The world lost one of its greatest and most accomplished basketball players on Sunday, January 26, 2020. Early in the morning, Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year old daughter, along with seven others, died when the helicopter they were in crashed amidst foggy conditions in the hills of Calabasas, California. Kobe was 41.
Losing a spouse brings grieving and heartache enough without the unanticipated leap into the deep end of personal financial management. And Kobe’s death reminds us that if your spouse were to die, you have special considerations when planning your financial future.
Most Surviving Spouses are Women
Most women understand too well the odds that later life might find them alone financially. Among baby boomers, for example, an estimated 7 out of 10 wives will outlive their husbands. If you’re one of these women, how do you prepare?
Research shows that the average American woman lives almost five years longer than the average U.S. man. According to the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement, half of all widows become so by age 65. Vanessa Bryant became a widow at the age of 37.
More than 700,000 American women are widowed every year, according to the latest U.S. Census data, and widows are more likely than their male counterparts to lose income after a spouse’s death.
When your husband dies, you may have to dive into dealing with the murky waters of probate to validate a will, as well as many other legal and financial issues. In many marriages, the husband handles tax and financial issues – and understanding these new and confusing challenges can be overwhelming.
Acquiring enough financial knowledge to make money decisions confidently goes a long way toward easing the transition if you lose a spouse.
Plan and Re-Evaluate
Even when a death causes no new considerations for the surviving spouse, personal finances can still be a jigsaw puzzle difficult to fit together. Dealing with the death of a spouse can be overwhelming by itself but generally there is no need to make urgent money decisions.
Think Logically About Priorities
What does your financial plan look like? Re-evaluate what you value, what’s important to you, the purpose of your money. You might change your goals or timelines for what you and your deceased spouse planned. You might also reconsider how and where you want to live. This reset of your goals and how you want to deploy your money also helps you think of what-if scenarios to identify where you enjoy financial flexibility or where your long-term planning has stress points.
Analyze Cash Flow
Address changes to your income and budget before you consider more complex investment, insurance and tax issues. One needs to understand changes to their Social Security income and possibly survivor pension payments and if either relate to expenses. With month-to-month basics understood, you can then explore rules for inheriting investment accounts or insurance proceeds, and how to put these resources to work smartly.
Review your Investment Strategy
Maybe your investment objective differs enough going forward that you must revise investments to fit your new plan.
Think Ahead
Even though one might feel they have a good handle on their finances, many may benefit from the help of professional advisors.
