Estate Planning for Women
November 1, 2009
Julie A. Dialessi-Lafley, Esq.
Fast Facts:
- Women generally have longer life expectancies than men, so they need to save more for retirement.
- Many women generally spend fewer years in the workforce and earn less than men. These factors contribute to lower pension and Social Security benefits.
- Because women tend to outlive their husbands, women should examine the household financial and estate plan carefully to ensure that joint assets are sufficient to provide for them later in life.
Because women tend to outlive their husbands, women should examine the household financial and estate plan carefully to ensure that joint assets are sufficient to provide for them later in life.
Why prepare an article on estate planning for women and not men and women together? Well, men and women are similar in some ways but different in many other ways. These differences translate to different needs in estate planning and different reasons for needing estate planning.
Women are unique in that they tend to work fewer years outside of the home and on average earn 74% percent less then men. Also, women live approximately 5-7 years longer than men; thus, there are some very unique considerations when planning retirement and estate issues for women.
In most double-income households, as a result of the lesser earnings of women, it is the woman who often opts out of contributions to pension plans, deferred savings plans, and retirement plans. Also, women often have smaller pensions and Social Security benefits because often they interrupt their careers to care for children or elderly family members. In order for women to make up for differences in earnings and benefits...
You can read more at the link below.
Healthcare Ledger
November 2009
Download the full PDF version:
Life Stages
Areas of Practice
