Hi All,
My husband and I are nearly consumer debt free and are getting serious about figuring out investing. I'm curious how others approach it as a married couple. We have joined all our finances and are committed to viewing our investments, income, expenses, debt, etc as a joint entity - ours, rather than his and mine. However, I understand that retirement accounts cannot be held jointly.
He has about $40,000 in an old 401K that we plan to roll over. I have around $20,000 in a pension I plan to cash out (former teacher) and in a couple of poorly invested IRA's. He works full time, while I work very part time and stay home with our children. Moving forward, the majority of our retirement investing will be done by him (even if we invest most of my salary, it's still less than 1/4th of our total investment).
We're planning to open a Vanguard account and will likely diversify in 3-4 funds (still working on the details). Should we each diversify our own accounts across the 3-4 funds that we choose? Or, should we put my money into 1-2 fund and his in 2-3 funds?
Other married couples who combine finances, do you look at how your portfolio is balanced as a couple or individually?
Any advice is appreciated!