Author Topic: So Many Accounts....?  (Read 5719 times)

Broadway2019

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 296
So Many Accounts....?
« on: July 02, 2017, 11:03:39 AM »
How many accounts do most married people have? So my fiance and me are looking at combining our income/expenses. We were thinking the following:

1) 1 Joint Checking Account for general household expenses
2) 2 individual checking accounts
3) 2 individual savings accounts
4) 2 IRA accounts
5) 1 Joint Vanguard Account

So that is 8 accounts not including 401ks? Does that sound right?



Al1961

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 225
  • Age: 62
  • Location: Alberta - B.C.
  • Dad of a husky Husky
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2017, 11:12:50 AM »
There is no one right answer to this. It depends on the individuals involved, their financial/relationship history, etc.

We have one joint chequing account, one joint saving account, one joint after tax brokerage account, and each have separate retirement accounts. We didn't start out that way.

Al

extremedefense

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 63
  • Location: DFW - Texas
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2017, 11:29:32 AM »
My wife and I have:
Bills checking account (joint)
My checking account (joint)
Her checking account (not joint, but I don't care)
Roth IRA x2
Traditional IRA x2
401k x2
Ally savings account (now with 1.15% interest) (joint)
Joint CMA (after tax investment account)

We synced them all with personal capital so we only have to login to one place to get our total balances and net worth. Also, it's great for seeing our purchases because we use over 5 credit cards regularly and personal capital is way better than mint.

ketchup

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4323
  • Age: 33
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2017, 11:36:37 AM »
His checking
Her checking
His 401k
Her IRA
His HSA
Her PayPal

Plus an unholy mess of credit cards (thanks CC churning), many with the other as an authorized user, all on "autopay statement balance" from one of the checking accounts.  Lots of Chase Quickpay money flying back and forth between our checking accounts as needed.

VeggieTable

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 143
  • Location: GA
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2017, 11:54:28 AM »
We have:
2 checking/savings accounts (one is a local credit union, so we use that one more)
1 Ally savings account
1 joint brokerage acct
Several individual retirement accounts

All are joint except the retirement accounts. We've been married 7 years and have always been joint owners on each other's accounts, but we each had "our" accounts the other never looked at (out of laziness). It wasn't until I took over all bill-paying and financial stuff about a year ago that we consolidated accounts. (I only took over b/c my husband travels too much to keep up with it, not because of any sort of trust/overspending issue.)

I trust my husband completely, never felt a need to look at "his" accounts, just wanted to be a joint owner on everything because it is both our money, after all. It has made shifting/merging accounts *way* easier.

GuitarStv

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 23128
  • Age: 42
  • Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #5 on: July 02, 2017, 01:33:05 PM »
We've been slowly merging and consolidating our accounts down to a single joint checking account, a single credit card, and a single investment/brokerage account.  I've found it infinitely easier to manage our money this way (coming from 8+ seperate accounts on both sides).

marty998

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7372
  • Location: Sydney, Oz
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #6 on: July 02, 2017, 03:19:50 PM »
I almost have more than that and I'm single.

Financial accounts breed like rabbits...

C-note

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 106
  • Location: Colorado
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #7 on: July 02, 2017, 04:01:50 PM »
1 joint checking
2 joint savings
7 retirement/investment accounts - retirement accounts are individual and our 2 investment accounts are jointly owned

Married 31 years.  We started our married life with joint checking and joint savings accounts - one of each - and have added the retirement & investment accounts over time.

Like others have said, I think this is going to vary greatly within the MMM community and all couples in general.

catccc

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1906
  • Location: SE PA
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2017, 01:04:58 PM »
I think we are relatively streamlined, but it still seems like a lot. 
We have:
1 joint checking
1 joint savings
1 joint taxable investment account
2 Roth IRAs
2 Traditional IRAs
1 Rollover IRA
1 401K
2 529s (we have 2 kids)

We will soon have a 403B to add to the list.

Lady SA

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 556
  • Age: 32
  • Location: Midwest
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2017, 01:11:06 PM »
1 joint checking - credit union
1 joint savings - credit union
1 joint taxable brokerage account - vanguard
2 individual 401ks - employer
2 individual IRAs - vanguard

DH and I like things simple :)

SimpleCycle

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1259
  • Location: Chicago
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2017, 01:34:16 PM »
I've found that the retirement/investing accounts have a mind of their own, and finances tend to get more complicated over time.  For example, in theory we'd like one joint taxable investing account, but we needed to open a second one at a different brokerage so DW could participate in her ESPP.

But here's our basic set up:

1 joint checking account for almost all expenses
2 individual checking accounts for "fun money" (not necessary, but has provided some harmony in our marriage)
1 joint savings
1 joint credit card
I keep several rewards credit cards in my name only, as DW has no interest in optimizing rewards.

johnny847

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3188
    • My Blog
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2017, 01:45:09 PM »
Single here, but I have way more accounts than that.

