Joint accounts

Yes. A joint Cash Reserve account offers up to $4,000,000† in FDIC insurance once funds are deposited into our program banks. This is separate from any cash held in an individual Cash Reserve account, which offers up to $2,000,000† in FDIC insurance once deposited into our program banks. Learn more about special considerations.

A joint Cash Reserve account can be created with any other Betterment customer, as permitted under your state’s laws. If you want to create a joint Cash Reserve account with someone who is not a Betterment customer, they must first open an individual Betterment account (but there is no obligation that the individual account be funded if they only wish to use the joint Cash Reserve account).

Two customers with a joint Cash Reserve account have equal ownership of the assets in the account. Each owner can transfer, deposit, and withdraw money. Upon the death of one of the joint Cash Reserve account owners, the entire interest in the account is transferred to the surviving account owner. On the other hand, a beneficiary does not have access, control, or ownership over the account while the account owner is alive. Upon the death of both of the joint account holders, the assets are ...

The account holder that opened the joint account is designated as the primary account holder. To see who the primary account holder is, log in and navigate to Settings > Accounts. We aren’t able to transfer primary ownership of a joint account once it’s been created. However, remember that a joint account is legally owned by both parties associated with the account. The IRS requires only the primary account holder be listed on tax statements. (Publication 550, page 3) Both account holders ...

First, create an individual Betterment account. Remember, you do not have to fund your individual account, and you can delete it afterwards without any fees or penalties. After you’ve created your individual account, follow the steps below to create a joint account. Log in to Betterment, either on a web browser or your mobile app. Click “Add New” from the menu if on a web browser, or “Add goal/account” if on the mobile app. Follow the on-screen prompts. An email invitation will be sent to the ...

Joint accounts can be created with any other Betterment customer, and you do not need to be married. If you want to create a joint account with someone who is not a Betterment customer, they must first open an individual Betterment account. There is no obligation to fund the individual account if they simply want to use the joint account that’s created after. The individual account can even be closed once the joint account is set up.

Two customers with a joint account have dual ownership of the assets in the account. Each owner can transfer money, create goals, change allocations, and more. Upon the death of one of the joint account owners, the assets are transferred to the surviving account owner. On the other hand, a beneficiary does not have access, control, or ownership over the account while the account owner is alive. Upon the death of both of the joint account holders, the assets are transferred to the beneficiary.

You can only have one joint account at a time. Should you ever need to open a new joint account with a new person, you can simply close your old one. Note that while you can only have a joint account with one person, you can set up multiple taxable investment goals within that joint account.

Our joint accounts enable two people to save and progress toward investment goals together. Both holders in a joint account have joint ownership of the assets in the account and are able to create goals, transfer funds from the linked checking account, make allocation changes, and view the account. We only support joint accounts with rights of survivorship. This means that upon the death of either owner of the joint account, the ownership of the account goes to the surviving joint account ...

The account holder who opened the joint account is designated as the primary account holder. To see who the primary account holder is, log in and navigate to Settings > Accounts. We aren’t able to transfer primary ownership of a joint account once it’s been created. However, remember that a joint account is legally owned by both parties associated with the account. The IRS requires only the primary account holder be listed on tax statements. The primary account holder, which is the person ...

Joint Cash Reserve accounts and joint cash goals are available. If you don’t have an account with Betterment yet, sign up now. If you already have a Betterment investing account, log in now. The sign up flow will prompt you to determine whether you will be the only person using Cash Reserve, or whether you would like a joint account.

You can transfer between your joint and individual Cash Reserve accounts up to 5 times per day. Your funds are generally available same-day, but sometimes may take longer, particularly if you have recently deposited funds into your Cash Reserve account. Note that bank holidays do not count as business days. You can see a list of bank holidays here. Transaction Timeline Table To transfer between Cash Reserve accounts: Web browser: Log into Betterment. Click “Transfer or Rollover” in the upper ...

In most cases, actions do not require consent from both account owners. These include closing the account, deposits, withdrawals, most types of transfers, changes to the connected checking account, and beneficiary changes.

Yes, you can link up to three external bank accounts to fund your joint account. Additionally, you can always use Betterment Checking to fund your joint account. Log in and change your linked bank accounts. See wire instructions instead. Betterment only supports connections to bank accounts that are in the account owners name.

Yes, you can transfer between your individual and joint investment and cash accounts. Within accounts held at Betterment, we only allow transfers involving individual and joint investing accounts if you are listed as married to the account owner. Note: This requirement does not apply if you created the joint account and are the primary account owner. Confirm spouse details, or, if you are not married, contact us and we can help you with a manual transfer. To transfer between your individual and ...

If your joint account is with your spouse and you file your taxes jointly, you can enable TLH+. When you enable TLH+ on your Betterment account, you’ll be asked for your spouse’s account information so that we can look across both your accounts for opportunities to harvest losses, while seeking to prevent wash sales in your Betterment accounts. If you already have TLH+ turned on, you’ll need to turn it off and set it up again to include your spouse. Learn more about TLH+.

Most actions do not require consent from both customers. These include closing the account, deposits, withdrawals, most types of transfers, creating new goals, allocation changes, changes to the linked checking account, and beneficiary changes. Both account holders will receive email notifications any time a deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or allocation change occurs.

Unlike IRA’s, 401(k)’s, and other employer sponsored plans, joint brokerage accounts do not have contribution limits. Individuals can contribute as much as they would like to a joint account. At Betterment, any individual above the age of 18 can contribute to a joint account, regardless of their AGI (Adjusted Gross Income). While joint accounts may not have contribution and income limits, it's good to keep in mind that these accounts are not tax sheltered and may be subject to capital gains ...

Like an individual account, Betterment’s fee will be based on your joint account’s balance. Betterment offers automatic householding for customers who open joint accounts, which combines your balances and can be beneficial for the purposes of meeting minimum balance requirements for our various plans.

No. Because IRAs are Individual Retirement Accounts they can only be held in your individual Betterment account. However, you can have both a joint account and an individual account. This will allow you to create non-IRA goals in your joint account, while keeping your IRA in your individual account.

You’ll each log in with your own email address and password. You’ll see any of your individual goals alongside your joint account goals when you log in. You will not be able to see each other’s individual goals.

You can connect up to three funding accounts as a funding source for your individual or joint Cash Reserve accounts or joint cash goals. However, we recommend that you connect checking accounts as funding sources rather than savings accounts, because savings accounts typically limit the number of monthly withdrawals you can make. No matter how many funding accounts you have connected, you’ll always be able to fund your goals with Checking.

Either joint account holder can close the joint account. Log in and navigate to Settings > Accounts. Click the three dots towards the right of the account you are looking to close, and select “Close Account”. There are no trading fees or penalties for closing accounts.

There is no overall limit to how much you can deposit in a joint Cash Reserve account. However, please note that the largest deposit you can make per day via ACH is $300,000.

There are three different ways of connecting your spouse’s Betterment account to yours, each for different reasons: Householding accounts Establishing a taxpayer relationship Pairing spousal accounts 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 ...