If you are the household investor who tracks a taxable brokerage account, an IRA, and a partner’s retirement account, this guide is for deciding what you, your advisor, and your spouse or partner should see before an advisor meeting, year-end tax review, or retirement-income conversation. The decision is not whether to share "the portfolio"; it is which facts each person needs to make the next decision without seeing private notes, passwords, or irrelevant detail.
Last reviewed: 2026-04-23. This article is educational and is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Verify current rules and fund details at the source before acting.
A single portfolio can support three working views. Your own view can be dense. The advisor view should be cleaned up for planning, tradeoffs, and document questions. The partner view should be calm enough for a stressful week. If you are starting from scratch, use Portfolio Tracker to keep one source of truth and then decide which fields each audience gets.
| Question | Your personal view | Advisor view | Partner view |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is owned? | Ticker, thesis, source link, watch item | Ticker, account type, allocation, overlap | Plain-language purpose and custodian |
| What could change a decision? | Tax lots, sell triggers, dividend timing, reinvestment settings | Gain/loss, cash needs, constraints, missing documents | Only warnings such as "ask before selling taxable holdings" |
| What supports income? | Dividend source, payment history, cash target | Income by account type and taxable status | Which account funds spending and when |
| What should stay hidden? | Nothing needed for your own decisions | Diary notes, passwords, private family context | Passwords, full tax-lot lists, private thesis notes |
- Household view: show account name, owner, account type, main purpose, target allocation, income purpose, trusted contact status, and next review date.
- Advisor view: add ticker, asset class, cost basis status, unrealized gain or loss, realized gain or loss, cash needs, planned withdrawals, and pending questions.
- Partner view: keep the map simple: what exists, where it is held, why it exists, who to call, and what should not be changed without advice.
Use named source fields instead of vague labels. For a dividend ETF, do not type the expense ratio or yield into a permanent note and forget it. Keep the issuer page next to the holding[1]. If you own broad-market funds, the same rule applies: source links belong in your detailed view, while the partner view gets plain language such as "core U.S. stock fund" or "bond fund used for stability."[2][3][4]
What Should Be In Your Personal Portfolio View
Your own review view answers one question: "What decision do I need to make next?" It can show account, ticker, asset class, target percentage, actual percentage, unrealized gain or loss, income source, ex-dividend source, thesis note, last review date, and next action. This is the view for deciding whether to rebalance, harvest a loss, add cash, pause reinvestment, or prepare questions for an advisor.
Keep the messy thinking here. "Bought for income stability, review if dividend policy changes" is a useful personal note. "Maybe sell someday" is not. The personal view should separate facts from opinions: current allocation, tax-lot status, expected income, and then your reason for holding or changing the position.
The common household mistake is letting this view become the only view. A spouse opens it, sees shorthand like "trim if stretched, maybe swap later, watch taxes," and cannot tell whether action is urgent or optional. A professional sees the same note and still has to ask for account type, cost basis, cash needs, and timing. Your personal view can be detailed, but it should not be the handoff document.
What An Advisor Needs To See
The advisor view answers: "What does a professional need to evaluate tradeoffs?" Remove diary-style notes and add the fields that make recommendations possible: account registration, tax status of the account, asset-class exposure, concentrated positions, cash needs, realized gains and losses, missing documents, and the next decision date. If the professional is a broker-dealer representative making recommendations, Regulation Best Interest makes clean, decision-ready inputs even more useful.[5]
Treat tax prep as a packet inside the advisor workflow, not as a fourth audience. Keep Form 1099-B, Form 1099-DIV, Form 8949, Schedule D support, broker supplemental pages, and any basis corrections in one place for the advisor, tax preparer, or both.[6][7][8][9] Your partner does not need to sort those forms unless that person is actually helping with tax preparation.
Use tax language as flags, not lectures. "Basis needs review," "specific lots may matter," and "wash-sale window may apply" are useful prompts. Three paragraphs of tax code are not. The detailed rules live in the source documents, and a qualified professional can decide how they apply to the account.[10][11][12]
A good advisor-view note is specific but not emotional: "Review tax lots before selling; check Form 1099-B basis status; ask whether specific identification or average basis applies; confirm whether replacement exposure creates a wash-sale issue." That gives the advisor and tax professional the facts they need without asking your partner to read a tax-lot spreadsheet.
What Your Partner Should Not Have To Sort Through
The partner view answers a different question: "Can I understand the plan and act if the usual portfolio manager is unavailable?" Include the account custodian, owner, beneficiary-review date, trusted contact status, income purpose, cash buffer location, and the name of the professional or family contact to call. Do not include passwords, full Social Security numbers, private thesis notes, or a full lot-by-lot export.
Trusted contact status belongs here because brokerage firms are expected to make a reasonable effort to collect trusted contact information for non-institutional accounts.[13] But do not overstate what that field means. A trusted contact is not a power of attorney, estate plan, account owner, beneficiary designation, or substitute for legal advice.
The partner view should also say what not to touch. That is often more useful than another column of numbers. For example: "Do not sell taxable holdings without checking with the advisor," "cash for the next six months is in the joint savings account," or "IRA withdrawals should wait until the annual review unless there is an emergency." These notes reduce panic without pretending to turn a partner into the portfolio manager overnight.
Share Enough Detail, Not Everything
A field earns its place only if it changes a decision. "VOO – core U.S. equity" may be enough for a partner view. The advisor view needs more: account type, target allocation, tax-lot method, unrealized gain or loss, and whether the holding overlaps with another large-cap index fund. Your own view can keep the full note: why you own it, what would make you sell, and what source page you trust for current fund data.
