Investing With Your Spouse?

You are going to be with this person for a greater part of your life and all decisions will naturally involve this person.

On the list of the top issues that couples have, money ranks high. It is one of the main sources of conflict in relationships. From having different earning capacity to different spending habits, it is almost impossible to be on a financial journey without your spouse being involved.

This is because you are going to be with this person for a greater part of your life and all decisions will naturally involve this person. It is normal for one spouse to be more involved in investment affairs and worry about saving for the future more than the other.

It is also normal for one spouse to earn significantly more than the other. This is why it is important to be very open with your partner. Without proper communication, not only will conflict arise, there might be situations where one spouse is sabotaging the investment plan of the other.

Have conversations about your financial goals, the available financial resources, and the kind of risks you can take. Then create an investment plan accordingly. It doesn’t matter if you and your spouse still have separate income and investment.

As a matter of fact, you cannot jointly invest in stocks from one brokerage account. Both of you can only invest and take your investments as part of the same portfolio. The following investments are great for you and your partner to start with.

Savings and Treasury Assets

Whether you are investing in the money market or you just have savings accounts, short term investments should be one of the investments you and your partner are jointly involved in.

This is because they represent the investments that can be speedily converted to cash. As such, to meet day-to-day expenses or immediate needs, these are naturally the most accessible options.

For example, where there are immediate unexpected needs to be met with your children and one partner is not available, the other can fill in. They are also risk-free assets that you can grow steadily over time with no risk or pressure.

Invest For Retirement / Education

Another thing you and your partner are jointly responsible for is the education of your children and even the furtherance of your individual studies. You and your partner are also responsible for the fate of your retirement, as after your kids have gone off to start their own homes, you will be left together.

You and your partner should decide on the kind of investment that will help both of you achieve your long term goals whether it is in stocks or in real estate. A key thing to discuss here is risk because if one partner is very big on taking crazy risks and the other is not, financial losses could spell relationship problems.

Invest For Emergencies

Another very important aspect of investing is investing for contingencies and emergencies. To start, the entire family should be on a good health insurance plan. It is the best investment you can be involved in as it saves the entire family from high out-of-pocket costs.

Having a good home insurance plan is also good where you own a home. Also, even though nobody likes to talk about it, in cases of fatalities as well, financial difficulties should not compound the issues at hand.

Starting A Joint Business

Finally, a common way couples invest together is by running a business together. If you and your partner have similar goals or just want to have something that adds to the family income, then you can start a joint business where you both invest in and grow to the best of your abilities.

Note, once again, that for any of these to work, there must be clear communication. It is the only way to succeed in it.

Written by Lawretta Egba.