Help her find peace of mind using Sagewell’s Quick Self-Care List for Mom
This Mother’s Day, Sagewell wants to encourage moms everywhere to indulge in a little self-care that will pay off more than any retail therapy or trip to a spa ever could (though we hope you’re doing that too!). We know moms never put their needs first and as a result, many women in retirement find they haven’t taken a close enough look at planning for their future and how they can make the most of it.
The founders of Sagewell built the company to give their moms (and dads) a custom-built banking experience that also offered them support to live their best lives in retirement. On Mother’s Day, we hope you’ll take a few minutes to review our Mother’s Day Self-Care Worksheet and make a commitment to ensure you’re set-up for the future you deserve.
Some Sobering Statistics About Senior Women and Retirement
On average, Americans spent $220 dollars per person celebrating their Mom. But after the gift cards are spent and the flowers have wilted, too many moms are left in serious financial peril. In fact, women ages 65 or older are about 43% more likely than men to live on an income below the poverty level. The data is sobering for older women when it comes to finances and retirement:
- On average a 65-year-old woman takes home nearly $4000 less from Social Security benefits than men of the same age. ($13,505 vs. $17,374)
- On average women enter retirement with $70,000 less than men
- Nearly 1 in 5 women in the US have no retirement savings (yet they live longer than men)
- Because more women than men are likely to work part-time, they are less likely to have employer-sponsored retirement plans
Sagewell co-founder Jeff Wright offers these tips:
1) Have the talk with your older female family members — often and early. Discuss who is in charge of finances in their household, do they need help managing payments, budgets, etc.? A lot of older people feel embarrassed and ashamed to ask for help, especially if it’s their children they need to turn to for guidance in their later years.
2) Women should have their own checking and savings account— plain and simple. They must know where their money is going - given lower earnings, budgeting is super important. A budgeting tool and eye on where money is going will help them save.
3) Help loved ones plan long term - in order to avoid needing to leave workforce early to care for a parent, consider plans like long term care insurance, and try to leverage all resources available. The Spring 2022 Sagewell Financial newsletter featured an interview with Long Term Care planner, Merideth Pensack, you can read that here.
4) Encourage Mom to use investments and equity to her advantage - don’t sit on home equity for the sake of it, use investments if they can help to extend earnings longer (since women live longer than men). eg. don’t be afraid to encourage her to use 401k if it makes sense.
5) Beware of online scams and romance/companion fraud: Online schemes and fraud are serious problems for seniors in general. See our post here where we offer specific tips: Sage Advice - Tips for Seniors to avoid online romance fraud | Sagewell (sagewellfinancial.com)
