Blog: Why widows fire financial planners (but wives don't)

A contact on Twitter highlighted an article in a US publication explaining why wives don’t tend to fire financial planners, but widows do, writes Martin Bamford of Informed Choice.

Author Sunél Veldtman (READ THE ARTICLE HERE) was explaining in the article two facts about long-term financial planning relationships; women tend to outlive their husbands and recent widows often fire the financial planners they inherit from their spouse.

She goes on to explain that husbands often want to provide financial security for their wives, and that treating financial planning as a family rather than personal matter can help ensure the ‘survival rate' for financial planners on the death of the husband.

This issue is referred to as a the ‘widow retention challenge' and is backed up by some statistics in the New York Times which suggested 70% of recent widows fire their existing financial planner in the first year of widowhood.

In any relationship, it is important to involve both partners with financial planning.

Working together to reach shared financial goals is often more productive than travelling towards separate objectives.

Sharing common financial goals can also have an influence on the success of the marriage.

All financial planners should be involving the husband and wife equally in the advice process. This means meeting with both spouses where ever possible and ensuring both are equally involved in the construction and implementation of the financial plan.

This shared involvement can ensure that, on the death of the husband, the widowed spouse has a good working relationship with their Financial Planner and can work quickly to update the family financial plan based on the changed circumstances.

This approach could even result in more wives firing their financial planners.

It would mean that both husband and wife would need to feel comfortable with their selected financial planner, which can be best achieved by them working together to interview and select the most suitable professional for the role.

Financial planners who focus on the couple and family, rather than solely on the husband, are delivering a much better service.

This article first appeared on the Informed Choice website.