Taking control of your finances can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be! In fact, it’s never too late to set yourself up for success in your golden years. All it takes is knowing the best steps to take in mid-life to help you successfully plan for retirement and leave a legacy.
In Episode 4 of Woman’s World’s new “Happy Money” video series, all about finances in midlife—hosted by Digital Director Julia Dennison, Genevieve George, a financial planner from Pelican Financial Planning, shares secrets to feeling financially secure in your 40s, 50s and 60s.
Watch here and listen on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Podcasts.
Tune into Episode 4 right here! “The Midlife Money Playbook” with financial planner Genevieve George
Your fabulous 40s: the art of the juggle
Striking a balance
During this point in your life, it’s common to see your financial priorities competing. You may be wondering where to put your attention, whether that’s paying off your mortgage, supporting your parents financially or helping your kids through college—and it turns out, there’s no one right answer.
“It’s not necessarily focusing on one thing and ignoring the rest,” says George. “It’s really prioritizing, understanding what all those buckets are and how we balance them, and really trying to capture that balance in the best way that we can. I don’t think we’re going to do everything in every bucket perfectly, but making sure that we’re aligning them.”
The key is to make sure all of these elements get at least a little attention so no single aspect goes completely ignored. Ultimately, it’s up to you to figure out how you want to split your time and finances between these various buckets.
The smart way to support multiple generations
For those who are part of the sandwich generation, it can be overwhelming trying to help both your parents and children. Often adding to the stress? Worrying about saving for your own retirement.
Luckily, there are ways to ensure everyone is taken care of without experiencing too much burnout. George says when it comes to your parents, it’s smart to be as prepared by taking a proactive approach.
“Have that conversation in advance, like, ‘Here’s what Mom and Dad want to happen. Here’s how we go about paying for that, and here’s what everybody is going to do’,” she explains. “Then really making sure that that is well documented on mom and dad’s side, so that if there is a crisis, it’s already planned out and we have those documents.”
Creating a plan with parents, siblings and other family members can prevent you from having to scramble during an unexpected event.
The other aspect of the sandwich generation is supporting your children, which has its own set of challenges. Financially, the biggest concern is generally how you are going to be able to pay for their post-secondary education.
While it’s natural to want to give your kids every opportunity, focusing primarily on your child’s education can hurt your own nest egg in the long run. That’s why George would like to see this mindset shift with more Americans prioritizing retirement.
“There are other ways to get there for the child, but there are not other ways for you to fund retirement,” she cautions. “You’re not able to borrow money for that.”
Your confident 50s: getting crystal clear
Once you enter this phase of your life, it’s an ideal time to sit down and really assess your financial situation.
“You want clarity,” says George. “So what is it that you are working towards? How much does it cost to make your world go ‘round? What are the current resources that you have for those assets? And what are you able to save?”
You can also make a step forward by maximizing your retirement contributions to set you on a path for success. Though your 40s are the recommended age to begin making catch-up contributions to your 401(k) or IRA account, you can still make those financial strides now.
The most important thing? Know it’s not too late to start securing your future!
“Don’t let the shame of not necessarily being where you need to be prevent you from taking action and going forward,” assures George.
Your golden 60s: living your best life
This is when all that planning starts to pay off. Of course, you want to help your retirement go as smoothly as possible.
Though most people have a specific dollar figure they’d like to save up for their retirement, that amount does not always provide the financial security they were hoping for. That’s why George suggests you test the waters first before the time actually comes.
“You say, ‘Okay, I’m going to retire at ‘x’ date, and I’m going to live off of $100,000 a year,” she shares. “I want to see people trial run, actually living off of that income. Because if they happen to be earning more than that and bringing home more than that, it’s a lifestyle change to all of a sudden spend less than that.”
Another big adjustment? Learning how to spend that money you’ve saved without completely depleting your resources. The last thing you want is to be strapped for cash—but there’s an easy fix for that.
