April 17, 2025 • 21 mins
Financial impact can be one of the most difficult aspects of being a family caregiver. Suzanne Ricklin joins us to discuss the particular impact of caregiving on Women investors, and encourages each of us to start small because saving even a little bit can make an impact on our future financial situation. She talks about hiring a financial advisor and why women have particular advising needs.
Suzanne Ricklin serves as vice president, Retention & Sales for Nationwide’sRetirement Solutions Distribution team. She is responsible for the retention andgrowth of our existing government and corporate retirement clients incorporatinga strategic account management approach across all plan types. She also hasresponsibility for our Consultant Relations team that is focused on driving brandawareness of Nationwide’s unique value proposition in the marketplace.
The retention teams across corporate and government, the large custom planteam, the Retirement Resource Group and the Consultant Relations team reportto Suzanne. Her teams are responsible for increasing the expansion ofNationwide solutions in strategic alignment with client goals and objectives.The retention teams across corporate and government, the large custom planteam, the Retirement Resource Group and the Consultant Relations team reportto Suzanne. Her teams are responsible for increasing the expansion ofNationwide solutions in strategic alignment with client goals and objectives.
Read the full article "More than Two-Thirds of Women Investors' Careers Impacted by Caregiving Responsibilities" by Nationwide
Find Nationwide's additional resources for investing here
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/love-doesn-t-pay-the-bills--5692861/support.
Suzanne Ricklin serves as vice president, Retention & Sales for Nationwide’sRetirement Solutions Distribution team. She is responsible for the retention andgrowth of our existing government and corporate retirement clients incorporatinga strategic account management approach across all plan types. She also hasresponsibility for our Consultant Relations team that is focused on driving brandawareness of Nationwide’s unique value proposition in the marketplace.
The retention teams across corporate and government, the large custom planteam, the Retirement Resource Group and the Consultant Relations team reportto Suzanne. Her teams are responsible for increasing the expansion ofNationwide solutions in strategic alignment with client goals and objectives.The retention teams across corporate and government, the large custom planteam, the Retirement Resource Group and the Consultant Relations team reportto Suzanne. Her teams are responsible for increasing the expansion ofNationwide solutions in strategic alignment with client goals and objectives.
Read the full article "More than Two-Thirds of Women Investors' Careers Impacted by Caregiving Responsibilities" by Nationwide
Find Nationwide's additional resources for investing here
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/love-doesn-t-pay-the-bills--5692861/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to Love Doesn't Pay the Bills. I'm Lisa Chudy.
I am a family caregiver. Today Suzanne Rickland joins me.
She is the vice president of retention and sales for
a nationwide retirement solutions distribution team.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome Suzannehi, Lisa, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, and you do have a very long career in finance,
a lot of credentials and I appreciate that. And you
supported a total of more than fifty five billion dollars
in assets under management and a past job according to
what we can read on your biography, so that's pretty huge.
(00:54):
So we're here to talk money today, which is a
big part of what matters to me and why I
started this podcast. I was very personally impacted by being
an unpaid caregiver for eighteen years and really didn't see
a lot of choices for me in all that time,
(01:14):
because while I sought other outside care for my daughter
and I sought career starts over the years in various ways,
I could never get it all to line up where
I had a career opportunity and I had care for
my daughter, and she requires some pretty extensive care right
(01:37):
now as an adult it's still evaluated by the State
of Oregon to be over two full time jobs. So
somebody's got to be there, And that was just unquestioned there.
It wasn't just a choice in that way. Yeah, I
certainly wasn't about to walk away from her entirely. So, Suzanne,
(01:58):
what is your personal interest connection to caregiving? I do
like to start there.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, first, Lisa, thanks for sharing that your connection to caregiving,
because I think as women, most of us have a
connection to caregiving, I would say, and when we talk
about the impact on career, which I know we'll talk
about our finances, I think the personal connection is a
great place to start. And so first let me say
I personally feel like it's a blessing to care for others.
(02:24):
And for me that really came to fruition with my grandparents.
So I was a primary caregiver for my grandparents, particularly
for my grandmother, who lived to be ninety three and
a half.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Still remains my hero, I would say, But.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
She was on oxygen twenty four to seven for the
last ten years of her life and required a lot
of help, and so I felt honored to be part
of her caregiving team. Now that's translated into I also
do care for my elderly parents that are in their
eighties and they have health challenges and some cognitive decline
as well. So both situations had to make some career
(03:00):
choices to pass on, for example, promotional opportunity that would
require relocation, and we can talk more about the impact
that that has on a women and savings and being prepared.
