In Wealthbox, Household records help organize multiple related contacts—like family members at the same address—under one shared record. This makes it easy to view and manage shared details, such as activities, notes, and financial information, in one place. Each individual within a household still has their own contact record, but is linked together for better organization and tracking.

Household records do not replace person records; they are used to link them. You would create a household record and link related people contacts under "household members" when you need to manage multiple related contacts, like family members, under a single umbrella. This simplifies organization and provides a full view of your relationship with all of the grouped clients at a glance.

Household Contact Records

• Household records do not support the same fields as person contact records. Demographic fields are tracked on the person's records (phone numbers, address, contact type, etc.)

• You will find a Family Members widget on each person's record as well as the household record, and all records are easy to navigate between by clicking the hyperlink in the widget.

• In Wealthbox, spouses and other related contacts should be added as individual contacts, each with their own record, and then related to each other as household members, creating a household contact record.

• Household Titles: Household Titles help clarify the roles of individuals within a Household record. They indicate each person's relationship to the Household, such as "Head," "Spouse," "Child," or "Other Dependent." Note: Household titles cannot be customized.

  • • Head of Household: There should be one Head record for each household. This gives you the ability to filter for one record per household when needed. For example, if you need mailing labels for each household.

      • • Some users do not create a household record for single clients, but we do recommend adding the "Head" household title for consistency. This will allow you to filter contacts from a "one per household" perspective.

• Upcoming Activity: The Upcoming Activity section shows activities that are directly linked to the contact. For Household records, only activities specifically associated with the Household will appear in this section. Upcoming activities for individual contacts within the Household will not be aggregated here but can be found in the Household’s activity stream.
• Household Members vs Related Contacts: Same address contacts, those living under the same roof should be linked under "Household Members." Related contacts can be used to relate contact records that are not under the same address. For example, adult children. The related contacts will also need to be contact records in Wealthbox. This how-to video covers related contacts in more depth.

How Household Records and Related Contacts Share Information

• Contact Data: Person contact data points, such as addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, etc., will not automatically sync up to the household from an individual contact's record.
• Activity Stream: The household activity stream will show all activities directly related to the household record and will aggregate the related household-members activities.

  • • • If you enter a note to a person record, it will display in the related household's activity stream (not in the related person records).

      • If you enter a note in the household record, it will appear in all related family members' records.

• Tags: Tags added to related people contacts do not automatically carry over to households, and tags added to households do not flow down to the related person contacts.

• Custom Fields: Custom fields and their data do not aggregate or pass from linked person records to Household records. The same is true for custom fields assigned to Household records. Those will not flow out to the linked person records. While a custom field can be assigned to both

• Files: Files uploaded to person-related contacts do not aggregate to a linked household. Files uploaded to a household record will not show on the related person's contacts.

• Email:  Email addresses are supported on a household record, which allows you to see emails syncing with Wealthbox Mail. An email synced to a related person record will not aggregate to a linked household, and a synced household email will not flow to related person records.

• Reporting: When running reports in Wealthbox, report results will only include activities directly related to any contact record. Person-assigned activities will not be displayed in a report filtered for households. So, for example, if you run a Task report for a specific Task category, the report will pull results of contacts that the task was directly related to and will not display a household if a household member linked person contact was the related to contact assigned on the Task.

How to Add Household and Household Members as Contacts

•   This how-to video covers "How to Add Household and Family Members as Contacts."

Frequently Asked Questions and best practices for Household Records

Q: Can multiple household members have the same household titles?
A: Multiple household members can be assigned the same household title, including "Head of Household."
Best Practice: Assign the "Head of Household" title to just one household member for reporting and Mail Merge filtering purposes.

Q: Can a person contact be a member of multiple households in Wealthbox?
A: No, a person contact can only be associated with one household at a time in Wealthbox. If a person is added to a new household while already related to another, they will be automatically removed from the previous household and reassigned to the new one.

Q: Should I create a household for a single contact?
A: Yes, it can be beneficial to create a household for a single contact, especially if you want to maintain consistency in your records or anticipate future changes (e.g., adding a spouse or family member later). Creating a household also enables reporting, filtering, and mail merge functions at the household level, even if there is currently only one member.

Q: Should I relate activities to the household or the individual person contact?
A: In most cases, users choose to relate activities to the individual person contact, especially when the task, note, or event involves a specific person (e.g., a phone call, meeting, or follow-up email). This ensures a clear record of interactions with that person.

However, you may choose to relate an activity to the household when:

• The activity involves multiple members of the household (e.g., a joint meeting or family event)
• The note or task is about the household as a whole, not one individual
• You're documenting general information that applies to all household members

Best Practice: When in doubt, link the activity to the individual to preserve a more detailed engagement history.

Also, it's important to set up a consistent internal process at your firm for how and when to relate activities to households versus individuals. Doing so ensures your team maintains clean, uniform data, which is especially critical for accurate reporting, auditing client engagement, and maintaining a complete relationship history.