“It’s a matter of making sure, if I’m used to getting a paycheck, maybe I need to have a regular, recurring deposit into my regular checking account so I don’t feel like I don’t have cash to live on,” adds George. “And so having that be a regular thing sort of helps you keep on budget.”
Securing your legacy with confidence
Finalizing the plans for your retirement isn’t the only step you should be taking in your 60s; wills, trusts and end of life planning are also more important than ever at this age. Ideally, all of this information should have already been recorded, but now you’ll want to revisit the files again.
“You definitely want to be dusting those documents off, making sure they still say what you want them to say, and then update them if updates are needed,” advises George.
This means retitling any assets that need it, having your beneficiary designations the way you want them, and putting any trusts in place. Once all of the information is updated, you can relax knowing that your legacy is set to your wishes.
Read the full transcript below:
Dennison: Today on “Happy Money,” we are talking about the key financial decisions that women should be making at every stage of life, especially midlife. I’m your host, Julia Denison, and I’m joined by our special guest, Genevieve George of Pelican Financial Planning. Genevieve, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for coming on.
George: Thank you so much for having me.
Dennison: Bank of America has found that 94 percent of women believe that they will be personally responsible for their finances at some point in their adult life, which makes total sense. But despite this, about half, only 48 percent, feel confident about their finances, and only 28% feel empowered to take action. So obviously, there’s this disconnect. Now, Genevieve, you’ve been working in finance for over two decades. Do you find this disconnect to be true?
George: Yeah, I absolutely feel like, especially when I’m working with couples, more often than not, it’s the man that’s coming or the man that’s doing most of the talking. And so, you know, it’s really trying to, like, engage that woman, to, like, take a seat. Let’s under like, make sure you understand. So I have seen that over the years and and certainly, you know, you talk about the great wealth transfer, so there are going to be so many women in charge of these dollars, and it’s important that they understand what they’ve got going on and take control of all right.
Dennison: Well, so it’s good that we’re talking about that today. So I really wanted to break it down by decade. So our audience is really 40s onwards. And you know, I’m in my 40s now, and so I’m starting to think about finances a little bit differently. So let’s start with 40 for example. And being in your 40s, you’re juggling a lot of things. In your 40s, you’ve got your midlife expenses. You feel like you’re hitting your peak when it comes to your earning years, hopefully, but you’re also, you know, looking after kids, and then sometimes you’re also looking after aging parents. So there’s a lot of plates, and I feel like I myself am spending them all the time, and it can be extremely stressful. So where do you focus? There are so many things to focus on when you are in your 40s. What is the most important financial focus?
George: Yeah, to your point, the financial priorities are all competing with each other. You know, you just said it. We’re talking about raising kids our careers. Are we saving for retirement? Are we what are we doing for our parents? Well, you know, are we saving for college? Whatever the thing, whatever the things are, mortgage, what do we do? And so it’s not necessarily focusing on one thing and ignoring the rest. It’s really prioritizing, like understanding what all those buckets are and how do we balance them, and really trying to capture that balance in the best way that we can. You know, I don’t think we’re going to do everything in every bucket perfectly, but making sure that we’re aligning them.
Dennison: And do you find that midlife, or say, your 40s, is a moment where you work with a lot of women who are just under trying to understand their finances for the first time in a real way.
George: Yes, absolutely. I think that there, you know, you start, essentially, we are either on the verge of or already in our highest earning years. And so you start really paying attention to it, like we’re probably starting to accumulate a little bit more dollars than we did in the previous decade. And so it’s like, oh my gosh. Now I don’t want to mess it up. Yeah, we’re doing it like I want help
Dennison: Actually adulting now, I feel that at 43 I’m like, Oh, wait, hold on, all of a sudden, there are all these other priorities, and you also see retirement a little bit closer through the windshield, so you’re thinking ahead, but you’re also retirement feels like a million, you know, years away at the same time. So let’s talk a little bit about the sandwich generation, because we talk about that a lot. So where you’re both looking after your own kids, but also aging parents. And sometimes it can look a lot like a lot of things. It can look like financially, taking care of your aging parents, or maybe just carving out time to be be there for them at the same time, it’s like shuttling your kids to school. What kind of tips do you have for people who are in this in-between where they’re trying to look after their kids and they’re thinking about their kids finances? Well, let’s say they say sandwich generation, but it’s like, really, you’re thinking about three things. You’re thinking about your kids, you’re thinking about yourself and your retirement, and you’re thinking about your parents. Where should your priority lie?
