Social Security planning is an important part of planning for female clients and can attract them to advisors' practices, according to a webinar held on Wednesday.
Moderator Marie Swift of Impact Communications introduced Martha Sheddon of ClientFirst Financial, who said that for pre-retirees, "the hunt for income is on." Social Security planning is "not an up-front money maker," she acknowledged, "but it's a source of goodwill and segues into other opportunities."
Clients can't ask questions they don't know they need to ask, so advisors need to "create demand for education," Sheddon said.
Female clients in particular are in need of more help. "More women should be receiving more financial advice," she said pointing to changing demographics in the work force. Half of managers are women, she said, and of the 15 job categories expecting growth, all but two are dominated by women.
When and how to begin claiming Social Security benefits are important decisions for anyone, Sheddon noted, but women's longer life expectancy, less time in the work force, lower lifetime earnings overall and tendency to marry older men means they are likely to outlive their partners and have lower benefits.
