Roth IRAs for both me and spouse

[Permanent Temp]

So I'm a bit confused as to how this all works. I've had a Roth IRA since I was 18 but it has very little in it. I'm 27 now and married. I was telling my husband that we need to ramp up our retirement savings once our credit card debt is gone (within a year's time) He has stated he can help by putting in 100 a month and I can make up the difference.

I do make a decent amount of money but only temporary through the year, when I'm unemployed I couldn't contribute to the IRA. So how does it work? Should my husband set up his own account for the 100 he can contribute or can he just contribute to mine and continue to do so on my behalf when I am not employed?

I read some articles but they all left me feeling more confused than I was already.

[disneysteve]

Each of you can (and should) have your own Roth. As long as one of you is working, both of you can fund your accounts up to either the maximum contribution limit or the amount of income earned, whichever is less.

So if he earns $50,000 and you earn nothing, you could each put $5,500 into your Roths.

My wife was a SAHM for 10 years and we funded her Roth every year out of my income.

[KTP]

What DS said. My wife is the only one bringing home the bacon (I cook it) but we both contribute max $5500 to a Roth each year (through the backdoor method though). I just use her income to fund my Roth.

[Permanent Temp]

Awesome thank you for clearing that up for me! I talk to him about it again tonight. He seems like he just want to put it in my account but I was sure it didn't really work that way. Thank you.

[MonkeyMama]

Agreed with the others - my spouse has been home for over a decade, and I fund his ROTH.

What you should do depends on many factors. When I had a work retirement plan, I would tend to fund my spouse's ROTH, but not necessarily my own. These days I don't have a work retirement plan, but I fund his ROTH first still because I have way more retirement money in my own name. (Which doesn't mean a lot because we max them both out now - I just literally make sure to fund his first, and then work on mine the rest of the year).

We do live in a community property state, so I don't know if it really matters in the grand scheme of things. & I don't know if there is any advantage to funding one over the other if you don't live in a community property state. It probably largely depends on the state.