George: Yes, yeah. Well, one thing, one statistic that I noted, just kind of coming into this, was women spend an average of 44 precent of their adult lives out of the workforce for those purposes that you’re describing, taking care of children or taking care of parents versus men, that’s only 28 percent and so there is, like a lot of pressure on us to have all of that together. On the side of the aging parents, I really just focus on communication, because it’s important that we understand as the children, what are their wishes? What are the resources to pay for that? Those wishes, if they have them, if they don’t have them, then what is our plan to help them in that, in that moment, and then if there are other family members that will be involved, like having clear roles with them. Because and really trying to avoid crisis planning, right? If we have that conversation in advance, like, here’s here’s what mom and dad want to happen. Here’s how we we go about paying for that, and here’s what everybody is going to do. So you’re going to be in charge of the financial piece. I don’t know if you have siblings, but your sibling might be in charge of the health piece, like, and then really making sure that that is well documented on mom and dad’s side, so that if there is a crisis, it’s already planned out and we have those documents like you’re going to need a power of attorney to take care of the finances your sibling might need the health care surrogate to be able to take care of the health components. And then when you take it back to yourself, is really understanding, okay, if I have to take time off from the workforce to do this, how will that impact my overall financial picture? And, you know, just have there, it’s hard, because there’s so many unknowns in that is like, is it going to just be for six months, or is it going to be for years that we take time out of the workforce and and, and so the more we can do to sort of build up our savings now, before that happens, the better, because then you feel a little bit less worried about your own finances while you’re trying to care for mom and dad, right?
Dennison: Okay, and then let’s talk about the kid part. Because I’m 43 I have a nine year old, and I feel like I’m right at the point where I’m like, I need to really double down and save on my for my retirement, and think about retirement and think about myself just at that moment when I’m thinking that in 10 years time less, oh, my goodness, my daughter’s gonna be going to college, and she’s got her 529 but I’m like, do I put this money in my savings account, or do I put this money in her 529 or, like,
George: Ah, you know, again, such a difficult balance, right? Because we only have one resource to fund retirement is that’s our own savings to get us there to fund retirement, where, for school, we have, like that 529, that you already set up, but then there are scholarships and other ways to fund that. So really, like, if I’m talking to somebody in their financial picture is sort of not perfect, yet we’re prioritizing retirement over children’s education, which I know sounds bad, but there are other ways to get there for the child, but there are not other ways for you to fund retirement, like you’re not able to borrow money for that
Dennison: You can’t take a loan for retirement. That’s what they always say, right? Yeah, sorry Esme, it’s my daughter. This is where I’m gonna put my own oxygen mask on. They say to you, so I’m wondering what they say…
George: You’re gonna go back and blame Gen on my podcast.
Dennison: Sorry. Okay, so let’s so in terms of looking at everything in your 40s, what is a smart way to do a financial checkup in your 40s to make sure that you’re on track before you, you know, head into the next decade?
George: Yeah, one of the questions that you know, when I’m talking to people, I’ll say, Oh, do you have a financial planner? And a lot of times they say, yes, but then you, you sort of pry a little bit more, and they truly have, like, a financial advisor that is only talking to them about certain investment accounts, not talking about the full picture.
Dennison: Oh, so there’s a difference between an advisor and a planner.