The other connection I would share with you is that
my sister is a healthcare director for nursing facilities and
she sees the impact of caregiving every single day. And
(03:21):
from her, what I have learned is that just like
when you're on a plane, they say put on your
own oxygen mask, but for helping others, the same old true.
As you know very well as a caregiver, that we
need to prioritize self care so we can be present
and healthy caregiver. So those are some of my personal
connections to caregiving as well.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Right, so, I have a little bit of an aversion
to self care quote unquote, However, managing money the very
best that you can in your situation is I think
a very important aspect of self care and I think
that's while well, we have talked on this podcast, and
(04:02):
I am very concerned that there are just a lot
of structural, big picture things that really need to change
to make life more feasible and doable for many of
us family caregivers. When we talk about ourselves as individuals,
there are a lot of things we can do as
best as possible that do make a difference, and managing
money is certainly a big important one. A big part
(04:26):
of what I want to do on this podcast too,
and what I do is to make sure that we
all understand the scope of family caregiving and the fact
that we all have some connection, we all have some impact.
So when you look at when you stand back and
look at the aggregate, how does caregiving impact women's financial
planning and retirement as a whole?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
So, thanks Liza.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
There's a couple of things I would share with you
to frame it out and then we can talk more
specifically about where they're opportunities, like what can you do? Yeah,
First of all, the survey nationwide recently, as you know,
did their Advisor Authority survey, and so we do this
every year because we really want to look at one
of those key issues and then how can we provide
some solutions or to your point I call it the
(05:09):
best next step because people can get overwhelmed with if
you have too many things you have to focus on.
We know that over two thirds of our women who
support children or aging parents say that their careers have
been impacted. And even similar to the example that I
gave by caregiving responsibilities, we also know that it's prevented
(05:30):
at least one in five per saving for retirement. And
what happens we see actions that women take, things like
reducing their work hours or limiting their professional development, or
taking extended leave to help support the care switching to
part time, or even in my case, declining or delaying promotions.
And so that being said, knowing that there's a lot,
(05:52):
and then I'm going to add one more thing before
we talk about, and that's economic uncertainty. So, as you mentioned,
there's some big and little we call both big and
little issues that impact us. And economic uncertainty always creates
financial stress. So you've got the situation you have around caregiving,
and then you have sort of the environment that you're
working around. And we know from our recent survey too
(06:12):
that about four and ten say, you know, inflation is
going to continue to increase, People are really concerned about
the financial outlook, and we see almost twenty five percent
of people saying I'm very pessimistic about it. So when
you add those things together, there are a lot of concerns.
To your point about what to do.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
If listeners feel pessimistic about their financial situation or potential future.
You are not alone. That's one thing I really want
you to hear. There's a lot of us in similar votes.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And I would say I'm going to underscore that because
not only are people not alone, but everybody feels stressed
at different times for different reasons, and financial stress is
one of the main reasons that causes people anxiety and stress.
The thing that I wanted to offer to you and
to the listeners is while there may be uncertainty and noise,
and it's understandable that caregivers will feel concerned, which is
(07:07):
why it's so important to prioritize working with either an
advisor or leveraging tools that are out there, and we
can talk about that to create a plan, a plan
with medium and long term strategies to avoid making decisions
or not making decisions that are short term emotional. You know,
I've been in this business a long time and one
(07:29):
thing I can say is I've lived through many stressful
financial cycles, and we know from a historical point of
view that stress will continue to come at us, both
from a caregiving perspective and financial uncertainties. We also know
that having a plan and sticking to it always pays off.
I'll stop there for a moment, we can keep going.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, I appreciate that. So that's what financial advisors do.
They help us plan with our money. And the one
thing that I found was very, very interested interesting in
the article that prompted me to contact you, is that
there's this mismatch between how financial advisors feel about their
(08:13):
relationship with their women clients and how the women clients feel.
Your article quoted that there is a ninety five percent
of financial advisors saying they understand the needs of their
women clients, and under half of the women investors said
that their advisor understands their goals. So what's that about?
