Retirement Planning for Women

Hello and welcome once again Mr. Stover's opus John Stillman here alongside a very special guest today, Jeanette gel, you founder of woman's worth, cofounder of Pedro's estate and retirement planning in Jacksonville Florida. The author of retirement done right. It also wise up women.

Jeanette what's up in order I'm doing. Grace be with you.

Yeah, good talk with you and we've known each other for what I don't know, six or seven years now and it's been for the soul to watch your evolution as an advisor really one of the premier, the premier advisor in the country for helping specifically women deal with financial retirement planning in other are other women out there who are financial advisors but you really taken on that role and I think what pretty much two thirds of the business that you do is specifically helping women that be accurate. Oh yes at least two thirds. Absolutely because we we have a real passion that woman's worth to really serve women the right way and speak the language of women. So having said obviously financial planning is different for women and men. What are some of the challenges that are specific to women when it comes to getting their retirement mapped out challenges for women and every publication is coming out with a woman's retirement risk stems from the reasons women plunge into financial crisis in older years. Why is premature widowhood.

The average age of widowhood in America's 59 and so with that comes lost income and you thought you can't be married. The rest of your life and all of a sudden you find yourself widowed early earlier than when you can claim Social Security benefits recent as the fastest-growing segment of the US population is happens to be the 60+ generations. So when you see the divorce later life.

Divorce or connate gray divorce. You see, women are more impacted because typically when I stepped out of the workforce on average 19 years in caregiving roles and their nonpaid caregiving roles. I see daily.

A professional woman that stepped out of the workforce was a CPA was an attorney decided they wanted to raise their children and wanted her to be a stay-at-home mom and all of a sudden in early 50s, they should find yourself divorced, that has significant financial impacts, and the third reason is longevity. Women are living longer and longer and longer. The fastest-growing segment of the US population is a 90+ so when you add those three culprits women a greater risk and retirement. I can't tell you how many divorced women clients. I have that have gotten divorced in their 50s or 60s. It's amazing how often that I was looking back to the very first thing you said widowhood is of the average age for widowhood is 59 years old which sounds really young. Is that because there are that many women who are that many years younger than their husbands is a part of that.

Actually not that is not what I see in my practice only served to be served when we have a company that specializes with women. So basically what we see and remember I said average is 59 John which means many of them get widowed much younger than an many much older than average band 59.

So when I look to see the young that young women that I serve that are widowed in their late 20s early 30s. It's because of car accidents and motorcycle accidents. We bent with this huge Tran were living on the edge and young people don't think that they need to protect themselves for life insurance was you mention the longevity issue so often I'll have a couple sitting in my office, and you may be the husband is three or four years older and were looking at their retirement plan work planning statistically for the wife to outlive him by eight years or so because women live longer and she's younger. So how do you address those longevity issues when you're putting up with the way I do it as I do, lifestyle, scenario planning, and I always give them plans for lost income because I want to know today. Even if there's a five, six, eight year age difference, it's important for us to recognize that women need to get their heads out of the sand and protect themselves because I know from a personal experience. My mom was widowed at 62 and she she remained aware me.

She lived 33 years of her life as a widow with one single income and my dad died without life insurance and my dad died, leaving her with only a $542 Social Security check and a mortgage.

So as we see the longevity my mother lifted 93 that the life care costs associated with women living beyond 80 are insurmountable in a day of skyrocketing healthcare costs long-term care costs and you have to plan for these issues because longevity is redefining retirement planning for women Jeanette how to women process financial decisions differently because I know a lot of cases it really is a completely different conversation in a completely different decision-making process. You're absolutely right. John and I respect you for providing some information to your clients and prospective clients about the differences. There isn't actually no area where gender drift differences are more prevalent than in the area of money and finances and the way women process information what we as women are relationship based. You know what we care about safety, security protection we care about not running out of money. We care about not being a burden on our children, our loved ones. That's who we are as women and that has to be taken into consideration in the planning models. So when it comes to the financial language of women.

