50+ Lifestyles

Women and Finance

By Richard J. Schillig, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF
Independent Insurance and Financial Advisor

On June 9 and 14, we will be hosting another round of our “Choices” workshops. This workshop is for persons and couples retired or soon to be retired (within 10-12 years). All are encouraged to attend – but especially women are encouraged. Ladies, if you can’t get him to attend, then attend yourself.

Note these stats – in the U.S. the average life expectancy for women is more than five years longer than men. Ninety percent of all women will be solely responsible for their finances at some point in their lives. According to Kiser Communications, senior women control a household net worth of $19 trillion and own more than 75 percent of all the money market CD accounts. Not only are women assuming control of more wealth, they’ll likely be controlling it for a longer time in the future.

Allow me to give you an example of a couple who attended a workshop a few years ago. This husband and wife came in for an appointment following our workshop. When we looked through all of their statements, we catalogued them for reference – usually statements from about A to J – 10 statements at the most. Well, these folks had so many different things going on, so many statements each month; their stack of statements was about two inches thick.

Then the lady looked at me and said, “There’s something I need to tell you before we start that I haven’t even told my husband!” Her husband looked around and said, “Oh really?” “Yep! Ever since we got this money, I have gone to bed at night with no clue what I’d do if something happened to him. I have no idea what we’re doing!” Her husband looked at her and said, “Well, honey, I’ve got news for you. I don’t have any idea what we’re doing either!”

All of those statements added up to be a considerable sum, but the more important issue was getting this couple into programs in which they could understand what was going on with their money. In about four months, we had that huge stack of monthly statements down to about seven simple programs that they both understood. Now, they know what’s going on, and their money can never go backwards in value. Today, that husband and wife sleep well at night knowing that if something happened to either one of them, the other would know that everything is in place.

My point is – this might be your current situation. My experience in business has been the wife usually knows less about the assets than the husband, OR the wife knows all and the husband knows little. What is your situation as spouses? Your spouse may go to bed at night with no clue what to do if something happened to you, because each spouse may not know everything about their current financial situation. The amount of money is not the issue. The issue is that we want to make sure that each spouse understands what you are doing.

Choices workshops are intended to bring together many topics related to your retirement years and introduce you to the “Six New Ideas” you probably have not heard before. With a 99.6 percent quality rating, this workshop is built around retirement needs now and in the future.

Wives and husbands – don’t be one of those who don’t know what’s going on. Join our workshop. Then participate in our no-cost consultation to determine if we can improve your current situation. See you at Bennigans. Don’t forget to call for a reservation 866-552-7738. Ask for reservation code 2200.

Richard J. Schillig, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF is an Independent Insurance and Financial Advisor with RJU and Associates, Inc. He can be reached at (563) 332-2200.