What's happening here?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So it's a great question. And what we have learned
is that.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We know that women, when women are seeking out financial advisors,
they're looking for a partner, a partner that they can
look at scenario planning with that they can use what
if this, if this, then that what are some steps
that I can take? And the industry hasn't always focused
on our unique concerns and needs, and so sometimes there's
a disconnect. What I will say is one of the
(09:01):
reasons that we like to do these studies is to
continue to help educate our advisor population too, about how
they can do a better job in connecting with their
women clients. What I usually share with our women investors
or those that are interested, no matter what your age,
and we can talk about theirs differences with different generations too,
But no matter what your age, it's never too late
(09:23):
to start. And you need to be very clear about
what you need and not let someone else put their
own needs on you. And so I often work with
individuals and I say, okay, what is it that you need,
what are your concerns, and then let's form up let's
frame up questions that you can use if you're going
to work with an advisor or a financial professional. And
so I think it's being really clear about what your
(09:46):
needs are. And most people lisaid, don't think about that.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
We're going to take a break now, please stay right
here and we'll be right back. Thank you for sticking around.
We continue our conversation. So, first of all, how do
women's needs and goals tend to be different due to caregiving?
And what are some of the issues that we're talking about.
I mean, being outside the workforce is one thing, and
(10:11):
I think a lot of us can quite easily feel
like investing not so far out of reach, like I
can't put e the aside. I'm just barely like meeting
this month's bills or not even just falling into debt.
So how how do we avoid that kind of situation?
How do we help ourselves if we're in that kind
of situation? What are the unique challenges.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So Lisa, from a female perspective, the additional challenges that
women face. There's some macro and then there's some things
about caregiving on the sort of larger picture. First of all,
women still earn less than our male counterparts. So I
it's twenty twenty five, we're making clothes, we're closing the gap,
but there's still a gap. According to the National Women's
(10:53):
Law Center, it's eighty four cents for every one dollar
earned by a man.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, we have just passed school pay day, which represents
the amount of time that women would have to work
past two are in the same as men did in
the previous year.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So we're still working on it and it's a very
important issue. And then we also know outside of caregiving
and will focus on caregiving in a moment. On average,
US women live five years longer than men, and that
also has an implication in making sure you're prepared to
take care of your self or your family in retirement.
When it comes to caregiving, we know that caregiving responsibilities
(11:31):
can have an adverse impact on careers, which we've talked about,
But we know that family members it's mostly wives and daughters,
provide the majority of home based care for families elderly children,
and we know this. The National Center on Caregiving is
very clear about it. So the unique challenges of women.
We live longer, we are oftentimes more responsible for the
(11:52):
caregiving and that impacts our ability to earn. And then
you have the piece that you and I started with
around sometimes can get overwhelmed by thinking about financials because
they're focused on day to day and something I often
like to share with folks, and we share this as
we talk about the resources that Nationwide provides and or
the work that you can do with an advisor is
(12:15):
taking small steps, building small steps. Any amount that you
save is progress, and sometimes people will feel, well, I've
got to save so much, and I can I've got
day to day bills. When I first started in this business,
I was entry level. I did not have any money
and literally was told to save in my retirement plan
(12:35):
and I thought, I can't do that. I have to
pay rent, I have to pay fooo as I mentioned, yeah,
it's like how And I literally said, well, I'm going
to just do a little bit.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And I had someone who kept.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Saying, you need to start small, and I literally started
that thirty two years ago.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
The data is pretty I know it's hard when you're
in it to think about data twenty ten, thirty years
from now, but the data is very clear that even
a small amount over time adds up. And that's the
message that we really want to bring in terms of
having women feel that they have some control in the situation.
You can't control that we live longer. You can't control
(13:12):
that you're oftentimes that we are the caregivers. What you
can control is your action around your finances, and you
can say, where is it that I can save. There's
something that every person can do, and then you can
use there's a lot of tools out there. We have
some on our website at Nationwide, but you also can
access an advisor, which we're a big believer in it's
a small price to pay for long term success.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, so I will put a link in the show
notes to your resources, and I would recommend people check
them out or find a local fiduciary advisor. How would
people best choose an advisor if they're interested in pursuing that.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, that is an important question. I'm glad you're asking it.
So there's a couple of things I would offer. One
is you have to narrow down advisors that are located
where you are or where you can get to them.
