When couples work as a team, ‘they can move mountains’

By Susan Rupe

Couples may have spent many years together, but that doesn’t mean they’re on the same page when it comes to planning for retirement.

Danielle Miura is founder of Spark Financials in Ripon, Calif. She specializes in working with family caregivers and with preretiree couples.

“With a lot of the couples I work with, they've been planning for retirement but they're not on the same page about what they want to do in retirement, how their money can help them accomplish what they want,” she said.

Miura said she frequently sees that one partner has been making all the financial decisions over the years, and does not communicate with the other partner about those decisions.

“For example, one partner may not want to know and do the investment side of finances. Even though their name is on the account, they want the other person to manage everything. So there hasn't been any communication in the 10-plus years they’ve been investing. What are they going to do with their investments once they retire? Because one person has been doing all the work. So my job is to come in and provide clarity to both partners to make sure that the person who was initially handling the finances was doing enough to prepare them for retirement. I’m pretty much double checking all their work to make sure they're well prepared for retirement.”

Miura also educates couples on how to prepare for long-term care and the possibility that one person may need to provide care for the other.

“The interesting thing is that couples who have a longer lifespan together usually have decreased long-term care costs, usually because one person is taking care of the other,” she said. “However, now you have to prepare for the chance that one spouse, usually the woman, may outlive the man, because women have a longer lifespan, and statistically are more likely to require long-term care for a longer time. So if the man were to pass away, if it's a heterosexual couple, then you have to think about the extra expenses that may occur for the woman and educate the woman about how she's going to be able to manage the finances if she's not managing them already. There's a huge financial education component to that. Because if you haven't been doing your finances for the last 15-20 years, and now all of a sudden you become a widow, then you have to pick up all the pieces when you haven't for the last 20 years.”

Miura said that advisors who want to serve couples should help couples work as a team.

“There's nothing more powerful than a couple who can work as a team,” she said. “I don't mean the playing a sport kind of thing. I'm referring to working together to create goals and achieving them together. That can move mountains. I've seen couples that have paid down $40,000 worth of debt together in one year’s time. If you're willing to work as a team to accomplish something that that is strong, that is irreplaceable.”

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan.