Joint savings account?

[SauRoNZA]

Only a bad idea if you the rich partner.

Or unwilling to share.

The moment you are willing to share wholeheartedly you can put in a much better team effort and actually generate more wealth through transparency.

 

[3WA]

Or unwilling to share.

The moment you are willing to share wholeheartedly you can put in a much better team effort and actually generate more wealth through transparency.

Jesus, you just gave me the single man blues.

 

[newby_investor]

There is insurance specifically for this purpose that should be part of your death benefits.

It's a sum of money that pays out within 24 hours of death to tide people over during the account freeze stage.

A good broker would have set this up for you.

I personally don't have life insurance other than the group policy set up by my employer. For various reasons which aren't really relevant here.

But yeah, agreed, that should be a factor to consider.

 

[Swa]

Here is my solution. Simply share the cards and login details or get a second card. In the event of the account holder's death just transfer everything to the other person. People usually forget to do this as they are too distraught but it's imperative it's done immediately as the executor would want their share of anything that's there after the date of death. Doesn't apply though if married in community of property as all accounts get frozen in any case.

Problem you have with a joint account is from a reporting and tax perspective.

How does the bank generate an IT3(b), how would it know who to attribute what portion of interest to each individual .. make sense?

It's not a problem. It gets attributed evenly the same as when you're married in community of property.

 

[babyfacek]

I personally don't have life insurance other than the group policy set up by my employer. For various reasons which aren't really relevant here.

But yeah, agreed, that should be a factor to consider.

Please share

 

[The_Ogre]

The only reason is in the event of the account holder's death, and the account is frozen while estate is wound up.

Who keeps enough money in bank account for the other spouse to worry about money in the event of your death anyway? Your main (in my case cheque) account only has the most money in it when I get paid, next day is my bond and all savings, investments and insurance debit orders. The following day there's only my gadget, beer and side-chick's blessing money left.

This joint account thing doesn't make sense nowadays.

If you're really that worried, do the following. If your paydate is the 25th, do the following
Set all your debit orders to go off on the 28th
Set up a stop order to transfer your entire salary to your wife on the 26th, just in case you die.
Set up a stop order on your wife's account to transfer your entire salary back to your account on the 27th...however, should you die, with your last breath, mouth: "CANCEL STOP ORDER".

A dead man has no debt, therefore it's her responsibility to make sure that the stop order does NOT kick in!!!

 

[newby_investor]

Please share

Mostly, we have no dependants (yet - this may change in coming weeks), and my wife is capable of looking after herself for the rest of her life, she can get back into the labour pool easily enough.

Insurance is a gamble. If you end up not needing it, it's a bit of a waste. I rather invest what I would have put on life insurance, so that after a long career there can actually be something to enjoy.

If I had many children and a wife who wouldn't be able to find a job for herself, then I might think differently though.

 

[Swa]

Mostly, we have no dependants (yet - this may change in coming weeks), and my wife is capable of looking after herself for the rest of her life, she can get back into the labour pool easily enough.

Insurance is a gamble. If you end up not needing it, it's a bit of a waste. I rather invest what I would have put on life insurance, so that after a long career there can actually be something to enjoy.

If I had many children and a wife who wouldn't be able to find a job for herself, then I might think differently though.

Main reason people still take out life insurance is it's tax free. Money you've invested still forms part of inheritance tax.

 

[newby_investor]

Main reason people still take out life insurance is it's tax free. Money you've invested still forms part of inheritance tax.

I was kind of talking about if I don't die though. I can still enjoy my investments then. Doesn't really help me much if I outlive the life insurance and then don't get to enjoy any of the money.