Financial Planning For Women

2006-07-14

The gap in earnings between men and women has begun to close. The problem is the gap in responsibility hasn’t. Many women have handed their financial lives to the husbands. This action leaves them completely unprepared on how to handle themselves and their finances in the event they become widowed or divorced. The following steps will help women gain control over their family’s finances and learn a lot along the way for themselves.

Create a Vision for Yourself
How do you see yourself financially? Are you dependent on someone else for income and retirement needs? Are you independent and see yourself on equal footing financially with your spouse. You need to know where every hard earned dollar goes, whether you handle the finances of the family or not. Once you know where every dollar is spent, you can make conscious decisions on how much money is spent and how much is saved.

Know Your Economics
Learn the account numbers of all your family’s savings accounts. Write down the numbers, what institution they are at, and whether or not they are joint or individually titled. Also be sure you know where all your documentation is when it comes to things like living wills, healthcare, life insurance, power of attorneys, etc. Take the time to read and understand them.

Have a Family Discussion
Discuss your finances as a family. If you are engaged, talk to your fiancé about financial matters now about how family finances are to be dealt with. This conversation will not be romantic, but neither is living in poverty or financial stress.

Discuss Retirement
Discuss retirement plans together. Know how much each spouse is contributing to retirement savings, beneficiaries, and know withdrawal details limits, etc. You need to do this each time changes to your savings plan occurs. These changes will affect you 20 to 30 years from now. You can do something about it now, you can’t at 65.

Create a Family Budget
We harp on family budgets here at Finance News Today because they are the cornerstone to successful financial planning. Discuss your income expectations openly. Know where the money is spent – not just the bills but know the incidentals as well. You can create a sample budget online with our Budget Calculator. Discuss openly how bills will be paid. Be sure to apply money in your budget for enough term life insurance to payoff bills in the event of an unfortunate death.

Don’t Forget Disability Insurance
Did you know that over 50% of the foreclosures in America happen as a result of an illness or injury that prevents a spouse from holding a job and contributing to the family financial picture? Disability insurance pays you cash while you are out of work due to illness, accidents, maternity leave, etc. Talk to your insurance professional about disability insurance. Some employers provide this as an available benefit through payroll deduction.

Related Articles:
» Planning a Family Budget That Works
» Financial Counseling Before Marriage

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