Spouses Investing Apart

Giving what is and has been happening in the economy, it is important that Wife CFOs stay on top of financial news. So many marriages and families were impacted negatively from a reduction in pay, some lost their jobs which caused them to not be able to pay their bills or become late in paying their bills for the first time and some lost their homes.

As I was reading tonight, I read an article titled Spouses Who Invest Apart and it shared pros and cons. The article was sharing how women are outliving men and receive lower Social Security which was a reason for investing apart. However, a con to investing apart is that couple could end up paying double commissions for the same stock.

Wives – let’s really take a look at this objectively and let me know what you think. If you and your spouse both work outside the home for someone else – more than likely you have a 401(k) which would be separate and not joint. Is that not correct? If one of you work outside the home and the other is a self-employed business owner, if you have planned both of you can still have retirement accounts. There are retirement plans for self-employed business owners.

Recommendation: Do your research as to how investing separately would affect your taxes now and in the future? Know the tax implications.

Also what is your motivation if you choose to invest separately? What do you hope to accomplish? Only you truly know what is best for your family. Do not disregard the tax question it may very well give you a new perspective when it comes to investing.