Financial advisors may have a major role to play in helping women over 50 take better control of their financial futures. Many older women still feel insecure about dealing with money and are fully dependent on their husbands to make critical decisions and take care of essential financial matters, the New York Times writes.
The Importance of Being Prepared
As relationships change, partners suffer from debilitating illnesses, women survive their spouses, and wills are contested by other family members, it is crucial for women to be familiar with the financial matters of their family and plan accordingly, the paper writes. That’s particularly true given that the average life expectancy for women in the U.S. is five years longer than men’s — women will likely have to deal with money issues eventually, according to the Times.
Advisors can take a cue from efforts such as the one launched by Diane Terman Felenstein, who runs Diane Terman Public Relations in New York, and Gloria Gottlieb, president of Worldwide Insurance. The impetus for “Women and Wills” was in part the story of a 50-something woman whose husband suddenly died, leaving her as a single mother with a business that she was unfamiliar with and had no succession plan, according to the publication. They realized many women were in the same boat as their friend and began working towards teaching women about the basics of their financial health, rather than letting them leave it to their spouses, the Times writes.
The initiative is a series of free lectures in New York aiming to help women over 50 with financial and estate planning, focusing on wills, insurance, long-term health care and succession planning, as well as understanding legal documents and executing them, according to the publication.
Terman Felenstein has been working with women directly for over two decades. In 1996, she had co-founded the 008-Investment Club, a group that aspired to give women the confidence, tools and resources to become familiar with every major financial transition in their lives within a supportive, all-female environment, the Times writes.
After the group disbanded, Terman Felenstein continued to hear horror stories about smart, accomplished women over 50 who remained blissfully ignorant of their own financial matters and how to preserve wealth for future generations, to their eventual detriment, according to the paper.
Over 200 women have attended the three “Women and Wills” seminars so far, many of whom were original members of the 008-Investment Club, the Times writes. The seminars are led by experts and address reading financial statements, understanding assets and liabilities, and retaining dependable professionals, the Times writes. The lectures also stress the importance of reviewing policies regularly in the face of unexpected illnesses, medical bills, divorce, remarriage and stepchildren. Terman Felenstein and Gottlieb also invite wealth managers to speak to the group, according to the publication. But financial advisors can start reaching out to their male clients’ spouses now to assure they’re prepared.
Commentary on the New York Times article by Abby Ellin
Posted by: The Wealth Advisor
