Our benefits for the next tax season.
JT and I just got married, and here are some ways in which we will save and invest for the 2026 tax year.
Health Insurance
Ever since I stopped working in July 2024, I became fully responsible for my health insurance.
That’s the thing with healthcare in the USA—the system is set up to keep you working a full-time job in order to have said benefits.
It’s a huge reason why employers offer contract and part-time positions to avoid having to provide any welfare packages beyond your base pay.
But I digress.
If you are no longer employed like me, the onus is on you to ensure you are insured for the full calendar year. In California, it is mandatory and penalties will incur for failing to do so.
For the past 1.5 years, my health insurance premium cost me a total of $6,909 paid out of pocket (~$383/month).
Even though JT and I got engaged 2 months prior to my unexpected layoff, I didn’t feel ready and had no desire to rush into marriage (our engagement period was 21 months).
So, I continued taking on that expense until I was mentally prepared to be his wife.
Now that I’m on JT’s employer’s health plan as his spouse, my premium is $91/month ($3,504 in annual savings!).
Tax-advantaged Retirement Account
I maxed out my Roth IRA in the last five years I worked (wish I prioritized maxing it sooner so if you haven’t, I encourage you to start now!).
Since I became funemployed, I had to stop contributing any funds to that account since you can only use earned income. Considering it’s a tax-advantaged account, you can only put in post-tax dollars.
This year, I’m able to contribute to my Roth IRA again as a spousal IRA (the contribution limit increased from last year to $7,500) since I’m married to a working husband.
Woohoo! Thanks babe.
Federal Marginal Tax Bracket
You always hear about “getting to save on tax” when you get married.
Sure, but there’s a spectrum, and the most effective tax savings comes from two spouses who have an income disparity (the bigger, the better).
Why? Because it’ll allow the higher-earning spouse to drop down to a lower tax bracket.
When your spouse gets laid off, goes back to school, or even takes a long sabbatical, filing your taxes jointly is the most beneficial with one of you earning $0.
Since JT works full-time and I have zero ordinary income, this will produce the best outcome for our situation. His tax rate will become lower than before when he was filing as a bachelor.
You’re welcome, babe!
Capital Gains
Since my income derives from my assets, this is my favorite tax benefit of them all.
You probably know by now that long-term capital gains are taxed at way lower rates than regular income.
As a single filer for 2025, I rebalanced my portfolio and paid 0% federal tax on my long-term capital gains on the amount of $64,100 last year: $64,100 – (0 x $48,350) – $15,750 standard deduction = $0. Any excess of that, 15% tax.
But this year, filing jointly as a married woman next tax season?
We’ll have the option of paying 0% federal tax on LTCG of up to $98,900 (excluding the $32,200 joint standard deduction since it will apply against JT’s W-2 earnings first).
That’s crazy cool should we want to realize that much (I highly doubt we will).
Sadly, living in California, the state does not differentiate between short-term and long-term capital gains, so any type of gain is taxed as ordinary income.
But you know what? Having grown up poor, I learned to recognize that paying taxes is a good problem to have.
Those are some of the benefits that immediately crossed my mind after being given the choice to file taxes jointly with JT for the 2026 tax year.
I have no doubt there are plenty of other tax codes we’re currently unaware of. As we build our life together, we will cross those other bridges when we get there.
Although our tax status has changed, JT and I each have our individual brokerage, retirement, checking, and high-yield savings accounts.
As a woman, I will always advocate for managing at the very least your own separate accounts with money that only you can access.
I built my own portfolio before meeting my husband, and I will continue to personally oversee my investments.
Single or married—enjoy meeting your financial goals and have fun on your wealth building journey!