George: Yeah, you want somebody that’s talking to you and looking at either you’re doing it yourself or you’re working with somebody, but you’re you’re looking at the full financial picture, not just like pieces of the puzzle. So you know, what is your house worth? Do you have a mortgage? What are the what investment accounts do you have? How are they invested? What other assets or liabilities that you might have? And then, like, sort of, what is the trajectory of what you have now like, if you’re saving X dollars into that over time? What does that look like? And really taking a look at the full picture, and then that sort of becomes your map towards the next decades, and of course, it’s going to change tomorrow. It’s going to change. It’s just a moment in time that you’re looking at that, but at least it’s a starting point to say, okay, am I okay? Or are there gaps or opportunities to make small changes that could really impact the future?
Dennison: So when you’re feeling like you’re spending money on a lot of different things, a financial planner sounds like another expensive thing. Do expensive thing to add to your to your budget. But what are you talking about? What are you looking at? Is it meeting with somebody regularly once a year? Is it, you know? How do you kind of plan a financial planner into?
George: Yeah, on the practice. So, like in many practices, planning is included as a part of the overall investment management, okay? And so it’s just making sure that you’re engaging the right services from the from your team that you already have see,
Dennison: Talk to your bank advisor?
George: Okay, some, some banks have it, but I’m not, I’m not 100% sure. Okay, and then if you’re not getting that, you can, if you’re, like, tied in and you just, like, really love your professional team, you can do planning separately. There are financial planning only firms, or there are firms where you can engage just, just planning services, and they’re looking at the full picture for you. And then there’s some tools online too for doing that yourself, if you if the cost is really a concern. But in a lot of like in my own practice and other people’s practice. Practices. I think it’s included as a part of the overall investment management anyway, so it should be something that they’re just giving you without having to pay additional.
Dennison: Okay, good to know. It probably pays for itself, too, if it is something that you are paying for. Yeah, actually, all right. So now let’s move on to the 50. To your 50s, and you’re looking at preparing for retirement. It’s getting a little bit closer. You’re maximizing your savings. You’re adjusting risk now, I would imagine that there are many women who hit their 50s and go, Oh shoot. Like, I don’t feel nearly close enough to being able to afford retirement yet. What would you say to women who are in their 50s and they feel behind on retirement savings?
George: Yeah, so hitting on what you said first, like, don’t let the shame of not necessarily being where you need to be, prevent you from, like making action and going forward. And then the biggest thing, I would say is you want clarity. So what is it that you are working towards? How much does it cost to make your world go round? What are the current resources that you have for that assets? And you know, what are you able to save? And really looking it’s very much coming back. I’m very planning heavy, obviously in my practice, but very much coming back to that, that financial plan, and getting clarity, because maybe you’re not as behind as you, as you think you are or but until you actually take the action to understand where you are, that’s when you can create a plan going forward, right?
Dennison: Okay, so it’s not necessarily just finger in the wind. You might be better off than you say, Yeah, that’s good to know. That’s reassuring.
George: Yeah, because it’s all depends upon your own lifestyle. Yeah. So if you’re living this really high lifestyle, then you need a lot of assets. But if you’re living, you know, if you’re, if you’re living a pretty reasonable lifestyle, maybe it’s not as bad as you think it is, but you don’t know until you actually look at right?
Dennison: Gotta look at the data. Yeah, not be afraid of Yeah. All right. So then also thinking about risk at this stage in your 50s, how do you kind of balance that should you be still investing in, or should you be investing in stocks? Or should you move towards safer options? Or should you be prioritizing safer options throughout your entire life? Yeah?