And we have a couple of resources that we recommend,
and we can also share that with you too. As
it relates to there's the National Association of Professional Financial Advisors.
(14:13):
There's also the CFP Board, and we also offer the
resource on our website too, so you'll be able to
see that. I think it's important to have access to
who does this work. But then even more important is
finding the right fit. And I'm going to repeat that
finding the right fit, because it's what you and I
were just talking about, asking questions and interviewing, and sometimes
(14:36):
we find women aren't as comfortable with maybe that's not
the best fit. Guess what, thank them for their time,
and you move on to the next one. It's really
important for you to ask questions and find someone who
will take the time to answer your questions so that
you can find the right fit.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And this is a service that you're paying for. So
it's absolutely reasonable to say thanks, but no, th I'm
moving on whenever you feel that that's appropriate and keep
looking until you find that person who is the best fit.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I think that's actually one of the most important things
you can do.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, what are some of the questions that you would
ask a potential advisor?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So first you would put your goals in planning. You
need to really think about what is it that the
financial planner can help you with.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
What are your short and medium term goals.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
There's certain things that you might be saving for in
the short term and the medium term could have could
be supporting some of the caregiving needs. But also when
you think about some of the needs people have around
saving for emergencies, paying down their house, making sure that
their children have college savings if you're in that situation,
if you're whatever your needs are, including saving for retirement,
(15:52):
which people think that's many years away. I'll get there
When I get there, You've got to start now. So
making a list of your goals is for and then
spending time with a financial advisor and asking that person,
how do you work with clients? What type of information
do you need? Can you share with me how you
run scenarios? Here's the goals that I have. What are
(16:15):
some ways that you work with your clients. You can
also ask for a referral. It's always nice to say,
could I speak with someone who's worked with you.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I think that's also something you can do.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I think being planful, writing down your questions, writing down
your needs, and then having that conversation because everybody will
work a bit differently. The other piece I would share
with you is while there is a fee for financial advice,
there are not just tools on websites. You can also
pay for a one time plan, and sometimes that's really
(16:46):
helpful for people, particularly when they're early on in their careers,
where you can make an investment, sit down with your goals,
and then you can follow that dust it off every year.
You have to do it every day, So that's something
else to consider.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Right, And really you want to be paying an advisor
for their time and advice and knowledge, because if you're not,
you might be the product. You might be going to
somebody who is making commission on selling you a certain
product that might not be in your interest. And that's
where the word fiduciary comes in. Is that right?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And I would say yes, the fiduciary responsibility. And I
would say that's why many advisors charge a fee for service,
which I think is really important.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It goes to what you're just talking about, right, What.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Are some of the things that financial advisors can do
to better serve women and in particular family caregivers. What
kinds of things are you working with advisors on their
practices to better service.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
One is, one size does not fit all, so people
need to understand and it sometimes sounds simple, but it's
common sense but not common practice, is what I would say.
But making sure that you understand and the client in
front of you, what are their needs? What are they
worried about? Some people worry about Everybody worries about different items.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
What are their priorities.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You can't have it all all at the same time,
So what are those priorities that you have. So I
would say that advisors, and this is one of the
things that we talk about, particularly with their female clients
often impacted with caregiving responsibilities. It's so important to understand,
seek to understand their situation and not assume that this
(18:29):
person has the same needs as the ten clients you
just met with. And then secondly, being a partner, I
think is so critically so this is one of the differentiators.
I would say that women investors, women savers, women caregivers,
everyone is interested in having a partner walk, walk alongside them,
run scenarios. If this then that I mean, I can't
(18:51):
begin to tell you. That is a key differentiator of
what women want. Why you see the disconnect between what
advisors say, oh I've got this covered and women saying, wait,
not so fast, it's because oftentimes they're looking for that
scenario partner, understanding what other people have done. Women like
to share, they like to understand best practices, and so.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Those are kinds of those are the things that we share.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
You're describing really smart approach, really women being really interested
in using data and careful thought to really choose what's
best for them instead of blindly trusting someone or going
with any gut feeling or anything flashy. You're describing, you know, wisdom.
