Asset Junkie ! dot Com

Is the old notion of getting married, opening joint bank accounts and moving all your money and investments nearly over? It should have been over a long time ago!

Too many couples face the problem, sooner or later, who is in charge of whos money? Whether one person spends more, or someone is better at financial management than the other there is always a problem over money concerns. A friend of mine got married and immediatly had to put everything he had into a joint account with his wife. This was forced on him by his family and by hers. On one hand I understand the seriousness of marriage and how it is the joining of two people both spritually and legally. On the other hand it is not 1832 anymore and people get divorced more then they stay together.

Personal safety is a must in todays worlds of on again and off again relationships and marriages. Making sure your future and family are cared for is not selfish, it’s smart. Keeping a safety net of funds in another bank or investment is not bad and you can even have it automatically turned over to your spouse in the chance you die or become unable to care for yourself. The truth is, in marriage, family and business you are only as strong as the weakest link. Couples can hid from the truth or focus their abilities on strengths.

Divided-Diversification is a term I coined meaning – diversified joint funds in a seperate location and management. If you take a married couple divide there assets equally or not and then diversify the investments in accordance with their natural investment styles you have a strong chance capital preservation. If the wife is a financial analyst and knows the ins and outs of the stock and bond markets and the husband is a real estate agent split the investment responsiblity accordingly.

Using a around number, $1,000,000 (common joint value of investable capital – 401k, stock accounts, etc) here is an example of how this can be achieved.

The wife being an educated financial analyst might be better positioned to manage $600k through stocks, bonds, and cash accounts. The husband being a real estate agent should know the local market and thus is better suited to make investments on behalf of the family in tangible assets such as rental property, land and a second home up to the remaining $400k.