Financial advisors need to prepare women to take control of their finances, according to Kalimah White, a vice president and wealth strategist at TD Wealth Management.
Even in cases where husbands control most of the household finances, advisors should bring wives into the process because women are likely to end up with all of the financial responsibility at some point, said White, who works with advisors and relationship managers at TD Wealth.
She noted that women tend to approach their finances, wealth management and estate planning differently than men in that they often are more concerned with their legacy and want their investments and estate planning to reflect their social goals more than men do.
“Women think of saving and retirement and educating the children,” White said. “They often are more philanthropic than men.” She added that if an advisor does not understand these things, the wife likely will leave the advisor when she has to make decisions on her own after a death or divorce.
“Advisors have to understand the differences in thought process for women and men,” she said. “They need to know a key issue for women is whether they will run out of money in retirement” and that in many cases women are more concerned about planning in general and legacy planning in particular.
The pandemic intensified many people’s financial concerns last year, but it had a disproportionate effect on women because they were more likely to lose a job or be forced to quit for child care than men, White said.
“Women, as well as men, need to understand that investing is a long-term process," White said. "They may be in a poor situation in their economic lives at a given point, but they need to ride the wave."