George: So I, what I like to say is, I don’t want anybody holding more risk than they have to to reach their goals. But it’s a matter of understanding, okay, what are the goals like? What are we trying to achieve, and how? How hard does my money need to work for me to get there? And in some cases, if you are truly a little bit behind, you might need to hold more risk then the average person might say to you, they might say, Oh, you’re in your 50s. You should be in the, you know, a 6040 portfolio, but maybe you need to be in a 7030 portfolio, holding a little bit more risk, because you just needed to work a little bit harder for you. So it’s not that you can’t have risk, it’s you got to understand, you know, what comes with that? Are you going to experience some volatility that might make you a little uncomfortable as you’re getting closer and closer to those retirement years? Or if you’re overly conservative, are you actually going to, you know, potentially run out of money because you’re not allowing your portfolio to work as hard, I see. And so there’s a balance. And then it’s, it’s, I use the term buckets a lot. I know you have retirement buckets, like, true to tax-deferred accounts, you have Roth accounts, and then you have what I call taxable accounts, but those are like your individual joint trust, like not tax-deferred accounts. And maybe the allocation in the dollars that you’re going to touch first is different than the allocation in the out in the dollars that you’re going to touch last, and really just helping to manage that. So your Roth dollars that in theory you would touch last is working a lot harder than those dollars in those other accounts that you’re going to tap into first in retirement.
Dennison: Okay, and so thinking about those sort of like tax advantage accounts, or, you know, are there any catch-up contributions that people can be making in their 50s that they often miss?
George: Yeah, absolutely. So it’s important in your 40s to try, if you can do it within your cash flows, to try to maximize your retirement contributions. So in your 401 K plans, or your IRAs, or if you’re not eligible to do Roth contributions anymore, maybe a backdoor Roth in your 50s, those contribution limits increase. So they call that catch up contributions. So in your for 1k plan, you can do $7,500 more a year that you can defer into that plan. So you know, and if you think you do it for the next 10 to 15 years, let’s say you’re working to 65 that that’s a lot of extra dollars that you can put in. On the IRA side, it’s a little bit smaller. It’s only it’s only $1,000 but it’s still something more than somebody else that can’t do that under 50. Okay? And then if you happen to be self-employed, there’s a lot of other opportunities within that for your own retirement savings. Maybe you’re doing a profit-sharing plan or a cash balance plan or something like that, and there’s great opportunities to defer more income, but it only works in certain situations. Okay, that’s good to know, but in as a true w2 employee, there’s only, there’s limited options.
Dennison: All right, so you finally hit your 60s. I can you know, in an ideal world, you’d be like, All right, I’m approaching 65 it’s feeling good. And retirement is close by. But I think for a lot of people, retirement is either still feeling very far away or maybe not even achievable at all. Thinking about retirement readiness, Legacy planning and spending in your 60s, what financial moves should women be making in their early 60s, say, versus their mid to later 60s, or anything in general, in their 60s they should keep in mind,
George: Yeah, absolutely. So what I like to say is, you know, in theory, you’ve done all of this, this planning, and you say, Okay, I’m going to retire at X date, and I’m going to live off of I’m just making numbers up $100,000 a year. I want to see people trial run, actually living off of that income, because if they happen to be earning more than that and bringing home more than that, it’s a lifestyle change to all of a sudden spend less than that. So if that is your budget that you’re working off of, I want to see like, let’s, let’s try living on that before we turn the spigot off. On income, right? And that’s big. I also think, as you’re starting to get closer to that retirement date, really mapping out what that transition plan looks like. So if you think of a traditional working person, we’re getting a paycheck on a regular basis. Now you’ve built up retirement assets and other assets to afford retirement. You don’t want to all of a sudden feel cash-strapped, right? So it’s a matter of making sure, okay, if I’m used to getting a paycheck, maybe I need to have a regular, recurring deposit into my regular checking account so I don’t feel like I don’t have cash to live on, right? And so having that be like a regular thing sort of helps you keep on budget. Because you said, Okay, it’s, it’s, you know, I’m $10,000 a month is coming into my account. That’s what I have to live off of. Maybe there’s going to be one offs here and there, but that’s that’s happening on a regular basis. And then that’s a conversation too, with wherever your money is being managed too. Okay, I’m transitioning into retirement. I’m going to need $10,000 a month. I want that recurring. And then you’re also increasing your cash reserve there, because you don’t want to say, okay, $10,000 a month, but I’m turning I’m turning on the news, and I’m watching the markets fluctuate, and now I’m stressed about that, but if I have a larger cash reserve in that account, maybe it’s working for you on a money market or something, but I know that that regular, recurring dollars are still going to come to me, and they are not subject to the same fluctuations that The rest of my portfolio might experience, right?
