Women Helping Women: Navigating the Empty Nest

By: Karen A. Miller, CFP®, CPFA

Written April 16, 2019

If you are one of those individuals who is less than excited about becoming an empty nester, you are not alone. There are many, many women—and men—who feel the same way. But, if you plan for it, this can actually be one of the most amazing times in your life. In fact, 95% of those aged 40-70 are actually excited to have time without the kids.* And many women say it’s the best time of their lives.

Get back to work

If you took time out of your career to be home with your children, now may be the right time to get back into the workforce. Some companies, like IBM, have created programs (the “returnship”) that help women return to the workforce. And there are other great resources, like iRelaunch, that provide information, education and re-entry programs you can leverage (they also happen to work directly with more than 40 blue chip companies, national network of alumni career services directors and more).

Reconnect

This can be a great time to nurture those relationships that may have been pushed aside a bit, like with your significant other, your friends or even yourself. Consider:

• Volunteering for an organization or cause you support
• Trying a new workout, training for a marathon or whatever else gets you moving
• Joining a social group or starting a new one
• Going on dates, trips or any of the ideas above with your significant other
• Establishing a monthly night out with your friends

Continuing your education

If you’re like a lot of women, you may consider going back to school to get that degree or extra degree you’ve wanted. In fact, 8.1 million adults 25 and older attend college.** Of course, this can be a considerable expense, so you will likely need a strategy to help pay for it. If you work outside the home, your employer may offer some form of tuition reimbursement. And, there are many sources you can look to for scholarships or student loans, including Scholarships.com, Return2college.com, studentloanhero.com and many others. And there are a number of ways to use your personal or financial assets to help you pay for these expenses as well.

You are not alone. Gasber Financial can help you determine the right financial plan to help you achieve everything you desire at this exciting time of life.

*Huffingtonpost.com

**studentloanhero.com/featured/scholarships-for-adults/

Women helping women: Smart Resources for Women with Special Needs Children  

Written by Karen A. Miller, CFP®, CPFA on 09 April 2019

In our last blog, we began a discussion of some resources and options for women who are providing care to their loved ones. Today, we’ll focus in on resources and tools for women with special needs children, because we know that these moms worry like no others.

Government resources

There are many resources in place to help provide medical and other benefits for children with special healthcare needs:

1. Social Security may provide disability benefits for children under 18 with mental or physical conditions that severely limit their abilities (visit socialsecurity.gov)
2. In many states, children receiving Social Security benefits are automatically eligible to receive Medicaid benefits as well (check with your state’s Medicaid office—in California, this is MediCal)
3. The Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) program requires states not only to give periodic well child screenings for every child on Medicaid, but also to pay for any medically necessary treatments whether or not they are covered by the state’s Medicaid plan
4. If you don’t qualify for Medicaid, your child may still qualify for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP—coverage varies so contact your state’s Medicaid office for more information)

Special needs trusts

It is possible to use a special needs trust (also known as a supplemental needs trust) to help provide for your child’s future without endangering their government benefits.

Other tools

Another option to help protect your child is a guardianship. Designed to provide financial protection for those who may be too young, too disabled or too vulnerable to financial exploitation or mismanagement to manage their own finances, a guardianship can help protect your child when you are no longer able to do so. Of course, with this type of tool, like with trustees, it is often best to select a professional to be the guardian.

Gasber Financial doesn’t give legal advice, but we can work with your attorney to help you to design and implement trusts and guardianships that can help you to protect and provide for your children.

Women helping women: How to take care of family business when you are the caregiver

Chances are good that, at some point in your life, you may end up being a caregiver for someone you love. In fact, nearly 1 in 5 of all adults provide care to an adult loved one or to children.* And, unsurprisingly, 60% of those who do are women.* But there are things you should consider before you take on this rewarding, but potentially stressful role.

Help caring for an aging loved one

You don’t have to go it alone

Whether you are considering paying for the care or providing it yourself, it’s important to note that you may not need to do it all alone. In fact, there are many resources for information and even financial help. A few include:

1. The Family Caregiver Alliance at www.caregiver.org—which has many resources for caregivers, including support groups, lists of services in your area, and much more
2. Your loved one’s life insurance policy (or yours)—which may have a cash balance or a chronic illness rider that can be accessed to help pay for care
3. Other programs that may pay for an outside caregiver to help alleviate some of the responsibilities (look at BenefitsCheckUp.org and eldercare.gov to name a few)

Providing the care yourself

More than half of women caregivers still need to work and may even be sandwiched between providing care for older loved ones and children at the same time. It’s important to still be able to take care of yourself financially and emotionally. So, before making the decision to provide care yourself, here are some things you should think about:

• Can you afford to stay home and for how long?
  • The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) enables you to take 12 weeks unpaid (for your own medical needs or those of others) and return to your same position and salary
  • If you desire to be home longer than 12 weeks, it may not only be your salary you need to replace, but also health insurance and other benefits
  • You should still be saving for retirement—and if you have children—saving for college as well

• Can you get paid to provide the care?
• Family may be willing to help you provide the care or meet the costs, so ask them early on  
• Certain State Medicaid and aging services programs may actually pay you to care for your relative through “participant directed” or “consumer directed” programs (check your state’s aging services and Medicaid sites)

• Can you earn income on the side?
  • Today there is a thriving “Gig economy” where women can create great income streams on a freelance basis being tutors, tour guides, babysitters, shoppers and more. These jobs enable you to earn an income, while providing flexible schedules. Some great sites for finding gigs include fiverr.com, behance.net, Guru.com, freelancer.com.

