[Christy]

I am setting up a vanguard account and have several questions. Should I open in my own name or in both mine and my husbands?

Mainly asking if it will make a difference in our taxes. He earns about $95k with bonus but does not have a 401k or HSA (nothing offered through his work, it is a local small business) I make $230k and max out my 401k and HSA.

We at one point were adding the max to a Roth IRA for him but we can’t anymore because I make too much.

He has about $105k in his Roth and I have $550K in the 401.

We need to start investing more in a brokerage and I have a fidelity account but am finding I am having issues even adding money to it.

I want to open a vanguard but am already stuck if I should do one in each of our names or a combined and who should be the “owner” for tax purposes.

Maybe it doesn’t ultimately matter because we file jointly?

[Linda]

A few things
1) it doesn’t matter for tax purposes. We have a joint brokerage account.

Note that at Vanguard, you cannot have a beneficiary on a joint brokerage account, which is annoying to me, but not a deal-breaker

2) if you exceed the income levels for Roth contributions, you can instead have him contribute to a traditional IRA.

OR… he can contribute a traditional IRA and then convert the amount into a Roth IRA.

This is called a back-door Roth. Link below.

3) Since you’re high earners, it might be more beneficial (from a tax standpoint) for you each to have a traditional IRA instead.

You can then convert these amounts to Roth during early retirement, when your income will likely be lower.

[Bill]

Not sure what issues you’re having adding money to your Fidelity account. They make it very easy if your bank account is linked.

If you want to open a brokerage account, highly suggest doing it with Fidelity over Vanguard.

Vanguard has a ridiculous rule where, if you open a joint brokerage account, you cannot name beneficiaries.

It just goes to the survivor of the joint account. If both die together, it goes through probate.

There’s no need to deal with that when Fidelity does not play that game.

I suppose if you’re committed to Vanguard, you could do an individual brokerage account, but that’s your call.

You can still contribute to your husband’s Roth IRA using the Backdoor Roth process. Only takes a couple steps.

[Trent]

Different states recognize “joint” accounts differently. But you should consider having both individuals named on the account.

If one partner passes away, and only their name is on the account, the funds may be frozen and the other partner left unable to access until it goes through a probate process.

[Rick]

It won’t matter tax wise as you file married joint
If the source of the funds is very personal,like an inheritance, you should probably open the account solo.

You may make to much to contribute regular method to a Roth IRA but you never make too much to contribute via backdoor Roth contributions.

Don’t miss out of the power of Roth.

[Anna]

All of our non-retirement accounts are joint to make everything easier. We file married filing jointly. I also find Fidelity is WAY more user friendly than Vanguard.

[Jay]

1) skip vanguard – they are not what they used to be. Schwab?
2) you have to open your own accounts for your own SSN.

3) Later you can have joint accounts, however they start as individual accounts.

4) you will need to grant access to see each others IRA accounts, because they start out via SSN.

5) Look into state laws on how to best title the joint account – not all options are listed. “Tenants by Entirety” is popular.

[Author]

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