Dennison: Okay, okay, so thinking about Social Security, I feel like you’re hearing more and more people taking Social Security earlier. When is the best time to take Social Security?
George: Yeah, I have this conversation a lot with my clients when we’re working through getting closer to that those decisions. So what I like to say is, you hear, okay, age 62 and then you hear full retirement age, which could be like anywhere from 66 to 68 years old, depending upon your birthday. And then you hear age 70. But it is actually anywhere in between there, if your full retirement age is, let’s say, 67 any year that you take it earlier than that, you are taking a lower benefit. Now you’re getting that lower benefit for the rest of your life, but you’re taking a lower benefit. It doesn’t make sense to do that if you happen to be working part-time or have any other earnings in place. So I’m not telling people take it early if they’re going to maybe transition to retirement and have part-time work, because working and taking it is probably that doesn’t make until your full retirement age, right? It doesn’t make sense, because there are limitations on how much income you can have while you’re while you’re collecting Social Security early, and that will result in your Social Security benefit being taxed, okay? And we don’t want that, but maybe you actually stop working at 66 and the haircut from 67 to 66 isn’t really that massive. And we’re looking at it and we’re saying, Okay, you can go ahead and take it, because that’s going to give a little bit of comfort. You know, with that extra income. The other side of that is, if you have enough assets to cover yourself for a longer period of time before having social security come in, you can decide to defer until 70, and that benefit from 67 to 70 actually increases 8% per year. So it’s, it can be a pretty significant dollar amount increase that you would be receiving on a monthly basis. And then at 70, you start collecting, and you and you receive it for the rest of your life. Now, health is a concern in there when you’re talking about that, because Social Security is not something that if you start taking it at 70 and then you die a month later, that your family receives this benefit or anything like that, it just shuts off. So if you’re of poor health, which is, you know, difficult conversation to have to have, it doesn’t make sense to wait, right? It makes sense to have that income coming in. So it’s a very there’s a lot of components, matrix of things together, okay? And there’s a lot of you can look at the break even points, like, Okay, if my health is a age to get me to x year, then it doesn’t matter if I wait or not wait.
Dennison: Right? What would you say? Is there a specific age where you should do, like that, social security, like, check in? Just trying to decide what age…
George: I think it’s going to be around when you’re making those decisions to truly turn off income from your work. And that looks different for everybody, because there may be other income sources, right, impacting that.
Dennison: Okay, that’s good to know, all right, another conversation that’s difficult to have in your 60s, but an important one, is conversations around legacy. And you’re talking about wills, trusts, and end-of-life planning. Where should women prioritize when it comes to legacy, leaving a legacy in their 60s?
George: Yeah, absolutely. So. What I would say is, I would argue that it’s important to have your state documents in place at all of these decades, right? Just to have Okay, but, yeah, but you’re and nobody likes to talk about it, right? We’re talking about our own demise like it’s not fun to talk about and, you know, I have kids too, right? It wasn’t fun to have to decide who’s going to take care of them if something happens to me like that. That isn’t a great exercise to go through, but it’s important exercise to go through. Now, our financial picture in our 40s versus our 60s is probably very different. So you definitely want to be dusting those documents off, making sure they still say what you want them to say, and then update them if updates are needed. And then what I would also say is making sure, okay, we have these documents in place. Great. Do assets need to be retitled? A lot of times you start hearing about people putting revocable trusts in place, or potentially irrevocable trusts in place. So having the assets titled so that they actually follow the documents that are in place is really important, and then making sure your beneficiary designations are the way that you want them to be. And then we talked about this a little bit with the sandwich generation. Is the other things that you need to have in place are power of attorney. What if I can no longer take care of my finances? Who is doing that? And do I have that documented? What if I’m not able to make my own health care decisions? Who is doing that and is it documented? Like, really making sure you have your ducks in a row and, and I know No, not everybody loves to have these conversations, but communicating with your family about what you want those wishes to be and, like, really, when possible, including them in those conversations is helpful, because you’re giving your family clarity, and it can be uncomfortable, and you could still in your 60s, you could still be here 30 plus years. So it may not come into play for a long time, but like, just making sure that there is a plan in place and that you’ve, you’ve had that conversation and documented it.