(19:40):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I appreciate that. I would say that preparation is key.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
How would you?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I mean, I can't imagine in trusting my future without
having somebody who's vetted and asking questions, and I know
it can be scary.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
People get very overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I've been in this business a long time and I
also spend time teaching, and I think people just get
overwhelmed by the things that we're talking about. How do
you put a plan in place? So using a professional
on an advisor is a great step, but also doing
your homework and preparing is equally as important.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Is there anything else that we haven't touched on that
you particularly want to make sure we talk about.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The only thing I would offer to you is just
that while we do see generational differences and some of
the data that we shared, whether it's a gen.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Z woman, millennial, gen X.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Or boomer, and it's based on different life stages, some
people are focused on the near term. What we see
with gen Z and Millennials, and then you sort of
move up as we get into Gen X.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And baby boomers.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Everybody's worried a little bit differently depending upon where they
are in life, but the message still remains the same.
Having a plan and doing your homework, which you and
I've just talked about, and really seeking out professional support
is one of the best investments that you can do.
So just appreciate the opportunity to share that message.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Thank you. I appreciate that there will be plenty of
links in the show notes for people to pursue. The
guest is Suzanne Ricklan. I am Lisa Shudy. This is
Love Doesn't pay the bills and if you appreciate the episode,
please tell a friend
Welcome to Love Doesn't Pay the Bills. I'm Lisa Chudy.
I am a family caregiver. Today Suzanne Rickland joins me.
She is the vice president of retention and sales for
a nationwide retirement solutions distribution team.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome Suzannehi, Lisa, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, and you do have a very long career in finance,
a lot of credentials and I appreciate that. And you
supported a total of more than fifty five billion dollars
in assets under management and a past job according to
what we can read on your biography, so that's pretty huge.
(00:54):
So we're here to talk money today, which is a
big part of what matters to me and why I
started this podcast. I was very personally impacted by being
an unpaid caregiver for eighteen years and really didn't see
a lot of choices for me in all that time,
(01:14):
because while I sought other outside care for my daughter
and I sought career starts over the years in various ways,
I could never get it all to line up where
I had a career opportunity and I had care for
my daughter, and she requires some pretty extensive care right
(01:37):
now as an adult it's still evaluated by the State
of Oregon to be over two full time jobs. So
somebody's got to be there, And that was just unquestioned there.
It wasn't just a choice in that way. Yeah, I
certainly wasn't about to walk away from her entirely. So, Suzanne,
(01:58):
what is your personal interest connection to caregiving? I do
like to start there.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, first, Lisa, thanks for sharing that your connection to caregiving,
because I think as women, most of us have a
connection to caregiving, I would say, and when we talk
about the impact on career, which I know we'll talk
about our finances, I think the personal connection is a
great place to start. And so first let me say
I personally feel like it's a blessing to care for others.
(02:24):
And for me that really came to fruition with my grandparents.
So I was a primary caregiver for my grandparents, particularly
for my grandmother, who lived to be ninety three and
a half.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Still remains my hero, I would say, But.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
She was on oxygen twenty four to seven for the
last ten years of her life and required a lot
of help, and so I felt honored to be part
of her caregiving team. Now that's translated into I also
do care for my elderly parents that are in their
eighties and they have health challenges and some cognitive decline
as well. So both situations had to make some career
(03:00):
choices to pass on, for example, promotional opportunity that would
require relocation, and we can talk more about the impact
that that has on a women and savings and being prepared.
The other connection I would share with you is that
my sister is a healthcare director for nursing facilities and
she sees the impact of caregiving every single day. And
(03:21):
from her, what I have learned is that just like
when you're on a plane, they say put on your
own oxygen mask, but for helping others, the same old true.
As you know very well as a caregiver, that we
need to prioritize self care so we can be present
and healthy caregiver. So those are some of my personal
connections to caregiving as well.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Right, so, I have a little bit of an aversion
to self care quote unquote, However, managing money the very
best that you can in your situation is I think
a very important aspect of self care and I think
that's while well, we have talked on this podcast, and
(04:02):
I am very concerned that there are just a lot
of structural, big picture things that really need to change
to make life more feasible and doable for many of
us family caregivers. When we talk about ourselves as individuals,
there are a lot of things we can do as
best as possible that do make a difference, and managing
money is certainly a big important one. A big part
(04:26):
of what I want to do on this podcast too,
and what I do is to make sure that we
all understand the scope of family caregiving and the fact
that we all have some connection, we all have some impact.
So when you look at when you stand back and
look at the aggregate, how does caregiving impact women's financial
planning and retirement as a whole?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
So, thanks Liza.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
There's a couple of things I would share with you
to frame it out and then we can talk more
specifically about where they're opportunities, like what can you do? Yeah,
First of all, the survey nationwide recently, as you know,
did their Advisor Authority survey, and so we do this
every year because we really want to look at one
of those key issues and then how can we provide
some solutions or to your point I call it the
(05:09):
best next step because people can get overwhelmed with if
you have too many things you have to focus on.
We know that over two thirds of our women who
support children or aging parents say that their careers have
been impacted. And even similar to the example that I
gave by caregiving responsibilities, we also know that it's prevented
(05:30):
at least one in five per saving for retirement. And
what happens we see actions that women take, things like
reducing their work hours or limiting their professional development, or
taking extended leave to help support the care switching to
part time, or even in my case, declining or delaying promotions.
And so that being said, knowing that there's a lot,
(05:52):
and then I'm going to add one more thing before
we talk about, and that's economic uncertainty. So, as you mentioned,
there's some big and little we call both big and
little issues that impact us. And economic uncertainty always creates
financial stress. So you've got the situation you have around caregiving,
and then you have sort of the environment that you're
working around. And we know from our recent survey too
(06:12):
that about four and ten say, you know, inflation is
going to continue to increase, People are really concerned about
the financial outlook, and we see almost twenty five percent
of people saying I'm very pessimistic about it. So when
you add those things together, there are a lot of concerns.
To your point about what to do.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
If listeners feel pessimistic about their financial situation or potential future.
You are not alone. That's one thing I really want
you to hear. There's a lot of us in similar votes.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
And I would say I'm going to underscore that because
not only are people not alone, but everybody feels stressed
at different times for different reasons, and financial stress is
one of the main reasons that causes people anxiety and stress.
The thing that I wanted to offer to you and
to the listeners is while there may be uncertainty and noise,
and it's understandable that caregivers will feel concerned, which is
(07:07):
why it's so important to prioritize working with either an
advisor or leveraging tools that are out there, and we
can talk about that to create a plan, a plan
with medium and long term strategies to avoid making decisions
or not making decisions that are short term emotional. You know,
I've been in this business a long time and one
(07:29):
thing I can say is I've lived through many stressful
financial cycles, and we know from a historical point of
view that stress will continue to come at us, both
from a caregiving perspective and financial uncertainties. We also know
that having a plan and sticking to it always pays off.
I'll stop there for a moment, we can keep going.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah, I appreciate that. So that's what financial advisors do.
They help us plan with our money. And the one
thing that I found was very, very interested interesting in
the article that prompted me to contact you, is that
there's this mismatch between how financial advisors feel about their
(08:13):
relationship with their women clients and how the women clients feel.
Your article quoted that there is a ninety five percent
of financial advisors saying they understand the needs of their
women clients, and under half of the women investors said
that their advisor understands their goals. So what's that about?
What's happening here?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
So it's a great question. And what we have learned
is that.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
We know that women, when women are seeking out financial advisors,
they're looking for a partner, a partner that they can
look at scenario planning with that they can use what
if this, if this, then that what are some steps
that I can take? And the industry hasn't always focused
on our unique concerns and needs, and so sometimes there's
a disconnect. What I will say is one of the
(09:01):
reasons that we like to do these studies is to
continue to help educate our advisor population too, about how
they can do a better job in connecting with their
women clients. What I usually share with our women investors
or those that are interested, no matter what your age,
and we can talk about theirs differences with different generations too,
But no matter what your age, it's never too late
(09:23):
to start. And you need to be very clear about
what you need and not let someone else put their
own needs on you. And so I often work with
individuals and I say, okay, what is it that you need,
what are your concerns, and then let's form up let's
frame up questions that you can use if you're going
to work with an advisor or a financial professional. And
so I think it's being really clear about what your
(09:46):
needs are. And most people lisaid, don't think about that.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
We're going to take a break now, please stay right
here and we'll be right back. Thank you for sticking around.
We continue our conversation. So, first of all, how do
women's needs and goals tend to be different due to caregiving?
And what are some of the issues that we're talking about.
I mean, being outside the workforce is one thing, and
(10:11):
I think a lot of us can quite easily feel
like investing not so far out of reach, like I
can't put e the aside. I'm just barely like meeting
this month's bills or not even just falling into debt.
So how how do we avoid that kind of situation?
How do we help ourselves if we're in that kind
of situation? What are the unique challenges.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
So Lisa, from a female perspective, the additional challenges that
women face. There's some macro and then there's some things
about caregiving on the sort of larger picture. First of all,
women still earn less than our male counterparts. So I
it's twenty twenty five, we're making clothes, we're closing the gap,
but there's still a gap. According to the National Women's
(10:53):
Law Center, it's eighty four cents for every one dollar
earned by a man.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, we have just passed school pay day, which represents
the amount of time that women would have to work
past two are in the same as men did in
the previous year.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
So we're still working on it and it's a very
important issue. And then we also know outside of caregiving
and will focus on caregiving in a moment. On average,
US women live five years longer than men, and that
also has an implication in making sure you're prepared to
take care of your self or your family in retirement.
When it comes to caregiving, we know that caregiving responsibilities
(11:31):
can have an adverse impact on careers, which we've talked about,
But we know that family members it's mostly wives and daughters,
provide the majority of home based care for families elderly children,
and we know this. The National Center on Caregiving is
very clear about it. So the unique challenges of women.
We live longer, we are oftentimes more responsible for the
(11:52):
caregiving and that impacts our ability to earn. And then
you have the piece that you and I started with
around sometimes can get overwhelmed by thinking about financials because
they're focused on day to day and something I often
like to share with folks, and we share this as
we talk about the resources that Nationwide provides and or
the work that you can do with an advisor is
(12:15):
taking small steps, building small steps. Any amount that you
save is progress, and sometimes people will feel, well, I've
got to save so much, and I can I've got
day to day bills. When I first started in this business,
I was entry level. I did not have any money
and literally was told to save in my retirement plan
(12:35):
and I thought, I can't do that. I have to
pay rent, I have to pay fooo as I mentioned, yeah,
it's like how And I literally said, well, I'm going
to just do a little bit.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
And I had someone who kept.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Saying, you need to start small, and I literally started
that thirty two years ago.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
And I'm telling you.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
The data is pretty I know it's hard when you're
in it to think about data twenty ten, thirty years
from now, but the data is very clear that even
a small amount over time adds up. And that's the
message that we really want to bring in terms of
having women feel that they have some control in the situation.
You can't control that we live longer. You can't control
(13:12):
that you're oftentimes that we are the caregivers. What you
can control is your action around your finances, and you
can say, where is it that I can save. There's
something that every person can do, and then you can
use there's a lot of tools out there. We have
some on our website at Nationwide, but you also can
access an advisor, which we're a big believer in it's
a small price to pay for long term success.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Yeah, so I will put a link in the show
notes to your resources, and I would recommend people check
them out or find a local fiduciary advisor. How would
people best choose an advisor if they're interested in pursuing that.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Yeah, that is an important question. I'm glad you're asking it.
So there's a couple of things I would offer. One
is you have to narrow down advisors that are located
where you are or where you can get to them.
And we have a couple of resources that we recommend,
and we can also share that with you too. As
it relates to there's the National Association of Professional Financial Advisors.
(14:13):
There's also the CFP Board, and we also offer the
resource on our website too, so you'll be able to
see that. I think it's important to have access to
who does this work. But then even more important is
finding the right fit. And I'm going to repeat that
finding the right fit, because it's what you and I
were just talking about, asking questions and interviewing, and sometimes
(14:36):
we find women aren't as comfortable with maybe that's not
the best fit. Guess what, thank them for their time,
and you move on to the next one. It's really
important for you to ask questions and find someone who
will take the time to answer your questions so that
you can find the right fit.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
And this is a service that you're paying for. So
it's absolutely reasonable to say thanks, but no, th I'm
moving on whenever you feel that that's appropriate and keep
looking until you find that person who is the best fit.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I think that's actually one of the most important things
you can do.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, what are some of the questions that you would
ask a potential advisor?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
So first you would put your goals in planning. You
need to really think about what is it that the
financial planner can help you with.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
What are your short and medium term goals.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
There's certain things that you might be saving for in
the short term and the medium term could have could
be supporting some of the caregiving needs. But also when
you think about some of the needs people have around
saving for emergencies, paying down their house, making sure that
their children have college savings if you're in that situation,
if you're whatever your needs are, including saving for retirement,
(15:52):
which people think that's many years away. I'll get there
When I get there, You've got to start now. So
making a list of your goals is for and then
spending time with a financial advisor and asking that person,
how do you work with clients? What type of information
do you need? Can you share with me how you
run scenarios? Here's the goals that I have. What are
(16:15):
some ways that you work with your clients. You can
also ask for a referral. It's always nice to say,
could I speak with someone who's worked with you.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
I think that's also something you can do.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I think being planful, writing down your questions, writing down
your needs, and then having that conversation because everybody will
work a bit differently. The other piece I would share
with you is while there is a fee for financial advice,
there are not just tools on websites. You can also
pay for a one time plan, and sometimes that's really
(16:46):
helpful for people, particularly when they're early on in their careers,
where you can make an investment, sit down with your goals,
and then you can follow that dust it off every year.
You have to do it every day, So that's something
else to consider.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Right, And really you want to be paying an advisor
for their time and advice and knowledge, because if you're not,
you might be the product. You might be going to
somebody who is making commission on selling you a certain
product that might not be in your interest. And that's
where the word fiduciary comes in. Is that right?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Well?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
And I would say yes, the fiduciary responsibility. And I
would say that's why many advisors charge a fee for service,
which I think is really important.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
It goes to what you're just talking about, right, What.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Are some of the things that financial advisors can do
to better serve women and in particular family caregivers. What
kinds of things are you working with advisors on their
practices to better service.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
One is, one size does not fit all, so people
need to understand and it sometimes sounds simple, but it's
common sense but not common practice, is what I would say.
But making sure that you understand and the client in
front of you, what are their needs? What are they
worried about? Some people worry about Everybody worries about different items.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
What are their priorities.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You can't have it all all at the same time,
So what are those priorities that you have. So I
would say that advisors, and this is one of the
things that we talk about, particularly with their female clients
often impacted with caregiving responsibilities. It's so important to understand,
seek to understand their situation and not assume that this
(18:29):
person has the same needs as the ten clients you
just met with. And then secondly, being a partner, I
think is so critically so this is one of the differentiators.
I would say that women investors, women savers, women caregivers,
everyone is interested in having a partner walk, walk alongside them,
run scenarios. If this then that I mean, I can't
(18:51):
begin to tell you. That is a key differentiator of
what women want. Why you see the disconnect between what
advisors say, oh I've got this covered and women saying, wait,
not so fast, it's because oftentimes they're looking for that
scenario partner, understanding what other people have done. Women like
to share, they like to understand best practices, and so.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Those are kinds of those are the things that we share.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
You're describing really smart approach, really women being really interested
in using data and careful thought to really choose what's
best for them instead of blindly trusting someone or going
with any gut feeling or anything flashy. You're describing, you know, wisdom.
(19:40):
That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
And I appreciate that. I would say that preparation is key.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
How would you?
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I mean, I can't imagine in trusting my future without
having somebody who's vetted and asking questions, and I know
it can be scary.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
People get very overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
I've been in this business a long time and I
also spend time teaching, and I think people just get
overwhelmed by the things that we're talking about. How do
you put a plan in place? So using a professional
on an advisor is a great step, but also doing
your homework and preparing is equally as important.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Is there anything else that we haven't touched on that
you particularly want to make sure we talk about.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
The only thing I would offer to you is just
that while we do see generational differences and some of
the data that we shared, whether it's a gen.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Z woman, millennial, gen X.
Speaker 2 (20:29):
Or boomer, and it's based on different life stages, some
people are focused on the near term. What we see
with gen Z and Millennials, and then you sort of
move up as we get into Gen X.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
And baby boomers.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Everybody's worried a little bit differently depending upon where they
are in life, but the message still remains the same.
Having a plan and doing your homework, which you and
I've just talked about, and really seeking out professional support
is one of the best investments that you can do.
So just appreciate the opportunity to share that message.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Thank you. I appreciate that there will be plenty of
links in the show notes for people to pursue. The
guest is Suzanne Ricklan. I am Lisa Shudy. This is
Love Doesn't pay the bills and if you appreciate the episode,
please tell a friend
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