Understanding how wealth is organised

My Wealth distinguishes two complementary concepts: the organisation hierarchy, which links ownership structures, supports, assets, and liabilities; and the ownership rule, which determines who owns these items.

The recommended hierarchy is: ownership structure → support → assets and liabilities. These links remain optional: an asset or liability can be recorded without a support when this organisation is unnecessary.

1. The item hierarchy

An ownership structure can contain several supports, and each support can group several assets and liabilities. The structure can have a relationship start date and the support an opening date. These optional dates describe the record; they trigger no operation and do not change calculations.

2. Understanding the ownership rule

By default, the main owner owns the wealth file's assets and liabilities. This rule lets you add a simple item without creating a support solely to assign it an owner.

To define different ownership, configure owners and their shares on a support. All assets and liabilities attached to that support then use this allocation. The support's ownership replaces the default rule for those items.

You therefore do not choose an owner directly on each asset or liability:

• without specific ownership carried by a support, the main owner applies;
• with ownership defined on the support, its owners and their shares apply to all attached items.

3. Practical example

To represent a securities account held with Interactive Brokers and containing two ETFs:

1. create the owners under Properties > Owners;
2. create an ownership structure named Interactive Brokers;
3. under this structure, create a support named Securities account;
4. assign the owner or owners and their ownership shares to the support;
5. create one asset for each ETF under Stocks and funds;
6. assign both ETFs to the Securities account support.

The structure indicates where the account is held. The support identifies the account itself, and both ETFs inherit the ownership configured on that support. If the securities account's allocation changes, edit the support rather than each asset.

4. The same principle for a liability

A liability can also be attached to a support. For property financed with a loan, create the property company or bank as the ownership structure, for example, then a suitable support. Attach the property asset and corresponding liability to this support so that the same ownership applies to both. The loan can additionally reference the property under Associated assets to indicate precisely what it finances.

5. Recommended entry order

1. Under Properties > Owners, create each individual or legal entity that is an owner and choose the main owner.
2. Create the useful ownership structures: bank, broker, insurer, platform, company, or another organisation.
3. Create the necessary supports under those structures and, on each one, define the owners and ownership shares when the allocation differs from the default rule.
4. With New asset, add each property, account, or investment, then attach it to the appropriate support if needed.
5. With New liability, add debts, choose their support if needed, and enter the assets they finance.
6. Under Properties > Exchange rates, complete any conversions shown as 0.

6. See also

• Managing owners and ownership shares
• Adding property, accounts, and investments
• Viewing examples of wealth organisation