Clients with ‘late blooming relationships’, whether following divorce or widowhood, have a new set of choices to make.  Should we marry, or continue our relationship less formally? I know, for many of you some less-than-wonderful terms from the past for these relationships come to mind- but let’s let them go.  Those were for different times, different people. This is about YOU.

You’ll need to talk with your families, and perhaps deal with religious issues, but let’s think about the financial impact of the decision.  There are multiple impacts, and you need the best financial and legal advice, to help you decide.

Talk to your honey about money.  If you are already living together, I hope you have had the ‘money talk’ before deciding whether to merge finances.  Who pays for what? And- of paramount importance to an older population, what happens if one of you can’t live independently any more? Issues of long term care- how would it be done? by whom? How is it paid for?  What is the impact on the independent partner? These are often concerns of When- not If. If you’re concerned about whether assets can be insulated from Medicaid spend down, the government does not recognize either prenup or post-nup agreements for this purpose.  There are some protections for spouses both in the Medicaid rules and in Medicaid planning, but you need to examine the pro’s and con’s and see how marriage may impact your responsibilities and the impact on your families before making a decision.  

Do you want to execute a Prenuptial or Post-nuptial Agreement?   If you have established a business or accumulated assets, prenups and post-nups are valid tools to clarify your wishes about how your business, money and property will be distributed.  It could state that each of you have certain assets that are not marital assets, and that you name your children, for example, as beneficiaries of those assets, rather than your new spouse.  Those assets would be disclosed, and listed, for clarity. You can make other decisions regarding assets gained during the marriage.

There are some advantages to being married. If you marry, and your new your spouse has healthcare insurance through work, you can likely be covered under his or her plan. This could save substantial money. There may be also be veteran’s benefits for a spouse.  

If your spouse dies, and you inherit IRA/401k funds, there is more flexibility in payout alternatives for spouses, than non-spouse beneficiaries. There are also potential Social Security spousal benefits, both at death and during your lifetime.

If you’ve been previously divorced, there may be some disadvantages to being married.  Some benefits you may have from your ex may be lost in remarriage.

 If you have been receiving Social Security under your deceased spouse’s benefit and you remarry before age 60 (before age 50 if you are disabled), you will likely lose the prior benefit.  When your new spouse passes away, you may be eligible for that benefit, or a new one based on your new spouse’s record. 

If it doesn’t work out.  It’s hard to ‘uncouple’.  You already know that. As far as relationships are concerned, it may not be any easier to separate regardless of your legal status.  Marriage can offer some asset protection that cohabitation might not.

Do you get my point that there is a lot to consider before making this decision?  

Consult an experienced  financial planner-(ME!)- for what you need to know about your money, how to structure it  and how to manage it, to make the most of whichever choice you make. Don’t forget to check with your attorney, as well, for critical legal documents to protect yourselves and your families, once you have your finances straightened out. 

Avoid the common mistakes most women make about money, especially when they are in crisis- divorce, widowed, etc. Schedule a free consultation with me at Calendly.com/contactagrace; or call me at 716-817-6425.

Securities and Advisory Services offered through Cadaret, Grant, Registered Investment Advisor and Member FINRA/SIPC., Transitioning Finances, Davis Financial Services and Cadaret, Grant & Co., Inc. are separate entities.

Did you know there are certain milestone birthdays – or even some birthdays between milestones – where opportunities present themselves to make additional contributions to savings accounts, IRAs and other retirement funds in order to get even more mileage out of our money?

For example, at age 50, the IRS allows people to make “catch up” contributions to retirement savings accounts. That’s good for just about every type of account that falls into the category: 401(k) plans, 403(b), 457(b), traditional IRAs, SIMPLE 401(k)s and SIMPLE IRAs. If there were times in your past that you couldn’t fully contribute or match your employer’s contribution to your savings, this is a great time to do so.

Thinking of retiring around your 55th birthday or beyond? That will allow you to take distributions from your employer-sponsored 401(k) without getting hit with the 10% early withdrawal penalty. Otherwise, that penalty will apply until you reach 59 ½.

Looking at a cake with 62 candles? Good news: you’re now eligible for Social Security benefits if you need them. If you can afford to wait, you’ll get slightly more in your deposit each month, but the amount of your benefit will vary depending on when you were born. For example, if you were born after 1960, when you reach 62, you’ll get 70% of your earned benefits.

If the family and friends gathered around the party are serenading you with the Beatles’ classic “When I’m 64” at your last birthday, take note: You have seven total months to enroll for Medicare, window that opens three months before your 65th birthday. If you’re already receiving Social Security, however, you might want to check and see if you’re already registered. There’s information available for you at Medicare.gov to help clarify.