Dennison: Well, that’s a really good segue to the next topic I want to bring up, which is like, let’s work to break down some of that stigma, those barriers that people have when it comes to talking about money, and let’s actually start with family. Do you have any advice? And you know, in your years working in finance with people about speaking to their family members about finance, whether that is their parents, you know, elderly parents, or themselves talking to their children. We have so much emotional baggage when it comes to actually, even just like bringing up the topic of how much money is on the table and what it looks like and where it’s going. Do you have any advice to anyone who’s looking to kind of like, break, break that sort of stigma a bit with their own family?
George: Yeah,I think, well, tread carefully, right? Is the first one, because if you’re asking other family members about their what their financial picture looks like, you have to know whether or not they’re going to be open to having that conversation. But what I have seen is, I, you know, working with clients for a number of years, is I’ve had clients pass away, and maybe they didn’t have a great plan in place, or maybe there wasn’t a lot of clarity given to the surviving family members. And then I have seen the opposite, where there was a lot of discussions that happened and a lot of clarity. And I can tell you, one goes a little bit smoother than the other, because your family is already upset that they’re going through whatever this crisis is or loss of a loved one, so the more clarity that we can give on the front end of that.
Dennison: So it’s not a good time to be having those awkward conversations. When it’s that moment where you’re dealing with grief and everything else, you want to have it straight away.
George: But I recognize that that has a lot to do with what you’re saying, the emotional baggage. Not everybody wants to share that information or so it’s just, you know, sort of navigating that conversation as carefully as you can, to not like, create family strife. We don’t want to make it sound like, Hey Mom and Dad, I want your money like, you know it’s more Hey, Mom and Dad. I want to understand what I can do to help you know when the time comes.
Dennison: Yeah, it’s so hard. So going back to that statistic that we’re talking about up front, where we know women need to be, to be responsible for their own finances, but only half or so feel comfortable doing that. Why do you think it is that women hesitate to ask questions or admit they don’t understand something or basically, like, I totally relate to this. But like, you know, do the like, ostrich head in the sand when it comes to your own money?
George: I’m gonna just front-end this. Like, this is my opinion on what I think it’s happening, but, you know, I think we’ve run into a lot of people that are keeping their head in the sand because it’s scary, right? It is. There’s maybe a shame that comes with saying, Hey, I don’t think I’ve saved enough, or almost like, I don’t have it all together. Like, you know, there’s. Especially as the sandwich generation too, because we’ve I feel like there’s a lot of pressure to, like, get it right for ourselves, get it right for our children, but, but also maybe have to leave the workforce to take care of our parents, right? There’s a lot of pressure like that. We got to get it together, and we got to get it together quicker, right?
Dennison: It’s like you have to earn all the money, but yet also take the time to spend with your kids or your parents as a caregiver, and somehow magic, more hours in the day and more money at the same time. And it’s, like, very stressful.
George: And then, you know, some of it comes from, you know, how they were raised. Maybe mom and dad didn’t talk about money, or only dad talked about money. So you as the woman in the house, like that wasn’t something that you handled or that you spoke about, like, So, sort of learned experiences. Or I, you know, I’ve seen with some other people, maybe they put that control on their spouse or somebody else, and just assumed that it was being taken care of, and potentially it wasn’t taken care of to the extent that it needed to be. And there’s like, a little bit of shame in saying, like, just handed that off and Yeah, didn’t go well, like, so it’s really, I mean, that’s, that’s really big for me, is I want to take, like, the shame out of it, like, just, the sooner you can know where you are, the sooner you can make a plan for where you want to go. Yeah? And just like, you have to, like, let go of that, yeah.