Regardless of the type of care you hope to provide, Gasber Financial can help you determine not only what the long-term costs involved may be, but also the best ways to afford it.

In our next installment, we’ll discuss considerations for providing care for special needs loved ones.

*http://www.nationalpartnership.org/our-work/resources/workplace/female-face-family-caregiving.pdf

By Karen A. Miller, CFP®, CPFA

According to a recent study, more than half of all women are now the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) for their households. And given that a growing number of women are also the primary breadwinners, it’s no wonder.* But how are you supposed to manage it all, while balancing your career and family? The first step is to get organized.

 Why?

In the case of an emergency, effective recordkeeping allows you or your loved ones to access the policies, accounts and other documents needed quickly and easily. Plus, it can also help avoid any surprises that can come with bills left unpaid.

 An orderly system also enables you to manage your wealth more effectively. Having all of your financial information in one place allows you to see your true wealth (assets and liabilities) from a holistic perspective. And this can help you to make more effective and more efficient financial decisions.

 How?

Step 1—Get organized

Start by gathering vital information about your family and making an inventory of your critical documents. You want to know what you own, what you owe and how you are protected against certain risks. Regular updating of this list will help you stay current on your financial situation. You should include:

• Wills, Trusts, and insurance policies
• All financial account information and passwords
• Information on monthly bills and debt
• Passwords, combinations and key locations for security systems, safes or safe deposit boxes
• Healthcare directives, power of attorney, family information—and more

 One option to consider is using an online organizing system such as Everplans. Everplans is an easy-to-access, secure digital archive where you can store everything described above throughout your life. And, at Gasber Financial we believe so strongly in organizing that we provide all clients with access to their own Everplan account. Find out more at www.everplans.com.

 Step 2—Stay up to date

Having everything in one place makes it easy for you to routinely review your will and other documents.

• Make sure your retirement plan beneficiaries are up to date—this is critical because beneficiary designations generally take precedence over almost everything else, including the terms of a will. Retirement plans include workplace 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457s, as well as IRAs, Roth IRAs and annuities
• Ensure your home, auto and life insurance policies are up to date, so they include only the appropriate parties, property, and beneficiaries
• Revise your will to represent any changes in your wishes

 Step 3—Ask for help

If this seems overwhelming to you, don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t feel bad if you need it. Very few people cut their own hair or handle their own legal needs—and this is no different. Sometimes you just need an objective professional to help you and that’s what we’re here for.

* Allianz Women, Money, and Power Study, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America, October 2016

https://solutions.naifa.org/majority-of-women-now-responsible-for-household-finances

New relationships require new strategies

 When you’re just starting a relationship, it’s easy to think that money will never come between you. But, money is one of the top three things couples fight about. So, it’s critical to start out on the right foot. But how do you do that? It might be easier than you think.

Things to do right away

 Identify your financial personalities

The first thing you should do is discuss your attitudes toward money. It’s worth identifying your financial personality—saver or spender—and knowing if you’re on the same page or not. Discuss what you each think is important to spend money on and what isn’t, what you’re willing to do without and what you must have now.

 Communicate honestly

It’s important for each of you to understand your existing financial responsibilities. You may have debt you’re paying off, obligations to family or from previous relationships, or any number of things that you each have to pay. Be open and honest about your commitments and try to make sure your partner is as well.

 Put your accounts in order

You may each have a number of bills that you prefer to keep separate, but it is important to have both names on things like utilities. Without that, only one of you can make changes, if they are needed.

 Chances are you will undoubtedly have some joint expenses. So, it’s important to think about how you want to set up your banking.

• Some couples choose to completely integrate bank accounts and elect one partner to be in charge of the finances.
• Others may opt to maintain separate checking or cash management accounts—dividing up the expenses and assigning each partner specific financial responsibilities.
• Some couples choose to start with three accounts: yours, mine and ours. In this scenario, each of you keeps an account to pay your own obligations and you have a joint account from which you pay the bills you share.

 Things that can wait

Regardless of how you choose to handle day to day expenses, you need to create savings goals and budgets together and set aside time to review them regularly.

 Updating beneficiaries

When you get married, you need to review the beneficiary designations on any life insurance or retirement accounts. According to federal law, your spouse is automatically the beneficiary on your 401(k), so if, for any reason, you do not wish for your spouse to become your beneficiary, they will need to sign a waiver and have it notarized.

 Set long-term goals

When you’re a team, you probably have new priorities. Whether those goals include children and college, a new house, travel or support for the causes you care about, you need to develop a plan to help you reach these objectives. The right investment strategies will depend on how you view risk and your time frame. For example, how you might save and invest for a vacation will be quite different from how you save for your child to go to medical school.

 Stay realistic

Couples often have preexisting notions about when they need to buy a home, have children, retire and more. But things may not always happen on schedule. The key is to:

 Set and plan for your goals

• Be realistic about timing (taking a little longer may be better than stressing yourselves too much)
• Check your progress at regular intervals

And remember that life happens. Your priorities and financial situation can change quickly, but that’s okay. You can still work toward these or new goals using the same tools.