Working with Widows

It is a club we never wanted to be a part of but I myself became a member when I lost my fiance unexpectedly in July of 2019.   As any widow knows, the emotional pain of losing your spouse is excruciating, and having to deal with finances in the midst of overwhelming grief can be debilitating. Making major financial decisions when your mind is numb and your heart is broken is beyond difficult.  Those who have walked this path can attest to this.

More than 1 million women are widowed every year in our country. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, widows will soon total 13 million. No woman wants to join this heart-breaking club. But 70% of all married women will experience widowhood.*

Common Concerns

Everybody's journey through grief is different, as well as their financial situations and priorities, but there appear to be a couple of recurring themes:

You feel overwhelmed. That’s the most common feeling I hear from recently widowed women and that I felt, myself.  There are retirement accounts to change, legal decisions to make, insurance to deal with, and plenty of small details that seem to come from nowhere.

You may not have any interest in becoming a financial expert, yet you may feel like you must in order to make the best decisions. If your spouse made the financial decisions, you may feel thrust into a new world at the same time your world has changed forever.

Our Mission

It is our mission to be a trusted guide to widows and help steer them through the financial chaos in the aftermath of their spouses death.  We understand you may not feel like constantly making decisions and may need someone to help you focus on prioritizing and understanding the decisions you face.  

Some of the unique concerns of widows include:

• Investments and Retirement Accounts: What’s a Beneficiary IRA? How can you create enough income? Can you simplify all of your accounts? 
• Insurance: What’s the right thing to do with life insurance proceeds? How do you choose between your health insurance or Medicare options? How do you decipher the insurance world without getting "sold" to.
• Cash Flow: How do you replace your spouse’s income? Can you get Social Security survivor benefits? What’s a reasonable monthly budget? 

Widowhood is very lonely and we often put on our brave faces and carry on keeping our scars hidden to those who do not understand.  We never expect our clients to pretend everything is OK, because it is not OK.  It is hard.  Our goal is to help bear some of the weight from their enormous loss by helping them to understand their options, navigate their financial future and know they don't have to walk this road alone.

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