Dennison: I feel like it’s like, looking at your health metrics, or, like, the number on the scale, you’re just like, I just need to know what it is like ripping off the band aid. And looking at the numbers is never easy, no matter what it is in your life. So with that in mind, what are the biggest mistakes that you feel like you see women making that you wish that they would do differently?
George: Yeah, I mean, I really, I want people to take a seat at the table and really understand what they have. What I like to say to people is, like, be brave. Like these are your life savings, like you deserve to know everything about them and how they are working. And like, what you need to do differently. Like you need to know that information, but you got to like, own it and just say, hey, like what you just explained to me that doesn’t make sense. Can you explain another way, or show me a different way or like, and have that comfort with just saying I don’t get it, like, yeah, help me understand it, right? And so I just, I want people to, like, just the quicker we can get to where we know where we are, the better.
Dennison: And I remember I saw a stat somewhere that is, you know, hard to hear, but I think it was like a large percentage of Americans have, like, less than $400 in their own bank account to be able to be able to fly anywhere if they needed to. Or there’s, you see a lot of statistics where a lot of Americans have way less money than you might think. So I think in terms of like, coming to your financial advisor or financial planner, or to your bank, or to whoever you’re speaking to, and talking about how much money you do have. You may have more than a lot of people might have, or you might have more than you realize. So I suppose it’s also just like, get trying to kind of get rid of that shame of just like talking about what you have and knowing you’ve been doing your best.
George: Yeah, you don’t have to talk about it with everybody. It doesn’t be on this podcast, but it just needs to be a conversation that you’re having with with someone. And you know, if you’re in a position where you don’t feel comfortable asking those questions to your professional team, maybe you have the wrong professional team, like, right? Like, if you haven’t been made to feel, like, oh my gosh, Julia, I need, I want to make sure you understand this. Like, you want to feel you need to feel so comfortable just saying, Hey, is what I’m doing, correct?
Dennison: Like, yes, right. That’s so interesting. So it’s also about a personality fit when it when it comes to choosing who you partner with, in terms of being a financial advisor, financial planner? Yes, yeah, that’s good to remember. All right, we’re going to do a lightning round, okay, just looking back at the decades and sort of like thinking about how women should be prepared financially for the different decades in one sentence each. What is the best money move for your 40s?
George: Okay, so 40s is what I’m going to say. Do not panic, okay, right? You are in or approaching your highest earning year, so you have a lot you still have time, and you have a lot of potential to work with going forward.
Dennison: How about the best money move for your 50s?
George: Yes, clarity. You need to understand exactly where you are where you want to go. Really get that clarity and understand what those if you need to start thinking about other levers, which is like, am I working longer or saving more? Maybe we’re changing the housing situation. You know, what are those levers that we might need to pull?
Dennison: Okay. And then how about the best money move for your 60s onwards?
George: Yeah, so planning for those transitions and then revisiting that plan. We got clarity in our 50s, but now, okay, we’re retired. Let’s Are we still on track? Are we doing okay? Are we spending too much or not? So really, revisiting that it’s not a one-time exercise, really coming back and making sure that you’re transitioning as planned.
Dennison: Genevieve, thank you so much. This has been so wonderful to have you. Where can people find you?
George: Thank you for asking. You can find me at PelicanFinancialPlanning.com. You can book a consultation right there on the website. And I’m just happy to work with individuals that are trying to build their wealth or getting ready for that retirement transition. I’m in Florida, but available to work virtually all over the country.
Dennison: It’s been so wonderful to have Genevieve George of Pelican Financial Planning. Remember the best investment is the investment that you make in yourself.
