How fee-only financial planning helps women prepare for caregiving, long-term care, and life’s biggest what-ifs.
Women are caregivers. Whether it’s for kids, aging parents, or partners, we do it all. But at what cost? According to Dr. Carolyn McClanahan, a physician and fee-only financial planner, we’re sacrificing our financial futures and our health in the process.
In this special HerMoney episode, recorded live at the Morningstar Investment Conference, Jean Chatzky sits down with Dr. McClanahan to discuss the powerful (and too often overlooked) connection between wellness and wealth. From premarital planning to long-term care, they dive into what women really need to know about financial planning and aging.
Your 40s Are The Turning Point: Don’t Miss It
Jean Chatzky: Let’s talk about the women in my audience who feel like they did not start soon enough. I know that there are many women listening in their forties and their early fifties who have that regret of either not saving it all in the early years, not maxing out in those early years, and they’re feeling like it’s too late.
Carolyn McClanahan: It’s never too late. Everything you do to take care of yourself on a daily basis adds up for the future. Just like in healthcare, I call the forties the point of no return. If you aren’t taking care of yourself by your early forties, late fifties, it’s gonna be really hard to catch up. So those people in their thirties and forties, you can do it, and it starts by one understanding what you’re spending and why. Because too many people just do thoughtless spending, convenient spending.
Planning For Long-Term Care Starts With One Simple Question: Where Will You Live?
Jean Chatzky: When you think about the long-term care question, how are you solving for it for your clients as a fee-only financial advisor?
Carolyn McClanahan: The most important thing in planning for long-term care is to think through the logistics of your long-term care needs. Where are you going to live as you age? For example, if you’re going to age in place, is your home aging-friendly? And then when you are no longer able to safely live there, documenting those conversations, so your caretakers, your children, know what the right thing to do is, when to get help with healthcare decisions, and helping think through your end-of-life choices.
How To Find A Fee-Only Financial Planner You Can Trust
Jean Chatzky: As we are looking for fee-only financial planners, what should we be looking for?
Carolyn McClanahan: The most important thing is somebody who does real financial planning. People think investments are financial planning, whereas investments are just one part of financial planning.
Carolyn McClanahan: You need somebody who’s going to look at your life, what your life goals are, what that’s going to cost you, look at your cash flow, your insurance to make sure you’re not over-insured or underinsured, to make sure that you’ve done your estate planning. Somebody who’s taken that holistic view of you and made sure that you fit money into your life appropriately. That should be first and foremost.
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