Aerides]

We have separate 401ks and checking/savings, other things, but we manage it all together and use the Full View feature in Fido. The bulk of our after-tax savings are in a joint account also at fido, but I have a smaller one in VG and we each have some individual stocks and things, CD's, etc.

CC's always separate. We married mid-30s so had a lot of accounts each already established, and never bothered to merge much. But it's all got shared visibility, and we add it all up to consider our NW.

 

[Freedom56]

All assets in Joint Tenancy except for retirement accounts that are individually held naming the other as beneficiaries.

 

[Nemo2]

All assets in Joint Tenancy except for retirement accounts that are individually held naming the other as beneficiaries.

Us too.

 

[2017ish]

All of our liquid/investment assets (except for 6K in a CMA and 28K left in the checking account) are in IRAs; thus, we have separate accounts by necessity. We also work to ensure that each of us has sufficient credit to carry on in the event the other gets hit by a truck.

As a practical matter, however, it is all joint. All spending flows through our joint checking account. I track the bills (except for medical, which she takes care of), and move assets between accounts (conversions/withdrawals)--after discussing with her. Once we retired, she has gotten much more aware of the financial details--when she was working, she just concentrated on practicing medicine and on the finances of the practice.

Oh, FWIW, "her" assets greatly exceed "mine." Even though I made good money, taking 15 years off from full-time work to raise the kids and do the home/school stuff put "me" way behind "her."

 

[JRon]

Everything joint here except for IRA, ROTH, & SEP accounts, but we treat them as joint.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

All assets in Joint Tenancy except for retirement accounts that are individually held naming the other as beneficiaries.

Same here.

 

[CRLLS]

All assets in Joint Tenancy except for retirement accounts that are individually held naming the other as beneficiaries.

Us too. We also use Fido Full View and track in a spreadsheet too. While the inputs may be individual, we only consider the whole. So on person's accounts may be more loaded with Bond funds and the other more loaded with equities. One may have international equities and the other none. In "our" planning, Fido's RIP ( I know, old name) uses all accounts too. I also combine accounts when I use FireCalc or I-ORP. After 47 years of marriage, neither of us are leaving the other for better options. And if they did, everything would be split 50/50 with DW getting the bigger half. Why separate things?

Our wills, etc. are essentially duplicates of the other's too. We must be boring.

 

[old medic]

36 years ago we started out with nothing.... and still have most of it left...
We have always had a joint bank and credit accounts, outside a side bank account I had for a auto shop side business, but she was listed on it ( Tax Purposes).
Several credit were in her name only for her to also build an independent credit history...Her Mom was a SAHM who lost her husband at age 40 and had 0 credit history...
We both have State retirement time.... I've past my 30 years and can retire.
She has right at 20 in.... We both have separate 401K accounts.

 

[Toocold]

All of our accounts are together except for individual retirement accounts.

 

[athena53]

In both my marriages it was all separate. The first one was because my Ex was a financial train wreck who spent every dime he could get his hands on and then maxed out his credit cards. The second one was because I liked it that way, DH was fine with it and I'm a bit of a financial control freak. If he took $100 of cash out of his own checking account for walking-around money, that was fine- I didn't care what he did with it. It would have driven me crazy if it were a joint account. Later I did add him as an authorized user on my credit cards so we could both rack up miles and hotel points. That worked just fine. Neither of us made a large purchase without letting the other know.

In my experience, either arrangement can work- or not. What's important is being on the same page financially.

 

[RetireAge50]

All combined. We started with nothing so there never was any other thoughts.

 

[Nemo2]

Our wills, etc. are essentially duplicates of the other's too. We must be boring.

We have only one will; if/when one of us shuffles off, everything goes to the other. Third party distribution, when we're both gone, is outlined and we both trust the other not to instigate post mortem revisions.

 

[Ole Red 29]

been married 35 years and have shared all finances since day one.

 

[street]

I didn't mention but we do have a joint checking and savings account together but any other investments (IRA's etc.) are separate. I don't use her accounts in my calculations.

 

[FIREd]

When we got married, neither one of us had any asset. During the marriage, everything ended up being held jointly (except 401Ks and IRAs obviously). Now I'm divorced and I will never commingle my assets with anyone else.

 

[jfn111]

We use sort of a hybrid method. We have a main joint checking account that my pension and her SS gets deposited. We have joint credit cards for all home purchases. I keep a separate checking account and credit cards for my real estate business.

 

[Dreamer]

All assets in Joint Tenancy except for retirement accounts that are individually held naming the other as beneficiaries.

Same here.

 

[HenryD]

No joint accounts except the mortgage. We've just fallen into habits on who pays what bills. Account balances and investment asset allocation is coordinated across all accounts.

 

[Jerry1]

As mentioned, retirement accounts are in individual names, but we consider everything to be ours. I’m a bit amused when I hear people talk about his and her money. With the exception of those with a formal agreement, it’s like they don’t realize they’re married and that the judge will consider almost everything marital assets.

Along with owning everything jointly, we discuss all significant purchases. I could go out and buy a car for me to drive any day and DW would never flinch. However, I would never do that without having a conversation with her about it.

Given that we got married young and this is our only marriage, it makes this a lot easier. When we got married, DW made more money than me. After college that changed, but neither of us every gave that difference any thought. I don’t live in nirvana, but joint ownership in the marriage has never been an issue. We say we each own 100% of everything. Slightly different than 50/50.

 

[athena53]

Along with owning everything jointly, we discuss all significant purchases. I could go out and buy a car for me to drive any day and DW would never flinch. However, I would never do that without having a conversation with her about it.

I agree! DH and I always used to laugh at commercials around this time of year in which one spouse surprises the other with a big, shiny, expensive new car with a giant Christmas bow on it. No way either of us would have committed that much in assets (or future payments) without consulting the other.

 

[O2Bfree]

We have separate retirement accounts, checking accounts, and CCs, but share one joint checking account for household bills that can't be paid electronically, such as property tax. For other expenses, we use CCs to get cash back. I track all expenses on a spreadsheet and we take turns paying to keep things even within a couple hundred dollars. DH will get a pension, and we haven't decided about the survivorship payments yet.

We were together for 21 years before getting married. Early on, we stayed just shacked up to make sure my assets were protected from his ex during the child support years. After that, we felt no urgent need for marriage, since we weren't going to have kids together and we had our wills in order. Plus our taxes were lower staying single. We got hitched just before DH retired so I could put him on my health insurance at work. That gave us another nice tax boost with him not working.

 

[euro]

Everything joint here except for IRA, ROTH, & SEP accounts, but we treat them as joint.

same here