According to a new survey, 75 percent of divorced individuals who are retirement age do not know enough about how to manage their money. However, women appear to be doing better than men in this area following divorce in the state of Massachusetts and elsewhere. These findings come from the American Institute of CPAs.
In particular, women are two times as likely to pursue jobs and increase the amount of money they save toward retirement compared to men. In addition, based on the survey, women have quadruple the likelihood of improving their spending habits when compared to men. Furthermore, women have a 14-times-greater chance of actively pursuing financial advice following divorce. Still, the spending habits of both women and men were found to be likely to deteriorate after a marital split-up.
When a couple gets divorced late in life, it is likely that one of the spouses primarily handled the family finances. This means the other party does not have an accurate idea of what the family’s finances look like, which includes how much money is saved for retirement. This other party may therefore be at a disadvantage when splitting assets during divorce.
Making the wrong financial decisions during divorce can unfortunately be costly from a financial point of view down the road. This is especially detrimental to older couples since they do not have as much time to recover from the financial setbacks that often take place following the dissolution of a marriage. Successfully fighting for one’s best interests financially is possible with the guidance of an attorney in the state of Massachusetts.
Source: accountingtoday.com, “Women are more likely to take positive financial steps after a divorce“, Michael Cohn, Feb. 9, 2017