What Does Your Magic 8 Ball Say About 2019?

Special estate planning tools for second marriages. The financial consequences of a gray divorce can be huge. It’s important to have open and honest conversations about your financial future with a new spouse. Balancing the legacy you leave for your children and building a life with a new spouse can create planning challenges. As women’s economic power and wealth increase, the job of protecting their assets becomes even more complex.

Financial technology. Technology continues to be a large presence in managing both administrative and complex financial tasks. This includes things like how we track spending and provide real-time investment data during volatile markets. These tools are a necessity for families that are more geographically dispersed, especially when they’re managing finances for aging parents.

More workforce diversity. Another effect of living longer, is that more people are working longer than prior generations and, in some cases, longer than they anticipated. Couples are also having to consider decisions about when they’ll retire and how to balance the trade-offs of retiring together, versus staggering their retirements over several years.

All of these trends for next year have implications for how we choose to work, how long we want to stay in the workforce and how we effectively manage the benefits that we have.

As diversity increases in the workforce, employers see that more differentiation and choice within benefit plans may be needed, to ensure that the benefits offered are meaningful for a wider variety of family circumstances.

Every new year presents possibilities and opportunities. Remember to look before you leap, and consider meeting with your team of advisors—estate planning attorney, CPA and financial advisor—to map out your goals and plans for the coming year.

Reference: WTOP (December 12, 2018) “Top financial planning trends for 2019”