On your 70th birthday, even if you’ve chosen to defer, you’ll begin receiving Social Security benefits. The good news is, you’ll now receive your maximum benefit. If you’re still working, the benefit will still be distributed, but you’ll start to pay both Social Security and payroll tax on your total earned income.

Within the next six months, by the time you turn 70 ½, it will be required that you begin to receive minimum distributions from your tax-deferred retirements by April 1 following your 70th birthday. There are some exceptions.

If this is confusing or if you’re not sure the best way to get the most of your money as you enjoy retirement, or as you continue working into your golden years, contact me for advice. We can sit down together, discuss your options and your goals and make decisions that will work best for you and your future. You’ve worked hard for your money; now it’s time for your money to work hard for you.

Avoid the common mistakes most women make about money, especially when they are in crisis- divorce, widowed, etc. Schedule a free consultation with me at Calendly.com/contactagrace; or call me at 716-817-6425.

Your investments. Review your approach to investing and make sure it suits your objectives. Look over your portfolio positions and revisit your asset allocation.

Your retirement planning strategy. Does it seem as practical as it did a few years ago? Are you able to max out contributions to IRAs and workplace retirement plans like 401(k)s? Is it time to make catch-up contributions?

Review any sales of appreciated property and both realized and unrealized losses and gains. Take a look back at last year’s loss carry-forwards. If you’ve sold securities, gather up cost-basis information. Look for any transactions that could potentially enhance your circumstances.

Your charitable gifting goals. Plan contributions to charities or education accounts, and make any desired cash gifts to family members. The annual federal gift tax exclusion is $14,000 per individual for 2015, so you can gift up to $14,000 to as many individuals as you like this year without tax consequences. A married couple can gift up to $28,000 tax-free to as many individuals as they wish.

You can choose to gift appreciated securities to a charity. If you have owned them for more than a year, you can deduct 100% of their fair market value and legally avoid capital gains tax you would normally incur from selling them.

Besides outright gifts, you can plan other financial moves for your family – you can create and fund trusts, for example. The end of a year is a good time to review trusts you have in place.

Your life insurance coverage. Are your policies and beneficiaries up-to-date? Review premium costs, beneficiaries, and any and all life events that may have altered your coverage needs.

Speaking of life events… did you happen to get married or divorced in 2016? Did you move or change jobs? Buy a home or business? Did you lose a family member, or see a severe illness or ailment affect a loved one? Did you reach the point at which Mom or Dad needed assisted living? Was there a new addition to your family? Did you receive an inheritance or a gift?

Lastly, did you reach any of these financially important ages in 2016? If so, act accordingly.

• Did you turn 70½ last year? If so, you must now take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from your IRA(s).
• Did you turn 65 last year? If so, you’re now eligible to apply for Medicare.
• Did you turn 62 last year? If so, you’re now eligible to apply for Social Security benefits.
• Did you turn 59½ last year? If so, you may take IRA distributions without a 10% penalty.
• Did you turn 55 last year? If so, and you retired during this year, you may now take distributions from your 401(k) account without penalty.
• Did you turn 50 last year? If so, “catch-up” contributions may now be made to IRAs (and certain qualified retirement plans).

The beginning of the year is a key time to review your financial “health” & well-being. If you feel you need to address any of the items above, please feel free to give me a call.

We may retire earlier than we think we will. Some of us envision leaving the workforce at “full” retirement age (66 or 67) so that we can receive “full” monthly Social Security benefits rather than slightly reduced monthly payments. Will that happen? It might not, according to data released this spring by the respected Employee Benefit Research Institute.

In EBRI’s most recent Retirement Confidence Survey, 21% of the respondents thought they would retire at age 65. Another 26% expected to retire at age 70 or later.

These expectations may not correspond with reality. In surveying current retirees, EBRI found that only 6% had worked into their seventies. Only 9% had retired at age 65. Sixty-five percent of the respondents had left work before age 65, up from 61% in EBRI’s 2010 survey.

We may see retirement as an extension of the present rather than the future. This is only natural, as we live in the present – but the present will not go on forever. Things change, and the costs we have to shoulder five or ten years from now may be greater than the expenses we face at the start of retirement. As many of us will likely be retired for 20 or 30 years, it becomes essential to take a long-term view of the retirement experience – which is why retirees may want to consider growth investing and long term care coverage.

Beyond that basic question, we need to think about insurance from a couple of other angles. Will we need long term care coverage? It seems to get more expensive each year, but as medicine and health care continue to advance and evolve, the possibility of a gradual rather than sudden death may increase. The wealthy may have the assets to contend with long term care costs, but the middle class rarely does. In Genworth’s 2015 Cost of Care Survey, the median annual cost for a semi-private room in a nursing home is $80,300. In California, it is $89,396; in Florida, $87,600.

