Author Topic: Vanguard - Dumb Question  (Read 1245 times)

Flyingstache

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Vanguard - Dumb Question
« on: October 20, 2020, 06:52:11 AM »
Hello!

My wife & I (both 29) are teachers & coaches in OH with 2 young kiddos. We have no debt other than our house.

We currently have about $118k in our Vanguard account spread between a traditional & Roth IRA (from my previous employer 401ks when I was working in business), & a basic investment account.

We are wanting to set up a Roth IRA for my wife so we can max that out as well. I have my sign in information for the Vanguard account which has all 3 of our accounts listed. Here is my dumb question...Does my wife need to create her own account (login & everything) to open up her Roth IRA or can she do that from my account?

My assumption is she has to make her own account since a person can only have 1 Roth under their name. I could be very wrong!

Thanks for all your help!

The Guru

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Re: Vanguard - Dumb Question
« Reply #1 on: October 20, 2020, 07:17:42 AM »
This is a shot in the dark based on my own recent experience, so here goes:

Mrs. Guru and I each have individual account at Vanguard. This past week I opened a joint account: when i open my account info (or hers, presumably) the joint account is listed as well. Which is a pretty cool feature.

I assume the joint info appears on our individual accounts because we both require access, but the opposite isn't true: if she wants an individual account she needs to create one separately. Though presumably once that's done it would appear on any joint statements.

terran

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Re: Vanguard - Dumb Question
« Reply #2 on: October 20, 2020, 07:48:23 AM »
It is possible to give someone full authority to do anything with your Vanguard account, but it takes some work (I think it requires a notary). The fact that you can see her account doesn't mean you have this authority as there are lower levels from as low as just seeing the account to some other higher levels without full authority. If you ever run into something you need to do with her account that you can't it would probably be easiest if she just had her own login.

BECABECA

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Re: Vanguard - Dumb Question
« Reply #3 on: October 20, 2020, 09:38:12 AM »
Yes, she needs to set up her own account. But then she can add you as a Trusted Advisor which would allow you to make deposits and disbursements to/from her linked bank account and rebalance on her behalf from your login. It’s easy to set up online and can be completed in a few minutes (I have this on my wife’s accounts and she has it on mine). And it’s nice because when you log in, you’ll see all of your accounts and all of hers, so your full financial picture is all on one screen. I really haven’t seen any need to grant the full account authority that requires notarization.

erutio

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Re: Vanguard - Dumb Question
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2020, 10:02:09 AM »
Is there a reason you are reluctant to open a Vanguard account under your wife's name? 

Flyingstache

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Re: Vanguard - Dumb Question
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2020, 10:17:46 AM »
Hey Everyone,

Thanks SO much for all the responses & the clarification!

We will get this set up tonight!

No hesitation about my wife having her own account or account in her own name we were mostly just trying to make sure there wasn't an easier way where we both could have access to everything. This helps clear things up!

Really appreciate it!

August26th

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Re: Vanguard - Dumb Question
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2020, 11:54:43 AM »
I did this exact same thing a year or two ago, and had to open a new account for my spouse to set up his Roth IRA. But, as someone else said, when you log into either of our accounts, we can each see our joint brokerage (but not the other person’s Roth.)

MDM

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Re: Vanguard - Dumb Question
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2020, 01:00:00 PM »
...since a person can only have 1 Roth under their name.
Only one person can own a particular IRA (whether traditional or Roth), but one person may own multiple IRAs (traditional or Roth or both).

 

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