Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling a year ago allowing same sex couples to marry in all states, the concerns that same sex couples face financially mirror the concerns facing heterosexual couples, according to Prudential Financial and advisors who serve this community.
According to “The 2016/2017 LGBT Financial Experience,” which was released Thursday by Prudential, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are “more worried that broad economic forces like market volatility or lingering low interest rates will hinder their ability to achieve lifetime financial security than LGBT-specific rights issues.”
“My clients are not coming to me with problems from the court decision; they are looking at this as a great opportunity, says Betsy Billard, a private wealth advisor with Ameriprise Financial. "They can now receive Social Security benefits as a couple and taxes are simplified. They had to jump through hoops for estate planning in the past. Now they no longer have to.
“In addition, the economy as a whole benefited from the weddings and setting of up new households,” she added.
Members of the LGBT community share the same concerns as everyone else, says Prudential, which “is a shift from Prudential’s 2012 survey, when basic rights issues were top of mind. Those surveyed say the right to marry has given them the ability to file joint tax returns, pay for health benefits with pre-tax earnings, list same-sex partners on health insurance, and ensure that a loved one’s interests are protected in the event of death.”
“Having the fundamental right to marry has begun to simplify financial lives within the LGBT community,” says Kent Sluyter, CEO of Individual Life Insurance and Prudential Advisors.
Ellen Krider, a financial advisor with RBC Wealth Management, a global wealth management firm, acknowledges there has been some "unwinding" that needed be done in the past year.
“For one couple I have, the older person had adopted the much younger partner to make provisions for health decisions and benefits. Now they can marry, so we undid the adoption,” she says.
“There are also more older same sex couples marrying now who have substantial assets, so we are making sure the assets are divided the way the couple wants,” Krider added. “But it has been amazing. I have one couple where the partners are 92 and 80 who have been together 40 years and they got married recently.”
“Married couples have a lot of protections that co-habitating couples do not,” says Joshua Charles, a member of Pride Planners, a network of advisors who serve the LGBT community, and an ambassador for the CFP Board of Standards, which he says has helped lead the way on LGBT planning issues. He is an advisor with Financial 360 in Rockville, Md.
“Before, I had partners living together where one partner was able to get homeowners insurance, but the other had to get renters insurance. Now they do not have to do that. Now one partner can give assets to the other without worrying about gift taxes,” Charles says, “Previously they were considered legal strangers no matter how long they had been together.”
“Health care and employee benefits are huge now,” he adds. “I have younger clients who are now talking about families and children.”
According to Prudential, the marriage rate has more than tripled since 2012, having increased to 30 percent of same sex couples from just 8 percent in 2012. ”Most relationships were already blooming -- most said they married a longtime partner.”
“We’ve made substantial strides in terms of gaining legal rights -- which certainly helps to fuel financial and economic stability within the LGBT community,” says Glennda Testone, executive director of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in New York City. “But we must continue working to overcome the serious remaining barriers to leading happy, healthy lives that all of us deserve, and having professionals who know our community and can help us attain our dreams is vital to achieving that.”
“For a decade, financial planning did not get clearer. The states were different and in many places the federal law and state laws were different, so we have to untangle some previous planning we did to get around these varying laws,” says Jennifer Hatch, president and managing partner at Christopher Street Financial in New York City.
“There are still some issues around adoption, but any couple that is not married and then decides to marry has those same issues,” she adds. “We are also beginning to see some interesting divorces. If a couple was together for years before marrying, what part of those assets should be part of the divorce?”
“With marriage comes concern about divorce, which will lead to alimony and division of assets questions, which face everyone,” Charles adds.
Home buying by same sex couples has gone up in the past year, according to Better Homes and Garden Real Estate (BHGRE) and the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals.(NAGLREP). The LGBT community represents $840 billion in buying power, according to the two organizations.
‘There has been an increase in same sex couple mortgage applications because there was a pent up demand for homes in this community,” says Jeff Berger, founder and CEO of NAGLREP, a nonprofit organization based in Jupiter, Fla. “In some places, same sex couples have owned homes for years, but now there is an exuberance about it.”
Sherry Chris, president of BHGRE, “There was a desire to buy real estate, but some same sex couples were afraid of not being accepted. Now there is more positive awareness and acceptance. “