Do You Know What's in Your Spouse's Wallet?

Here's an interesting question:

Do you know what's in your spouse's wallet?

CNNMoney says that most people have no clue about the contents of their partner's wallet/purse -- much less the complete financial picture for their family. But the piece argues that each person should. The highlights:

You can't come to smart decisions - or even joint decisions - if you don't know what assets and liabilities you're working with and what your partner's goals and priorities are. "You also lose out on the benefit of collective thinking," says family lawyer and financial planner Violet Woodhouse, author of Divorce and Money.

In other words, two heads really are better than one for solving financial problems. The blinders-on approach also makes a crisis more difficult to handle. Should your spouse pass away, you'll be left scrambling to find bank accounts and insurance policies. And if you divorce, you'll be at a real disadvantage in getting your fair share.

Fortunately, the solution is simple: Mostly, what you have to do is talk to each other.

Here's what we do:

• One person handles the finances (me.) I see EVERYTHING since I track all our spending, investments, etc. on Quicken and have done so for 15 years or so now.

• Once a year, I do a report for my wife detailing where our finances stand. We review it together and discuss the situation, plans for the next year, etc. In the past, I've actually prepared a PowerPoint presentation for her, but I'm thinking of simply printing out some Quicken reports this year.

• She has a general sense of where everything is if something was to happen to me, but I need to write down all the details of where to find insurance specifics, investment details, etc. I've put this on my list to develop for her.

How about you? Do you know your family's complete financial picture or just a part of it?

Comments

[NCN]

Yep, I know and she knows. Once a quarter, we go over all of our accounts and I create a spreadsheet detailing all of our balances. Since we both use cash (for most purchases), it's important that we coordinate spending and saving.

[Kevin]

I handle the finances day-to-day, reconcile statements and generally make sure bills are getting paid and our accounts are updated.

Usually monthly (or more if she asks) I'll updated my wife on our savings balance, total net worth and whatever else I think is necessary such as a spike in a certain expense we may need to watch.

This system works great for us as she isn't interested in the day-to-day stuff. We've set our short and long term goals and all she's really interested in is the progress towards them.

I also have a list of accounts, passwords, etc in a safe place if something were to happen to me.

[David]

I handle our finances. My wife mostly just spends the money. If I died, she would be in trouble.

[john]

My parents have joing accounts that my dad takes care of, and individual accounts that each takes care of themselves. That way, they can spend some money without the other knowing how they wasted it. But they take time to know how the joint accounts are doing and where the joint money goes.

[Aaron]

I'm kind of in Davids camp. Although this year we've been doing better at keeping the wife informed. I say we, because her eyes kinda glaze over when budgets come up. But, she's doing great lately being involved in the decisions.

[Lizzay]

Everything my husband and I have is joint. Once CC is in his name, and the other in mine (to build credit) but we each have cards for them and use them for different purposes (i.e. one has cash rewards). Most financial decisions are made together, and we rarely purchase anything over $50 (more like $10) without the other one being "in" on the decision (we almost always shop together (I don't drive), except for food and health items). Why? This is just the way we like it. The main "conflict" is that I want to pay off debt quicker, and he wants to save/invest more.

We are both Quicken addicts, constantly checking account balances. I have the primary responsibility of making sure all non-automatic bills get paid, avoiding overdrafts, and keeping Quicken up-to-date, if my husband hasn't done it already.

[cytoman]

FMF,

A PowerPoint??? Oh my... I thought I was anal but I will have to show this post to my wife to give her some perspective.

[Billy]

We only have joint accounts. I track all of our spending in an excel spreadsheet -- its not fancy but it works well for me. I email my wife a copy of the sheet from time to time. Other than that, I have an up to date list of all of our fincial accounts on the computer. I keep meaning to print it out and put it into the fireproof strong box that we have... We don't really have a set period of time to review things, but we probably should. Other than this, I do occasionally have to tell my wife not to spend money for the next couple of days till we get paid -- not because we are out of money but because I aggressively move money into our savings account or onto the mortgage. At times it feels like we live paycheck to paycheck, but we don't really.

[So]

we do it together. actually I take care of the finance in our family. My husband used to hate them. and Im quite good :) but all the decisions are taken together. He nows how much I have and I know excactly how much he has.

[John]

I maintain an "annual report" with some monthly updates, and quarterly "Balance Sheet" and "Income Statement" reports. We discuss it annually, and I keep historical versions to track long-term progress.

Separately, I maintain (annually) a "Letter of Instruction" which has details about where wills, POAs are as well as details for every online account and how to access it.

[Blah]

Someone is ripping off you and other blogger's content. See moneytp. Not linking.

[FMF]

Blah --

Saw it and it's been handled. Thanks.

[savvy]

I manage our finances but don't really keep tabs on hubby's individual spending. (We have joint and individual accounts). A while back, I created a document for him that details all our accounts as well as how to access them and how/when/from what account each of the bills are paid.

I generally only give updates if something changes (for example, we recently purchased umbrella insurance) because he's content to let me handle it. However, I do give him actions from time to time (i.e. put $XXX in your IRA by Y date).

[David]

I should add that although I handle the every day care of our finances, neither my wife's nor my spending goes unchecked. We always run big purchases by each other. That's the only way to keep the budget intact.

[robert]

i handle all of our finances and i have everything in ACEMoney program on our computer.
it's a really easy way to see all of your accounts including portfolios, and it only cost 29.95

[dollslikeus]

I think both of you need to know how you are doing finicially so you can make descions together on how to handle your money.
I had a friend who divorced her husband he kept the books he divorced her and had 20 thousand dollars left to put down on a new house.