Wealth Insights

Financial planning for women: Strategies for building wealth, preparing for retirement, and protecting your legacy

Build a financial roadmap that evolves with your goals, priorities, and life's transitions.

Key takeaways

• Women face unique financial considerations. Longer life expectancy than men, caregiving responsibilities, career transitions, divorce, and widowhood can all influence financial planning decisions.
• Start with your vision. Financial planning is more effective when it begins with a clear understanding of your personal, family, career, retirement, and legacy goals.
• Pay yourself first. Women often prioritize family, careers, and caregiving responsibilities. Consistent saving and investing is necessary to help ensure your own goals remain a priority.
• It takes a village. Building a team of trusted professionals, including a wealth advisor, CPA, and estate planning attorney, may provide valuable guidance and support.
• Alignment. Your financial goals should align with your personal life goals, whether that includes retirement, travel, family, business ownership, or wealth building.
• Prepare for life's transitions. Marriage, divorce, the loss of a spouse, inheritance, career changes, or retirement may require updates to your financial strategy.
• Regular reviews. Life circumstances change, so financial plans should be reviewed regularly and adjusted as needed. Annual reviews can help ensure your strategy stays on track.
• Protect what you’ve built. Estate planning and life insurance can play an important role serving to help protect your assets, loved ones, and long-term legacy.
• It’s a journey. Wealth planning is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time event. Consistent planning and proactive decision-making may help support long-term financial success.

Women have made significant economic gains in recent years, and now is the time to lay the groundwork to ensure success in short- and long-term goals. With strategic planning, women should feel better equipped to navigate their financial future with more confidence through every stage of life.

Research shows women often face unique financial considerations, including longer life expectancy, caregiving responsibilities, career transitions, widowhood, and divorce. A comprehensive financial plan may help address these realities while supporting long-term goals such as retirement, travel, family support, and legacy planning.

“The sooner you start planning and imagining your ideal life, the easier it is to create a financial plan to work towards that vision,” says Amy Barraco, CFP®, CTFA™ and Senior Wealth Planner at Regions Bank.

These four steps can help you get started.

1. Build a strong team

Make it a habit to pay yourself first, then pair that personal discipline with professional advice. Whether you have a short-term goal of a tropical vacation or dreams of taking early retirement, a Wealth Advisor can help you develop a financial strategy to fit your individual goals. In addition, they can help provide guidance on wealth planning and retirement planning, and also recommend other professionals, such as a CPA or estate planning attorney to navigate the financial complexities, such as taxes.

For female executives and business owners who are often juggling career, family, and even aging parents, managing finances may take a backseat to other priorities and responsibilities, making a financial or wealth advisor an important ally.

“It takes a village,” says Barraco. That saying isn’t just about raising children but can be just as important when considering development and management of your wealth plan, and overall wellbeing. “It is one less thing that busy women have to spend a lot of time thinking about.”

2. Orient your financial goals to your life plan

Whether you're planning for early retirement, building a family, growing a business, traveling, or increasing your wealth, having a financial plan can help you pursue what matters most “Once you know what you want to accomplish, the money is more of a means to an end,” says Barraco.

Communication is key, not just for your financial team to help build a plan that helps support your vision for the future, but for friends and family who may help keep you focused on your goals.

Women often carry a primary caregiver role – for siblings, children, and/or aging parents.

"Many women spend years taking care of everyone else,” notes Barraco. Successful wealth planning begins when women give themselves permission to prioritize their own future, goals, and financial independence."

3. Keep your financial and life goals flexible

Life is unpredictable. Losing or changing jobs, inheriting money, managing a new or existing health condition, or simply changing your mind could upend your plans and call for new financial strategies. Barraco suggests meeting with your advisor at least annually to review your financial plan and make adjustments if needed.

Each age and stage can prompt changes in your financial plan. Here are a few things to consider during key milestone years:

• Financial considerations in your 20s and 30s 
  • Build emergency savings
  • Pay off student debt or credit cards (if applicable)
  • Invest early through employer plans or retirement accounts
  • Build credit
• Financial planning in your 40s and 50s 
  • Peak earning years – build savings, investments, retirement savings
  • Catch-up contributions
  • College savings planning
  • Career growth or transition
• Financial planning in your 60s and beyond 
  • Retirement income
  • Healthcare planning
  • Social Security
  • Estate planning

“Whether you are a mid-career executive balancing career advancement, college planning, and retirement savings or a recently widowed retiree navigating financial decisions for the first time, having a plan may make the financial aspect of each stage in life more manageable,” says Barraco.

4. Protect your legacy

An estate planning attorney may be able to offer guidance on how to protect your current and future assets using trusts and other financial strategies. Considering marriage? An attorney could also help you draft a prenuptial agreement.

While divorce can strike at any stage in marriage, recent data shows that the Baby Boomer generation has the highest divorce rate, noting that later-in-life divorce, also known as gray divorce, is not just a trend. AARP looked at the gray divorce trends noting that the youngest of the boomer generation are approaching 60, and older boomers are closing in on 80, and researchers say this gray divorce trend doesn’t show signs of slowing.

“There are unique financial challenges that may come with a late-career divorce for a woman who may also be preparing for retirement,” says Barraco. “A certified divorce financial advisor can help individuals understand the financial implications of these scenarios.”

To protect your loved ones, consider obtaining a life insurance policy, either term, whole – or both depending on your situation, when you are relatively young and healthy. Doing so may save you money on policy premiums and is intended to provide a safety net to cover outstanding debts or funeral expenses when you pass away.

Repeat as needed

Your financial road map is not a static document. Rather, it will reflect your changing needs, whether that means planning a wedding or preparing for the birth of a child. “Wealth planning is an evolving process,” says Barraco. “Consider it your own unique journey.”

Talk with your Regions Wealth Advisor about:

1. How to plan for the unique elements of your life.
2. How you can prepare your financial life for marriage or kids.

Want to get started with financial planning?
Our wealth management guide can help lead the way.

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