Network of Individual versus Couple - how do you qualify?

[BMEPhDinCO]

Hi all,

This topic always gets me a bit confused - if you are married, do you only give your net-worth (divide in two, assets each brings, etc) or do you give the "couple's" net-worth when you report the value?

I've always used the couple value personally, I plan on staying married to DH through the end and thus it is OUR money - but then for those "by 35 you should be worth $XX" sorts of things confuse me.   

Any thoughts?

[Capsu78]

I consider it a "household" metric , so we both put it on the same scoreboard.
As for 25X I would also combine income, but find those rules of thumb less than useful any for any number of "spending" issues.

[ender]

Are your spendings separate?

• Yes - use individual net worth
• No - use your combined net worth

If you are even remotely interested in this site's overall content, the "by 35 you should have $XX" figures already don't apply at all.

[Retired To Win]

Are your spendings separate?

• Yes - use individual net worth
• No - use your combined net worth

...

We use a "blended" approach because some of our spendings are separate and some are not.  And our retirement investment accounts are separate (as IRAs have to be).

[Valhalla]

The only way to give net worth is according to how it can be legally reported.  The law dictates what you are allowed to keep if you marry or divorce.  If you're married it should be couple / family net worth. If legally single then it should be single's net worth.

Any other way makes no sense, because the law will tell you what's yours and what's not.