Women face many unique financial challenges in life.

 I was doing a workshop for a group of women called Women Helping Women on end-of-life planning. This is important for both men and women but more so for women. I did not realize that eighty percent of women die single while 80% of men die married. The main reason for this is that women often marry men who are a few years older than them

A friend of mine who was a few years younger than me, just died, his wide was younger than him, I think when he died, she was 57. She was not far off the average. The average woman becomes a widow at 58 ½. Most households suffer an income loss after death. Today, most households are dependent on two incomes. In a retired family on Social Security, one check goes away at the first death. If there is a pension, it may end totally or be reduced in half.

The lack of income creates a major problem since most living expenses do not go down with death. Property taxes, utilities and maintenances remain about the same. The only savings are for food and personal purchases for the deceased. These are often minor parts of the budget.

One expense that does increase dramatically is income taxes. Often this may be several hundred percent. This is because you get only half as much untaxed money from your personal exemption and tax brackets are only about half the size for people filing single when compared to married filing jointly.

Women work an average of 12 years fewer than men. This is often caused by staying home to care for young children, or maybe leaving the workforce sooner to care for elderly parents.

If you visit a nursing home, you will notice probably 85% of the patients are women. This is because when the man needs help with long-term care, the wife is often still there. When the wife needs help, she is often a widow. Women also spend more on health care costs than men, likely because of the longer life expectancy.

These are some of the reasons why women should have a written plan to deal with all of these challenges. Anticipate and plan well ahead and you can be better prepared down the road.