Tax Free Wealth for a “Non-Working” Spouse

Let’s say you are the breadwinner and your spouse is a stay home mom or dad.   Due to all the contributions to your retirement plan at work your side of the balance sheet is growing significantly more than your spouse’s.  You are concerned about “equalization of estates”. (Equalization of estates is an old estate planning term when there was more concern with estate tax.  The estate tax issue is a non-starter for most nowadays but there is something to be said for both spouses having ownership in something.) What you should do is plop down $5,500 in January in your Spouse's Roth IRA.  Doesn’t matter if he or she isn’t “working” for an income. Only matters that you are.  Do this every year and you’ll be surprised at how quickly the account can grow.  Have I mentioned that Roth’s grow TAX-FREE too???