Life Insurance Quotes

Studies show that many couples only have one spouse interested in financial planning

07/28/11

A recent study published by the Principal Financial Group that surveyed over 600 financial advisors found that more than 80 percent of couples have at least one spouse who doesn't want to be involved in financial planning.

Timothy Minard, a senior vice president at Principal, said "Some of the biggest contributing factors are procrastination, complacency and just fear. And clients tend to stretch the truth when asked, 'Do you live within your means?'"

Principal's study echoes one conducted by Fidelity Investments that found that only 41 percent of couples actively make retirement investment decisions together. Only 17 percent of respondents indicated they were completely confident that they were certain either spouse could take over responsibility of joint retirement finance planning.

It's important for both spouses to know how to manage finances. Susan Zimmerman, who jointly operates Mindful Asset Planning with her husband, says the worst circumstances arise when a widowed spouse must take responsibilities for finances and not know how to begin. She said, "That's a terrible time to catch up with everything. In the early stages of grief, you can't process and think optimally. So if you thrust foreign material at someone at a time like that, they're not able to make a whole lot of decisions."

Ensuring that both spouses are comfortable managing finances is a good way to protect one another in the event of the other's death, and life insurance can also be of great assistance in paying off debts and covering funeral arrangement costs. 

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