How Advisors Can Help Women Adjust to Widowhood

Only 48% of widowed women said they felt prepared to manage their finances after their spouse’s death. Seventy percent of these said their main concerns were becoming the sole financial decision maker or paying monthly bills on time. 

Others also struggled with budgeting on a reduced household income, managing and paying debt and continuing to save for retirement on one income.

Some two-thirds of widowed women reported that they had made immediate changes to their financial activity following the death of their spouse. Thirty-five percent reduced or stopped spending on non-essential items or activities, 14% withdrew money from retirement savings to cover expenses and 11% reduced or stopped contributing to savings.

Advisors’ Planning and Support

Thrivent, citing a MarketWatch report, noted that 80% of women die single, while 80% of men die married. It said this dichotomy underscores one of the starkest differences between the male and female retirement experience.

A financial advisor can be an important partner in planning for the unexpected and supporting widowed women as they address their immediate financial needs after the death of a spouse.

A Thrivent report from 2021 includes a list of questions that financial advisors should ask their newly widowed clients, suggested by Heather Ettinger, founder and chief executive of Luma Wealth Advisors:

What’s weighing most on your mind right now?
Who is a trusted close friend or family member to include in meetings to take notes and help you ask questions?
What other advisors and financial service providers do you have that I should communicate with? 
Do you have enough money in your checking account to cover several months of bills, including funeral and estate expenses?

“For newly widowed clients, it often pays to put off big financial decisions for at least a year,” Ettinger said. 

These could include delaying the purchase of a home in a new neighborhood, and instead renting for a year in order to figure out whether the area is a good fit in terms of social support and connections.