Disability insurance and long term care coverage may prove more essential to retirement planning than many of us realize.

Age may catch up to us sooner rather than later. Generationally speaking, are we healthier than our parents and grandparents were? Anecdotally, it would seem so: we see people running 10Ks in their eighties, climbing mountains in their seventies, and so forth. Then again, we have diabetes and obesity plaguing American health.

We may be alone sooner than we assume. Many couples retire with a reasonable assumption that they will be together for some time – but something may happen to leave one spouse alone. As anyone who has ever lived alone realizes, a single person does not simply live on 50% of the income of a couple. Keeping up a house – or even a condo – could be arduous for an eighty-year-old man or woman. Driving is a concern. All this means that we may need someone or some group of people to care for us when our spouse is gone. Is that kind of support currently available? Could it be available twenty years from now? If not, what will take its place?

These are some of the blindspots that can surprise us in retirement. They may quickly affect our money and our quality of life. If we age with an awareness of them and recognize them in our retirement and estate planning, then we may be betterprepared when or if they emerge.

Let’s start with longevity. The Social Security Administration reports that a man reaching age 65 today can expect to live, on average, until age 84.3. For women, that average life expectancy is 86.6. Women live longer than men; therefore, their retirements are expected to last longer. Quite simply – women need to have more money saved.

And then there is the very real factor of less income. Women still earn an average of 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. Earning less means not only do women have less money available to set aside for retirement, but also that their Social Security benefits will be significantly lower than what their male counterparts will receive.

On average, women have less savings. When you earn less, you save less. But even when women save aggressively, they often put other goals ahead of their own retirements, such as their child’s college tuition.

So what can women do about this very real challenge?

First, educate yourself – Devote time and effort to learning the basics of personal financial management and investing. Spending time “doing your homework” can pay off nicely down the road.

Do it now – women need to begin their retirement savings as soon as possible. If you are in the divorce process, make sure your divorce team is negotiating terms that will serve you well in your retirement.

As always, save as much as you can. It’s important to think of retirement savings as a commitment. Prioritize needs over wants in your spending, and make no mistake: Retirement savings is an absolute need.

With a commitment to education, good planning, disciplined savings, and professional guidance, there is good reason for you to expect a financially secure retirement. On the other hand, without those things, there is good reason for concern. Make your retirement savings a priority, and not a cause for worry.

“I wish I had known.” “Why didn’t someone tell me?” “This is news to me.

How many of us have uttered at least one of those phrases in the last few months? How about over the last few years? We want to be informed. We are smart, independent, empowered women who are ready to take charge of their future. But how, exactly, do we do that? How do we get informed?

The easiest way to start is for every woman to ask herself some questions.  

1. When thinking about your future, what keeps you up at night?
   1. My family, kids or grandkids future
   2. Did my husband put enough money away for us?
   3. How is my portfolio?
   4. Has my 401(k) done well and will it last through retirement?

No matter what it is that makes you worry about finances, there are resources available to strengthen your ability to make the tough decisions.  The key is to access those resources and make decisions about those financial matters that are unsettled.  Ignoring the nagging questions won’t make them go away!

2. How involved would you like to be with your household finances and financial plan?
   1. I’d like to have a better understanding
   2. I’m fine with things the way they are
   3. I’d like to be able to collaborate with a financial professional to make some of my decisions.
   4. I’d like to be able to have some of my decisions made for me.

I don’t think many of us are truly “fine with the way things are” especially if we have not armed ourselves with the right knowledge to make sound judgements on our financial future. Whether we are an independent thinker, or someone who likes to collaborate, making decisions in a vacuum is a sure recipe for an unplanned financial future. And that ignorance brings fear and insecurity.

For even more guidance on how to Empower Yourself Financially attend this free seminar – November 16^th – Parkside Lodge, Buffalo. Register: https://empoweringfinancially.eventbrite.com/

“I wish I had known.” “Why didn’t someone tell me?” “This is news to me.

How many of us have uttered at least one of those phrases in the last few months? How about over the last few years? We want to be informed. We are smart, independent, empowered women who are ready to take charge of their future. But how, exactly, do we do that? How do we get informed?

The easiest way to start is for every woman to ask herself some questions.  

1. How involved are you with your household finances and financial plan?
   1. Somewhat involved- I give my opinion but generally let my husband/partner take care of that.
   2. Not at all involved- I let my husband/partner take care of all of it.
   3. Highly involved- I take care of all the household finances.
   4. Involved- I share the responsibility equally.

