Considerations for Women in Retirement

Alright, let’s talk about you married folks out there and the considerations that women need to be thinking about heading into retirement. And a lot of this is just statistics. And thinking about this. So, both, you know, if you’re married, and you’re planning for both of you, you know, this is, I think, is really important stuff. We talk a lot about this in our initial visits with folks and the plans that we build. But think of this, right now women control about $10 Trillion of US household financial assets. In the next decade they are expecting that number to be about $30 Trillion. The other interesting thing is that the average age of widowhood for a female is 59 years old. And then do you know that same 59 year old female is expected to live 27 more years on average. Wow. So as you’re planning for your retirement for a couple, I hope that it’s lots of years ahead that the two of you can enjoy and do all the things that you dreamed of. But from a financial perspective we have to look at the considerations if one of you and statistically speaking, men you’re going to go first, if that happens, what does the financial situation look like? So one, when we look at these considerations, is income. What is that going to look like? Is the income needs going to rise or decrease if a spouse were to pass away? Well think of it. You might say, Art, why would it go up? Well, let’s say, the male passes away. And they were mowing the lawn and snow blowing or plowing the driveway and the female doesn’t want to do that or just doesn’t have the desire to. Well, you’re going to have to hire that stuff out. Right? You’re going to have to pay a service to do that. So maybe there’s some increase in costs there and maybe there’s some decreases elsewhere. But have a serious look at what does that budget look like if somebody was to do that. And where is my income going to come from or how is it going to change? Well, one thing and for most folks you’re going to lose the lower of the two Social Securities. Right? If you have a pension, what is the survivorship benefit? Stuff like that. From a a tax situation, you know a single tax payer bracket versus a married filing jointly bracket are a little bit different. The ranges are different. So by living on the same income, do you bump up a tax bracket maybe? And so those are things we need to consider. Investments: Think of like, if you have a 401(k), IRA, or the likes and you get to age 72, there are still those required minimum distributions even if you’re widow and a surviving spouse. You are just going to have to… now you have both of those IRAs that are now yours to worry about. And then finally, long-term care, you know, with just being a single person, a widow, what are the different considerations you have for long-term care. So, all of these things as you are planning for a married couple are vitally important but boy we better have a plan in place for a surviving spouse situation if one of you was to pass away. Not fun to talk about but it statistically speaking possible that it could happen. So give us a call at the number on the screen and we’d love to help you develop that plan so you can be confident if something was to happen to you.