1 primary checking account at CCU
1 traditional IRA at Vanguard
1 Roth IRA at Vanguard
1 taxable brokerage account at Vanguard
1 checking at BoA
1 checking at Schwab for international ATM usage
1 taxable brokerage account at Schwb which was mandatory for opening their checking
1 SIMPLE IRA account at Schwab for my side hustle
1 taxable brokerage account at Fidelity for international ATM usage
5 checking accounts opened for bonuses

So that's 14 bank and brokerage/retirement accounts.
I also have personal and business PayPal accounts, if you want to count those.

Then there's the credit cards: 30 of them across 11 banks.

rdaneel0

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 646
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2017, 02:35:11 PM »
We keep it as simple as possible.

We have:
1 checking account
1 savings account
2 IRAs
2 401(k)
1 VTSAX

Guide2003

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 147
  • Location: Southern AL
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2017, 02:45:32 PM »
Merged finances at marriage and everything is joint:
2 checking accounts
2 savings accounts
2 Paypals
1 401k-ish account
2 IRA's
1 Taxable investment account
12ish credit cards
Mortgage

There's something to be said for simplicity, but the benefits that come with each appear worth it every time I sign up. Just took a trip to Alaska on points, and couldn't have the mortgage without a set of accounts at that bank.

spicykissa

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 157
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2017, 07:36:51 PM »
Funny, my spouse and I just came up with a plan to simplify some of this. We currently have:

2 checking (joint, mine)
3 taxable investment (his, mine, ours)
1 savings (his)
3 credit cards (2 his, one mine)
2 HSAa
2 401ks

The plan is move to one joint taxable account, invest the savings and get rid of that account (keep the savings buffer in checking), cancel the third credit card, and get rid of my separate checking account. So, when completely optimized, we'd still have 8 accounts!

Villanelle

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6651
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #15 on: July 03, 2017, 07:44:28 PM »
We have
two checking (one is basically only used for depositing our rental property check).
One savings
Two IRAs
One Trad IRA (from a 403b rollover)
One TSP
One joint investment account
A small gaggle of credit cards, only two of which are used much--one for each of us


AZDude

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1296
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #16 on: July 04, 2017, 06:07:00 PM »
How many accounts do most married people have? So my fiance and me are looking at combining our income/expenses. We were thinking the following:

1) 1 Joint Checking Account for general household expenses
2) 2 individual checking accounts
3) 2 individual savings accounts
4) 2 IRA accounts
5) 1 Joint Vanguard Account

So that is 8 accounts not including 401ks? Does that sound right?

Sounds about right. Although we do not have separate savings accounts, just separate checking accounts and separate retirement accounts.

Laura33

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3479
  • Location: Mid-Atlantic
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #17 on: July 05, 2017, 11:22:29 AM »
Sounds about right.  When we got married, we each had our own checking and savings and IRAs, along with 401(k)s from work, and I had a money market fund (EF/short-term savings) and post-tax investments (at the same place as my IRA).  So we started out with like 10 accounts!  We then opened up a joint checking account that covered most of the bills; we kept our individual checking accounts to hold our monthly personal "allowances," but the savings accounts went away.  We also converted the money market fund into a joint EF/short-term savings account and opened a new joint Vanguard account for joint post-tax investments.  So now we have:

3 checking accounts (his/mine/ours)
1 joint money market
2 post-tax investments (1 joint; 1 = my leftover allowance that I don't spend)
2 IRAs (1 backdoor Roth for me, 1 rollover IRA for him)
1 work account for him (where they put the periodic options and such)
2 current 401(k)s

OTOH, it took us about 10 years to get around to getting a joint credit card.  :-)

TheAnonOne

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1753
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #18 on: July 05, 2017, 01:46:46 PM »
We have around 10 investment accounts similar to ones listed above (401k x2, IRA x2, taxable, banks)

We also churn CC accounts and at one point had something like 27 cards open, though that has come down to something around 10-15.

(we close all CCs on the 11th month open UNLESS they offer some use-able yearly bonus, IE: Hyatt give 1 free night, so my wife and I each keep that one open @ $70ish a year)

catccc

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1906
  • Location: SE PA
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #19 on: July 05, 2017, 01:56:21 PM »
I should add we also have a slew of credit cards.  Just started travel hacking this year.  Occasionally, we will have additional bank (checking/savings) accounts open, but the intention is to close them after bonuses are in.

RWD

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 6527
  • Location: Arizona
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #20 on: July 05, 2017, 02:31:44 PM »
2 checking
3 savings
403b
401k
mandatory retirement plan
HSA
TD Ameritrade (to invest HSA)
2 Vanguard
PayPal
Prosper (inactive)

So 13-14 accounts? We closed an additional checking and savings account a couple years ago since we were no longer using it. It would be difficult to simplify much further.

BoonDogle

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 152
Re: So Many Accounts....?
« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2017, 02:53:30 PM »
Married here.  We like to keep it simple:

1 joint checking
1 401k Plan (DW works PT and doesn't have one)
1 HSA
1 joint Vanguard taxable account
1 Roth account
1 credit card