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How do I connect my spouse’s Betterment account to mine?

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There are three different ways of connecting your spouse’s Betterment account to yours, each for different reasons:

Householding accounts

Householding your spouse’s Betterment account and yours combines your balances for the sole purpose of meeting minimum balance requirements for our various plans. As a side note, Betterment checking account balances are excluded from minimum balance requirements regardless of whether they’re householded.

Creating a joint Cash Reserve or investing account automatically households your and your spouse’s Betterment accounts, and also establishes a taxpayer relationship (more on this below) between the two of you.

If you don’t have a joint account and would like to household your and your spouse’s accounts, or the Betterment account of anyone who resides with you, please contact us.

Establishing a taxpayer relationship

Establishing a taxpayer relationship with your spouse on Betterment helps us manage tax strategies across all of your relevant Betterment investing accounts. In the case of tax loss harvesting, for example, it can help lower the likelihood of wash sales wiping out your harvests.

As mentioned, joint Cash Reserve and investing accounts at Betterment automatically establish a taxpayer relationship between the two Betterment customers. If you don’t have a joint account and would still like to establish a taxpayer relationship with your spouse, be sure to check the “My spouse has a Betterment account” box while creating a Cash Reserve or investing account and follow the instructions you’ll receive via email.

To confirm whether a taxpayer relationship has already been established, follow these steps:

  1. Log in to your Betterment account from a web browser
  2. Navigate to “Settings” > “Profile” > “Financial information”
  3. Look for the “Spouse has a Betterment account” heading and “Yes” underneath

If you don’t see the heading, follow these steps to establish a taxpayer relationship after the fact:

  1. Click “Edit” in the “Financial information” section
  2. Select the appropriate tax filing status from the related dropdown menu
  3. Check the “My spouse has a Betterment account” box and follow the instructions you’ll receive via email

To remove a taxpayer relationship, both individuals need to contact us with the statement, "I authorize the removal of our taxpayer relationship."

Pairing spousal accounts

Pairing your spouse’s Betterment account with yours gives you both a more holistic view over shared goals and projections.

You can pair your spouse’s Betterment account the same as you would connect any other external account:

  1. Ask your spouse to log in to their Betterment account and navigate to “Settings” > “Security” (shortcut)
  2. Under “App Passwords,” click “Generate a new password”
  3. Now, log in to your own Betterment account and navigate to “Settings” > “Connected accounts” (shortcut)
  4. Click the blue “Connect new” button
  5. Follow the prompts and search for “Betterment” in the “Find institution” search bar
  6. Enter the email address and newly-generated app password associated with your spouse’s Betterment account
  7. Click “Submit”

You now have view-only access to your spouse’s Betterment account balance. You can hide duplicate account balances, such as joint accounts, by navigating to Settings > Connected accounts > Edit > Hide.