Find a Trusted Professional to Help Assess and Address Financial Needs

What is the sign of a good decision?®

Finding a financial professional who understands you, what you want and how you want to work with them.

Specific financial challenges

Let’s face it, today’s woman is amazing. You juggle changing and growing roles in the workplace with responsibilities on the home front. On top of this, you may have made deliberate decisions to care for your family that may have sidetracked your career and personal investment potential.
To top it all off, generally, you are living longer than your partner and not only have to provide for the here and now but also the future, which can also include providing for parents and kids. Consider that longer life expectancies can necessitate more money for a comfortable retirement.

And any savings shortfalls due to career and family situations, sometimes beyond your control, mean that your assets need to work smarter. Without a solid financial strategy – and the right guidance in the process, you may find yourself –or your family – coming up short.
Many women live in the present – focused on today’s pressing responsibilities and feeling divided in caring for themselves and their families – with financial security perceived as a future need. Yet, now is when to consider future needs.
Unfortunately, relatively few women do. Also, women typically work for less money than men, causing a potential income gap. Women often live longer, too, and, therefore, require more funds when retired, resulting in a possible retirement income gap.

Assets need to work smarter

When women retire early, their pensions, other retirement plans and Social Security contributions are affected. As a result, they are left with less money to retire on than men with longer careers. While working, women are often more likely than men to make shifts in careers for flexibility. While this decision may make life more manageable today, it can cause financial vulnerabilities, particularly in later years. However, women are not in the dark about their financial vulnerability.

A sound financial strategy

It’s easy to displace planning on your list of competing priorities, convincing yourself that illnesses or injuries, leading to financial shortfalls, are remote, when in fact, they can be all too real. Given today’s economy and the reality of what women are facing, women at any age will benefit from a sound financial strategy. Your strategy should address wealth accumulation and financial exposures like loss of income (due to disability or death) or long term care needs later in life –even though many employers provide a measure of security through corporate-sponsored disability income and life insurance for their employees.

A trusted professional

Work with a trusted financial professional who listens and helps you with an effective approach, considering needs for predictable income, growth potential and liquidity for unexpected expenses. Choose a financial professional who understands you, what you want and how you want to work with them – a trusted professional to help assess and address your financial needs.
Carol Sexton is a Registered Representative of and offers securities through MML Investors Services, Inc. member SIPC (www .sipc.org).

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