Women and The Law
 Women comprise more than 50% of the United States population.1 In addition, women tend to outlive their
male counterparts by seven years.2 Not surprisingly, then, 80% of men die married and 80% of women
die single.3 Accordingly, whether she is currently married or single, every women needs to play
self-defense when it comes her own Life & Estate Planning.
Why? Because while she is busy meeting the needs of others, a woman may forget to take care of her own needs. For example, who will take care of her, the important people in her life and her
property if is she is unable to do so? Who will care for the caregiver?
Life Planning
Would your loved ones be prepared to take care of your legal and financial responsibilities if you were incapacitated? The law says adult Americans must make their own personal, health care
and financial decisions. Certainly the daily news and our own personal experiences prove that a serious injury or illness can strike anyone at any time.
Without proper Life Planning, your loved ones cannot automatically step in and handle routine legal and financial matters for you. For example, regardless of their relationship to you (e.g.,
this includes a spouse), no one can sign your name to a tax return, a real estate deed or the back of a check unless you have given them authority to act on your behalf through appropriate legal
documents.
Without your prior authorization, your loved ones also may be barred from access to your medical information, verbal or written, because of the legally-protected confidential relationship between patients and their physicians.
Note: Access to such medical information is crucial for your loved ones to advocate on your behalf regarding important life and death treatment decisions, to include obtaining second opinions
or transferring you to a new hospital.
In the absence of proper planning, your loved ones could be forced into court to obtain the legal authority required to care for your personal, health care and financial needs. This process
could waste precious time and crucial financial resources.
As noted above, many women will find themselves living single at some point in their lives -- whether by their own choice or through the vagaries of fate. And chances are good that, if you
are single now, you may marry (or re-marry) soon. Where you are single, widowed or divorced, consider executing a Premarital Agreement with your intended before you say I do. Legally
speaking, a Premarital Agreement is a two-party contract made in contemplation of marriage that is effective upon solemnization of the marriage. Practically speaking, it requires prospective
spouses to lay their financial cards on the table ... and may be one way to protect not only your assets, but your heart as well, from less-than-honorable suitors.
Estate Planning
If given the choice of planning for their own death and anything else, most normal people would choose anything else. That is just human nature. Nevertheless, no one wants to be
remembered for leaving a legal and financial mess for their loved ones to sort out. What, if any, legal arrangements have you made? How would your loved ones, charities or pets be cared for if
you were no longer around to care for them?
As a rule of thumb, surviving spouses are particularly vulnerable during the first year they are widowed. Many grief counselors advise against making any major life decisions during that
first year.
Feelings of grief can be expressed in many forms, to include feelings of loneliness and abandonment. As a result, many surviving spouses remarry before they probably should.
If your spouse were to remarry, would your Estate Plan protect your assets for them in the event of a subsequent divorce; and for your children should your spouse predecease their next
partner?
If you are the parent of minor children, regardless whether you are married or single, have you made legal arrangements for their care in the event they become orphans? Who will provide a
safe and secure home for them, as well as help develop their moral character? Who will manage their inheritance and protect it for them and from them? The failure to address these issues could
negatively impact your children well into adulthood.
Even if you have no children, you likely have definite ideas about who should or should not inherit your assets. Whether these objects of your bounty are humans, animals, birds, fish or
reptiles, only proper Estate Planning can fulfill your objectives.
In the absence of an Estate Plan containing your instructions, state law will control. In most instances, these laws would distribute the estate assets to your surviving next-of-kin, which
may differ greatly from your wishes.
1. U.S. Census Bureau
2. Christian Science Monitor, 2002
3. Women's Institute for a Secure
Retirement
Women and Money
 Are you responsible for the
investment decisions in your household? Many women are, though many also leave these decisions to someone else. Even if someone else handles that responsibility today, every woman needs a
fundamental understanding of investments in order to ensure her own future financial security. The art and science of investing begins with two financial basics every woman should know about
handling her money: Risk & Return and Asset Allocation.
Risk & Return
Whenever you invest your money in an asset, you do so with the expectation that you will receive a return on your investment. At some future point you expect both the
return of your money and a return on it. The potential that you will be disappointed in that expectation is known as investment risk. Interestingly, it often happens that
the greater your risk of losing the original investment, the greater your potential return on it ... and vice versa.
This financial law of proportionality is analogous to a well-known physical law of proportionality: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Without an appreciation for this law of proportionality in the physical world, travel by jet aircraft would be impossible. Without an appreciation for it in the financial world, a prudent
investment strategy would be impossible. Your personal risk tolerance reflects your comfort level with varying degrees of risk. If the risk associated with a proposed investment is going
to keep you awake nights, then that investment is likely beyond your personal risk tolerance, and not appropriate for you. The same investment, however, may be perfectly suited for
someone else in different circumstances, or with a higher level of personal risk tolerance. The key, then, is to balance the potential risk and reward for a given investment, indeed for the
allocation of all of your assets, according to your personal risk tolerance.
Asset Allocation
Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. This is a proven maxim that also is an appropriate working definition for the concept of asset allocation.
Simply put, asset allocation is an investment strategy that seeks to balance risk and reward by spreading the investment of your money over a number of asset types. Generally speaking, when
stocks are performing well, bonds may be performing poorly. Having the right blend of each for your unique circumstances is the key.
Your unique approach to asset allocation will vary based on a variety of factors, to include your investment goals (e.g., wealth accumulation versus current income),
your time horizon (e.g., college funding versus retirement), your need for liquidity (e.g., the ability to readily turn the investment into cash), your risk tolerance (e.g., are you more
interested in the return of your money versus the return on your money?), your tax status (e.g., the impact of an investment on your tax burden), and current/forecasted economic conditions
(e.g., how optimistic or pessimistic are you about the present and future of inflation, interest rates and the overall economy?).
The role of a qualified financial advisor is to help you determine your personal risk tolerance and design a basket (portfolio) of eggs (investments) that is
most appropriate for you. Then, over time, your financial advisor will help you adjust the eggs in your basket as your circumstances change.
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