Too little detail creates hidden risk. A partner might see a small taxable position, assume it is unimportant, and sell it without realizing the gain is large. Too much detail creates a different risk. A partner might see 80 tax lots, five account types, and three warnings, then freeze when the only task was to call the advisor before moving money.
The same problem shows up in meetings. If the advisor view contains personal commentary but not cash needs, tax status, and missing forms, the meeting turns into fact gathering. If it contains a clean account map, gain/loss flags, withdrawal timing, and the questions you need answered, the meeting can move straight to decisions.
Use labels that describe action. "Review before sale" is clearer than "tax issue." "Funds 2026 spending" is clearer than "income bucket." "Beneficiary review due" is clearer than "estate stuff." The goal is not to make the view look complete; it is to help the right person do the right next thing.
Make Assumptions Visible
Numbers without assumptions invite bad decisions. A partner who sees "70% stock funds" still needs to know whether that means broad U.S. market exposure, dividend-screened exposure, international exposure, or a bond sleeve. The names matter because they point to different indexes, holdings, yield profiles, and risks.
The same rule applies to targets. "Moderate risk" is not enough. Write the actual target range, the reason for the range, and the review trigger. A retiree might use "cash and short-term bonds cover near-term spending" as the partner-facing assumption, while the advisor view shows the exact accounts, tax status, and rebalancing candidates.
Here is a practical rule for assumptions: if changing the assumption would change a trade, tax question, withdrawal, or emergency action, show it in the view. If it would only explain your personal preference, keep it in the private notes.
For example, "sell laggard fund" is not a good advisor note. A better advisor-view note is: "Review tax lots before selling; check cost basis status; avoid buying substantially identical exposure until the loss review is cleared; ask whether specific identification or average basis applies." That wording turns an opinion into a useful checklist.
What To Update Before A Meeting
Update views before advisor meetings, tax planning sessions, and household reviews. Do it in this order: holdings first, then cash, then transactions, then documents, then notes. Holdings and cash tell the story. Transactions and documents explain what changed. Notes should come last so they do not outrun the facts.
Use this mini-workflow for a year-end loss review. Step 1: in your personal view, mark the sale date, ticker, account, reinvestment setting, and whether similar exposure appears in another account. Step 2: in the advisor view, show the lot detail, cost basis status, Form 1099-B source, and the decision deadline. Step 3: in the partner view, write only the plain-English instruction: "Do not repurchase the same exposure until the review is cleared."
If the loss-sale trade date is December 12, the partner-facing note does not need the full regulation. It can say: "No same-exposure repurchase before January 12 unless the advisor or tax professional clears it." The advisor view can carry the wash-sale reference and the dates that support the instruction.[12]
Cash timing should also be visible when withdrawals or bill payments are part of the meeting. Since the standard U.S. settlement cycle moved to T+1 for many securities transactions beginning May 28, 2024, a meeting view should distinguish trade date from settlement date when cash availability matters.[14]
Before an advisor meeting, pull the firm’s relationship summary and put your questions in the advisor view.[15] Fees, conflicts, services, and conversation starters belong in that meeting packet. They do not need to clutter the partner view unless your partner is joining the meeting.
A clean view makes the meeting shorter because the facts are already reconciled. The decision rule is simple: give each audience the smallest view that lets them act correctly tomorrow, and keep the full-detail version for the person responsible for the next trade, tax question, withdrawal, or document request.
FAQ
Should my spouse or partner see every tax lot?
No, unless that person is helping make sale decisions. A partner view usually needs the warning label, not the lot list: "Ask before selling taxable holdings." The lot list belongs in the personal or advisor view.
What documents should be ready before tax season?
For taxable brokerage activity, collect Form 1099-B, Form 1099-DIV, broker supplemental pages, Form 8949 workpapers if you prepare them, and Schedule D support if your tax software, advisor, or preparer requests it.
Should ETF expense ratios be typed into the partner view?
Usually no. Put the issuer link in the detailed view and use the partner view for the plain-language purpose of the fund. Expense ratios, NAV, holdings, and yield fields can change, so the issuer page is a better source than a copied note.
How often should the views be reviewed?
Review the personal view whenever you trade or receive a major tax form, the advisor view before each meeting, and the partner view after account openings, beneficiary changes, trusted-contact updates, or a major change in the withdrawal plan.
Sources
- Schwab Asset Management, SCHD ETF product page: https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/products/schd
- Vanguard, VOO ETF profile: https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/voo
- Vanguard, VTI ETF profile: https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vti
- Vanguard, BND ETF profile: https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/bnd
- FINRA, Regulation Best Interest overview: https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/key-topics/regulation-best-interest
- IRS, About Form 1099-B: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1099-b
- IRS, About Form 1099-DIV: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1099-div
- IRS, About Form 8949: https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8949
- IRS, About Schedule D (Form 1040): https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-d-form-1040
- IRS, Publication 550: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p550
- IRS, Publication 551: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p551
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, 26 CFR 1.1091-1 wash-sale rule: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.1091-1
- FINRA, trusted contact person guidance and Rule 4512 summary: https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/guidance/reports/2026-finra-annual-regulatory-oversight-report/trusted-contact-persons
- Investor.gov, T+1 settlement cycle investor bulletin: https://www.investor.gov/newT1settlement-cycle
- Investor.gov, Form CRS relationship summary page: https://www.investor.gov/CRS