A Beginner’s Guide to Opening an IRA

To which I would add: non-working spouses can - and should if possible - open an IRA in their own name. You do not need to be working to open an IRA as long as one of you is earning some income.

"The Spousal IRA exception

Fortunately for married couples, there is one way to make a contribution to an IRA if you don’t have wages—a Spousal IRA. This is a tax-advantaged retirement account designed specifically to allow a working spouse to make contributions on behalf of a nonworking spouse. Under current laws, if you’re married filing jointly, you can contribute the maximum into an IRA for each spouse—even if one of you has no earned income—as long as the working spouse has income equal to both contributions.

So let’s say both you and your spouse are over 50 and want to contribute the maximum of $6,000 to each of your IRAs. Whichever one of you is working would have to have earned income of $12,000 or more to cover both contributions.

Another good thing about the Spousal IRA is that, should the non-working spouse go back to work, he or she can contribute to the same IRA. That’s because, once opened, a Spousal IRA is an Individual Retirement Account like any other.” Source: Charles Schwab