It doesn't have much to do with rates of return and risk tolerance and all that. It's about how I make sure I don't run out of money for rent out a life and I don't end up being a burden on my children while for a lot of it is more about a mathematical conversation is out of your newsletter. It is mathematical. They like spreadsheets they like rates of returns they want to sit there and they live on the ads they want to try to dry the market up and I serve both men and women in my in my firm's I serve individuals I serve couples I serve partners and I look at the differences.

I never never sat across the table with a woman that says I'm willing to take risk for the promise of a higher return what they say to me as I'm willing to take manage risk.

If you can help me understand how little protect my financial future.

So for women. It's an education-based approach to planning, and it's not a financial approach is not about spreadsheets and rates of return. It's about educate me as to why these I need these financial solutions and what they will do for me at a goal level. Jeanette, what would you say to women who maybe are very involved in the financial conversations but also because it seems like most couples there's one or the other. Who's going to be more dominant when it comes to the retirement plan is not always the man, but I'd say the majority of the time it is so will be your message to women who, you know, even if they're not going to be the primary decision-maker or the primary person watching the money. How would you encourage them to be involved in the process.

Oh my message. That's an excellent question, and I'm glad you asked me that because I do so much education to women to really help them understand how important it is to sit at the table and to be one of the drivers.

John most women make about over 90% of the day-to-day operational financial decisions when to buy carpeting in what to spend on you know groceries us.

On the other said that make and all those day-to-day operational decisions but when it comes to the strategic decisions. The money management. The investments I am encouraging women to get your head out of the sand and sit at the table with your husband and your advisors and make sure that the that advisor answers your questions directly because it is your plan to do. It's not your husband's investment plan because all your investments are a means to your lifestyle. So we need to make sure that you work with someone who can speak your financial language and that's quite a bit different in some it's important for you to get actively involved and you know what it if someone is trying to help you make a decision about buying this versus buying in that it investing this way versus this way always has one basic question.

How does that bring my personal goals my life goals. How does it bring it value because you could be sitting on a host of homeless investments that are being sold to you that don't have a goal that supports you.

Whether you're single. Whether your divorce. Whether your married you need to have a goal oriented life plan for sure advisors to talk to you about life planning, not investment management. Having said all that I experienced couples who only the husband will call you for conversation and maybe you know they built a financial advisor 10 years ago. The wife didn't like him filtered often has been engaged in the process of resistance and so click husband's very much pushing for the wife to get involved, but she just won't. In those situations. What are the things that you would tell husbands to do to be sure that their plan is structured well for their what are you assuming that the wife out with John. That's why I wrote my first book wise up women. It's a book that talks about the health, wealth, connection because typically if women understood they were can outlive their husbands on average 8 to 14 years were seeing data that suggest 14 years now, and if there is an age difference and more recent statistics are shown that 80% of women die single so you can have one income taking you through your elderly lifestages. It's important for us to to work with women and help them educate them about proper life choices and again many I run a woman's worth radio program every week. I have an hour radio program and is pretty interesting percent have a lot of men calling and saying I want to get some help and I make my book available to the men because the men do want their wives to get involved that women are not going to get Baucus. We don't want to look stupid and we don't even have the foundation to ask the right questions because the financial language that spoken by the industry is not our financial language and so we don't want to look stupid because we as young girls. I baby boomer. We were socialized to take charge of the financial matters the strategic financial matters. So we have to start with the basics and educate women and a good starting point is my book wise up women. What's the subtitled or Jeanette. It's wise up women. Your guy to total fiscal and physical well-being because it's about the health wealth connection with women when I can speak to women about how important it is for four you to get involved in financial decision-making because of skyrocketing healthcare costs because 75% of nursing home residents are women.

Believe me, they want to get involved.

Absolutely that's probably a whole different topic for another day discussing the long-term care issues. Jeanette always good talking with you. Thanks for making some time. It's great to be with you, John lifted up a gel you founder of woman's worth the offer of wise up. Women also cofounder Pedro's estate and retirement planning.

Jacksonville, Florida will talk with you again very soon.

Right here on this crystal was opus