Purpose-Driven Planning for the Financially Independent Woman
With the right strategy, financial independence can become a powerful advantage. As a single woman, you have the power to shape your financial path with strategies designed to protect your assets, grow your wealth, and support your long-term goals.
Whether it’s retirement planning, investment management, or legacy protection, comprehensive wealth planning helps ensure that your financial future is fully aligned with the life you envision — on your terms.
Key Financial Challenges and Wealth-Building Opportunities for Single Women
Financial planning for single women comes with both unique challenges and empowering opportunities. Without a spouse’s income or shared benefits, long-term financial security requires thoughtful strategy, but it also allows for complete control over wealth-building, retirement planning, and legacy decisions.
Challenges Include:
- Solo Retirement Planning: Without a spouse’s income or spousal Social Security benefits, single women must rely entirely on their own savings.
- Long-Term Care Needs: Planning for healthcare and assisted living expenses is essential.
- Emergency Preparedness: A strong financial safety net is essential to weather career transitions, medical emergencies, and other unexpected life events.
Opportunities Include:
- Complete Financial Control: No need to compromise with a partner, as you make all the decisions.
- Flexible Investment Strategies: A personalized portfolio can be designed to fully align with your individual goals, risk tolerance, and long-term aspirations.
- Legacy Planning on Your Terms: Wealth can be directed toward charities, family members, or other meaningful causes, providing a lasting impact.
Financial Strategies for Single Women: Retirement, Legacy and Wealth Protection
Building financial security as a single woman means crafting a strategy that prioritizes independence, resilience, and long-term wealth growth. Without a partner’s income or shared retirement assets, it’s essential to take control of financial planning early.
Start by managing cash flow strategically, seeking to ensure your money works for you while avoiding unnecessary expenses. Building a robust emergency fund (ideally a year’s worth of living expenses) helps provide protection against job loss or other unexpected financial setbacks.
Retirement planning should focus on maximizing tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s, IRAs, and HSAs, and diversifying investments to generate both active and passive income. Protecting your wealth also means securing the right insurance coverage, anticipating long-term care needs, and having a comprehensive estate plan to help safeguard assets and seek to ensure financial wishes are honored.
Most importantly, working with a financial advisor who understands the unique challenges single women face can provide essential guidance tailored to your goals.
Specialized Services for Single Women
- Tailored financial planning for longer lifespans
- Emergency fund strategies for unexpected events
- Solo retirement optimization to maximize savings & Social Security
- Values-based investing aligned with personal priorities
Mercer Global Advisors has a related insurance agency. Mercer Advisors Insurance Services, LLC (MAIS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercer Advisors Inc. MAIS provides individual life, disability, long term care coverage, and property and casualty coverage through various insurance companies. For Mercer Global Advisors clients who wish to purchase insurance products, MAIS has entered into a non-exclusive referral agreement with Strategic Partner(s), where the Strategic Partner will provide necessary services relative to the marketing, placement, and servicing of the insurance products, including without limitation preparing and presenting illustrations, supporting the underwriting process, assisting with the completion and execution of applications, delivering policies, and servicing in-force business. MAIS and the Strategic Partner will be listed as either “agents” or “co-agents” on the policies. While Mercer Global Advisors does not receive a referral fee, Strategic Partner receives a percentage of the commission revenue. MAIS and Strategic Partner do have a revenue sharing agreement.
Solutions Tailored to
Single Women Like You
As your life evolves, your financial strategy should too. We provide connected services that help support your independence, aim to protect your assets, and help you prepare for what’s next.
FAQs About Financial Planning for Single Women
-
Your benchmark for retirement savings will largely depend on your lifestyle, time horizon and your goals for retirement. Women typically live longer than men, so your plan will want to account for that. Longer lifespans mean more years to fund. A financial advisor can help you determine your specific savings benchmark and a tax-smart plan to help you work toward that goal.
In the meantime, be sure to contribute to tax-advantaged accounts: Maximize contributions to your 401(k) account, especially if you have an employer match, and if you’re eligible, contribute to a health savings account (HSA), which helps you save on taxes for certain healthcare expenses.
-
Single women should take a proactive approach to planning for long-term care and assisted living expenses since they may not have immediate support. Long-term care can be very expensive, and Medicare generally doesn’t cover it, so alternative funding strategies are essential. You may want to consider long-term care insurance. Speak with a financial advisor to help clarify your options and determine the right path.
-
Ensuring your assets are passed on according to your wishes requires careful estate planning. You’ll want to:
- Create a will and/or trust. Wills outline how your assets will be distributed, while trusts help protect and transfer wealth efficiently by avoiding probate.
- Update your beneficiary designations. All your retirement accounts, insurance policies, and investment accounts should have named beneficiaries.
- Regularly review your plan. To help ensure your assets are going to the right people/entities, review your estate documents and beneficiary designations on an annual basis.
-
Single filers can seek to optimize their tax situation with smart strategies that reduce liabilities and maximize savings. Here are some key approaches:
- Maximize deductions and/or credits. Take advantage of the standard deduction or itemize if your expenses exceed the threshold. Look into credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit to lower your tax bill.
- Maximize retirement contributions. Contribute to 401(k)s, IRAs, and Roth IRAs to reduce taxable income while building long-term wealth. If your employer offers a Roth 401(k), consider diversifying tax treatment for future withdrawals.
- Use tax-advantaged savings accounts. Leverage Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to pay for medical expenses with pre-tax dollars, reducing taxable income.
- Manage income timing. If possible, defer bonuses or income to a lower-tax year or accelerate deductions to reduce taxable income in high-earning years.
-
Even if you don’t have children, a trust can be a powerful tool for managing your wealth and ensuring your assets are distributed according to your wishes. A trust allows you to designate exactly who receives your assets, whether that’s family members, friends, charities, or other beneficiaries. It also helps avoid probate, to help ensure an efficient and private wealth transfer. Finally, a trust can outline who manages your financial affairs if you become incapacitated, providing smooth asset management without court intervention.
Retirement Readiness Checklist for Single Women
Key moves to make now:
