Financial Planning After the Loss of a Spouse
You don't have to figure everything out right now.
Losing your spouse can leave you facing financial decisions at a time when making decisions may feel especially difficult.
There may be accounts to transfer, paperwork to complete, Social Security decisions to make, investments to understand, bills to manage, and questions about what your financial future looks like now.
Some things may need your attention soon.
Others can wait.
At Golden Goose Wealth Planning, we help widows understand what needs to happen, what doesn't need to happen yet, and how to begin creating a financial plan for this new chapter of life.
Start With What Needs Your Attention Today
Financial institutions send paperwork. Accounts need to be transferred. Friends and family offer advice. You may hear that you need to sell something, invest something, pay something off, or make a decision about Social Security.
After losing a spouse, it can feel like everyone needs something from you.
We'll help you organize what is in front of you and determine what needs attention now, what should happen next, and what can safely wait.
You don't need to make every financial decision at once.
Financial Questions We Can Help You Answer
Depending on where you are in the process, we can help you work through questions such as:
-
What financial decisions do I actually need to make right now?
-
What should I do with my spouse's retirement accounts?
-
How do inherited IRAs work?
-
What happens to our investment accounts?
-
Did the cost basis of our investments change when my spouse died?
-
When should I claim Social Security survivor benefits?
-
Should I pay off the mortgage?
-
What should I do with life insurance proceeds?
-
How much money can I comfortably spend?
-
Should I make changes to my investments?
-
Do I need to update my beneficiaries?
-
What estate planning documents should I review?
-
Will I have enough money to maintain my lifestyle?
-
Can I still retire when we had planned?
-
What does retirement look like for me now?
-
How should I invest if I've never managed the investments before?
You don't need to know all the questions you should be asking before we meet.
That's part of what we're here to help you determine.
Bringing the Financial Pieces Together
The financial impact of losing a spouse can reach nearly every part of your financial life.
We can help you navigate:
Immediate Financial Decisions
We'll help you identify accounts, organize financial information, understand upcoming decisions, and prioritize what needs attention.
Retirement Accounts
Inherited IRAs, employer retirement plans, and your own retirement accounts may each have different rules and tax considerations.
Taxes
The loss of a spouse can create important tax considerations, including changes to filing status, investment cost basis, inherited assets, and future retirement distributions.
Estate Planning
Beneficiaries, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, and other estate documents may need to be reviewed and updated.
Social Security Survivor Benefits
We'll help you understand how survivor benefits work and evaluate how Social Security may fit into your broader retirement strategy.
Investments
We'll help you understand what you own, why you own it, and whether your investment strategy still makes sense for your life.
Cash Flow
We'll help you understand your new income and expenses and determine how much you can comfortably spend while protecting your long-term financial security.
Your Long-Term Financial Plan
When you're ready, we'll begin looking beyond the immediate decisions and toward the life you want to build from here.