Stop including your spouse’s net worth as part of your own!

[Anonymous]

I never understood why people do this. While it’s not quite as dumb as my saying, “Elon Musk and I together are billionaires!“, it’s pretty close.

Just head on over to the relationship forum if you don’t believe that marriages end. And even if you do stay together, marriage requires a lot of compromise and sacrifice. If you consider net worth as a measure of financial freedom, the drawbacks of marriage really eliminate a lot of that “freedom.“

Moreover, if two 35-year-olds each have $500,000 saved, why do they suddenly become millionaires when they get married?? But it makes people feel better to say that they have a net worth of $1 million instead of $500,000, so I guess we’ll keep using this silly standard.

[Anonymous]

Never seen this. People use household income, which is accurate.

[Anonymous]

Two become one.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a you problem.

We file joint tax returns and have joint accounts. Our combined income is just that — combined. It belongs to both of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never understood why people do this. While it’s not quite as dumb as my saying, “Elon Musk and I together are billionaires!“, it’s pretty close.

Just head on over to the relationship forum if you don’t believe that marriages end. And even if you do stay together, marriage requires a lot of compromise and sacrifice. If you consider net worth as a measure of financial freedom, the drawbacks of marriage really eliminate a lot of that “freedom.“

Moreover, if two 35-year-olds each have $500,000 saved, why do they suddenly become millionaires when they get married?? But it makes people feel better to say that they have a net worth of $1 million instead of $500,000, so I guess we’ll keep using this silly standard.

Are you going through a divorce or something?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, OP seems bitter about relationships so it may be a divorce situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two become one.

Exactly. That is the point of marriage.

[Anonymous]

Are you talking about 401k's? What other assets aren't in a joint account?

[Anonymous]

This is a very odd rant.

[Anonymous]

Most people become a single financial entity when they marry. They file MFJ on their tax return, they share the costs of running a household, they pool their resources to meet joint goals and they lose half their assets when they divorce.

[Anonymous]

Our wealth was built jointly. He worked and made more when I was in grad school. Now I make more. I manage our finances, so the growth of both of our savings is due to me. We have children. If we were ever to divorce, we are agreed that everything would split. Sure, in an ugly divorce that’s unlikely to be so easy but I don’t live my life with the fear of an unlikely possibility.

Sorry you are going through whatever led you to this rant OP.

[Anonymous]

Dh and I aren’t divorcing. And if he dies I get his money.

Most people never mention net worth. It’s a hard thing to calculate. Everyone I know uses household income, which by definition means both incomes.

[Anonymous]

Isn’t that how we did the math with Bezos? Half was always McKenzie’s….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dh and I aren’t divorcing. And if he dies I get his money.

Most people never mention net worth. It’s a hard thing to calculate. Everyone I know uses household income, which by definition means both incomes.

While I disagree with the OP, this is just wrong. Net worth is a common calculation that matters a great deal when planning for the future.

A couple with a household income of 1M but no savings and assets who plans to retire in five years is in a VERY different situation than a couple with a HHI of 500K and 5M in assets and savings who plans to retire in five years.

[Anonymous]

OP, Google “marital assets.” You’ll find out why the possibility of a relationship ending is not relevant in calculating net worth.