This question deals with much more than paying the bills. It’s about financial planning for the year, three years, ten, and even into retirement. It’s about participating in your own financial life,  monitoring your investments and about understanding how your financial needs will change through the years.. But how can you start doing this if you’ve never done it before? How can you feel like you have the information you need to make sound decisions. It all starts by putting pen (or pencil if you are someone who likes to change things) to paper and setting goals, understanding your income potential, and making the two match.

2. What are your top three sources for financial information?
   1. My family and friends, and (more specifically), my parents
   2. My husband/partner/lawyer/family member
   3. Websites, individual research, financial planning friends, influential/successful
   4. Books, websites, family members

All sources for financial information can be powerfully helpful. Speaking to family and friends about their successes in crafting their financial plan, or the pitfalls they’ve learned to avoid can help guide you. Talking with your partner to be sure your goals align is critical to developing a sound plan, and a better financial relationship, as well. And then doing some digging -there is much at our fingertips that helps us become smarter on nearly any topic. The point is to do it. Spend 30 – 60 minutes more each week than you currently do on becoming well versed in financial news, trends and resources. Do this on your own, with your partner, or with your broker’s help. The key to becoming empowered is the right information.

For even more guidance on how to Empower Yourself Financially attend this free seminar – November 16^th – Parkside Lodge, Buffalo. Register: https://empoweringfinancially.eventbrite.com/

It is vital to stay focused on long-term goals rather than short-term statement changes you may see. However, it is also vital to be sure you are on the right long-term plan – the plan that will fit your needs down the road. While there are reasons to remain optimistic about the market’s future in the months ahead – you may need to address today’s volatility.

Has your broker called you – to talk to you about your long-term strategy and how today’s market changes may affect that?

If not, let me take a look. I’ll be happy to give you a second opinion on your investments just to be sure you are not missing some opportunities.

Yes, these market changes are frustrating – but a lot less so when you have peace of mind that you are working with your broker on preparing for tomorrow as best as you can.

Here are just a few tidbits of what I do during the divorce process to help my clients:

1. I see 10 and 20 years out – so often my clients are stuck in today, and perhaps a bit of tomorrow. But what they can’t see is how their divorce settlement will play out for them down the road. As a financial professional, I am used to making projections which will now help them see if they are likely to be financially secure in the future- as well as right now.
2. I safeguard their settlements – It can be so tempting. The divorce settlement cash comes in and thoughts of renovating the family room, taking that long awaited vacation, upgrading the car, buying a boat – all come rushing in. But wait….. that settlement is designed to support your lifestyle in the long term. I work with my clients to ensure that they have a solid financial plan. Sure, we get that vacation in the plan – but maybe not the boat. We fix the car instead of buying a new one, and then next year we can re-do the family room. I help clients make sure they don’t burn through their settlement too quickly.
3. I help account for taxes, inflation, and unexpected expenses –My clients have a budget, they now have their divorce finalized and they know exactly how much they will receive each month. But wait…. Did someone say “new roof?” What about the changes in income taxes once the child deductions are shared? What will replace maintenance income when it comes to an end in five years? Did we account for college costs ten years from now? That’s my job. I make sure that your settlement accounts for the future, and then I help you use your assets and income to support your today in a way that will fuel your tomorrow down the road.
4. I am your financial protector – I’ve seen it all – bad settlement proposals, one spouse failing to disclose critical financial information, the “bully-effect” that can often carry over from a bad marriage to muddy the waters of divorce negotiations.  My job is to be the eyes, ears and financial protector for my clients.  I see things pragmatically and advise you on what may be right for you regardless of the circumstances that got you here.

Let’s face it – this is not a subject anyone likes to talk about. In fact, whenever we get an email or a voicemail from a life insurance representative we tend to cringe, turn away, or simply just “delete.”

And yet, life insurance is the single-most important step in making sure that your family is protected if the unthinkable occurs. According to the life insurance industry group LIMRA, 30 percent of US households have no life insurance whatsoever. Today, there are 11 million fewer American households covered by life insurance compared with six years ago. The bottom line is that a majority of families have no life insurance or not enough, leaving them one accident or terminal illness away from a financial catastrophe for their loved ones.

What if you were suddenly no longer here and your family had to manage on their own? When was the last time you worked through your budget to be sure your family would be OK? Here are some simple steps you can take to get started on protecting your family financially:

1. Check with your employer to find out what insurance is available as a benefit, and if your current policy can be increased
2. Have your life insurance policy reviewed by a professional to be sure you have adequate coverage for now, and in your family’s future
3. Consider your family’s future financial needs: College tuition, weddings, debt payoff, car purchases, home maintenance, etc.

Having the right life insurance coverage provides much more than just peace-of-mind, it can keep a family – a family