John, good to see you. Today we are talking retirement planning and tips for women. A recent study found that women are far less financially prepared for retirement compared to men. According to Trans America, men actually have more than double the retirement savings of women– incredible. Of course, there are so many reasons why– the earnings gap, women are more likely to be caregivers, and they're more likely to have professional interruptions. But John, even if they're not working, they can contribute to an IRA. How does that work?

Yeah, well, before I address that question, I just want to say that, for a lot of my female clients, these are women that are very accomplished, very powerful people who have developed an essay that is just as powerful or even greater than their male counterparts or spouses. So a lot of the across-the-board planning that pertains to women is always there. However, there is also a lot of female population that you know, left the workforce for a long time to have that, the most important job of all and that is raising your kids. So, if you're one of those people and you're staying at home, don't forget to future-proof yourself and you know, a non-spouse, if you have one spouse working, they can make contributions for the non-spouse IRA. So it's really important to take advantage of that, while you're not working to at least add to that snowball of retirement savings.

Right, right. Really good point. So 43% of men use a financial advisor, only 34% of women do. But working with an advisor can help women for so many reasons. Explain how.

Yeah, well, you know, a lot of people look at financial advisors as having a luxury to have, but for women, it's really a necessity because not only do they have the issues that you know, their their male spouses or male counterparts have, but it's statistically proven right? A woman is a nurturer. They are more likely to be a caregiver to an aging parent, or to you know, that child that's now an adult that still needs a little bit of coddling as the men would say. They’re going to provide that. So there is a special level of planning that I've helped a lot of my female clients out with, to help them take care of their aging parents or their, their their children, still living at home.

So I have one more stat for you. 33% of women do not have a retirement strategy versus 18% of men. And women live longer John, they need a retirement plan that accounts for longevity.

Yeah, and today’s biggest concern of retirees and women retirees is outliving your money. So women are statistically proven to last longer or live longer than men. So, therefore, they have a greater risk of running out of money. So it's really important that you know, women going into retirement are able to take their assets and be efficient with them and really develop an optimal income strategy that is predictable and sustainable and that will last their longer lifetime.

And John I know that you've done a lot of work with surviving spouses and survivor benefits. Explain that, please.

Yeah, so we just talked about longevity, right? Statistically speaking the female spouse outlives the male spouse so therefore you have a couple things that need to be optimized. You need to optimize Social Security for the highest benefit because when one spouse dies, one benefit goes goes away and the higher benefit will remain. So you need to look at that from a surviving spouse’s perspective. The other thing you have to be prepared for is the most insidious and cruel tax in my eyes, and that's the widow tax. Right when one spouse dies, you get married filing jointly status in that one year. And then every year beyond that, you're going into single filing status so not only do your ordinary income taxes take a hit, but also those tax torpedoes of Social Security and Medicare. So oftentimes, a lot of women or widows are going to see a huge spike in their tax brackets.

And you know, us women, Mom's so busy and you have so many great resources John available for people to learn at their own convenience. Just tick through again, how we can reach you and learn all about these topics.

Well hey, whether you're in the car, in the office, or at home. You can always find us on YouTube, and subscribe to our channel. We have tons of videos and resources and we come out with videos throughout the month to help educate and get financial literacy to today's female retiree. You can also catch us at the retire happy podcast.com. And of course, visit our website www.gosecurus.com. We have tons of videos and podcasts on that along with some blog articles. And while you're on there, you can visit the Contact Us Tab where you can schedule a 15-minute phone call where we’ll answer any general questions for you. Or a 90-minute complementary vision and clarity consultation. And if you like doing things the old-fashioned way, just give us a call at the office, at 858-935-6210 and ask to speak with Emily Wale and she will get you on my schedule.

So many great options. John, thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you, Erin