Latest news with #lesbiancouples
Forbes
3 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Peaceful Retirement Starts With Rethinking Women's Retirement Planning
Senior women friends playing cards Retirement planning isn't one-size-fits-all—and for women's retirement planning. Many women face longer retirements, more career breaks, and bigger financial gaps than men. Yet most retirement advice still assumes equal experiences for all genders. If you're a woman—or advising one—you need a plan that considers these real-life differences. Here's how to build a retirement strategy that fits. On average, women outlive men by about five years. But that's just the average. Take my aunt, for example, she lived 29 years after her husband passed away. That's almost three extra decades of bills, healthcare, and rising living costs. My 96-year-old mother has lived 20 years past my dad. There was a nearly 8-year age gap between them which also adds to the potential challenges for married women. Many advisors use calculators based on the average lifespan. But if you're a woman, that could leave you seriously underfunded. The earlier you start planning, the better prepared you'll be to enjoy those extra years. These issues are multiplied in lesbian couples where both are expected to live long lives. Reassess your retirement expectations every few years to determine what changes in savings, investment target and expected retirement date. Retirement planning is also tricky when you're Single or widowed. Without a spouse's income or survivor benefits, your personal savings do all the heavy lifting. Lifetime income options like Social Security, workplace pensions and personal pensions (lifetime annuities) are critical pieces to manage. You can create a personal pension by funding them with 401(k), IRA, Roth accounts or from savings and brokerage accounts. For single women, it's crucial to get serious about estate planning—things like financial powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and living wills. The financial powers of attorney and healthcare directives are about your retirement years and not your death. Who will make decisions for you when you can't make them like you used to? Think of 'living' estate planning as self-care for your future self. Many women take time off to care for children or aging parents. These gaps often mean lower lifetime earnings, reduced Social Security checks, and missed personal and matching retirement contributions. But you can increase your contributions if your income allows through work. In 2025, if you're fifty or older, you can contribute: Note that the workplace plans over age 50 catch-up contribution is almost the total of IRA limit including the $1000 catch-up contribution. Complicating retirement savings further is the fact that there are income limits for the IRA and Roth IRA. 2025 IRA Phase-Out Limits In addition, these tax-advantaged savings, you can save money into simple savings, brokerage accounts and tax deferred annuities. How much you need to save will depend on the future life you want to live, your risk tolerance or risk need, and your current resources. Many women also invest more cautiously than men. While caution has its place, being too conservative means your money won't grow as much over long, time horizons. This may leave a woman with not enough to support her desired retirement lifestyle. Woman should search for resources to learn more about investing. A behavioral smart and empathetic investment adviser can go along way in helping you stay invested if your risk need is beyond your risk comfort. Social Security is often a major piece of a woman's retirement income. But the rules are complex—especially if you're divorced or widowed. Also, Medicare can also add to the complexity, especially with its potential Income Related Medicare Adjustment Amount. That is essentially an additional tax on Medicare for those that trigger it. Spousal benefits, survivor benefits, and delayed retirement credits can all impact what you receive. Knowledgeable advisers must take the time to explain these options clearly, so you can make choices that fit your unique situation. Many investment advisers are not truly knowledgeable about this area, as usually they are not compensated for it. Ask questions to find out if the one you are working with today is knowledgeable. If not, you can find one that helps you in this area only, so that you don't have to disrupt your primary invest adviser relationship. Many women have financial worries tied to emotions—fear, guilt, or uncertainty. Planning for retirement is as much about peace of mind as it is about math. That's why finding the right advisor matters. A good financial planner and or investment adviser should create a space where you can ask any question without judgment and get clear, personalized answers. Moreover, you deserve a financial plan that understands your values—not just your numbers. Retirement planning can feel overwhelming. But you don't have to figure it all out yourself. I am partial to those financial and investment advisers that have the Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) designation. Among those, look for those who understands the challenges women face. They can help you: If you already have an advisor and still feel confused or unheard—it may be time to get a second opinion. Women face distinct challenges from longer life expectancies to career interruptions and income disparities making women's retirement planning unique. By acknowledging these factors and working with advisors who understand them, women can take proactive steps toward a secure financial future. Starting early, staying informed, and seeking personalized advice are key strategies for overcoming these challenges.
Geek Vibes Nation
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
‘Love Letters' Review
What makes a good mother? Is it who mothered you? Your life experience? Instincts? Or is it something indefinable, a thing you will not know until you become one? This question is asked, if not answered, by Alice Douard's Love Letters. But every story about mothers (or any parents) has a different idea behind it, probably because we all have different mothers. This story, in some ways, follows the director's own experience with the adoption process in France. Céline (Ella Rumpf) and Nadia (Monia Chokri) are a married lesbian couple. They have decided, as many couples do, to have a child. But, of course, it is much more complex than for straight couples. They were able to get married in France, but had to leave the country in order to access In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) for Nadia. Plus, despite their marriage, Céline has no automatic rights to their child after birth. That is, unless she adopts the child. And even the adoption process is difficult. It will take most of a year and will necessitate several letters to be written in support of her relationship with the child. Given the plot, it would be very easy for this to become excessively focused on how unfair the system is towards people who do not fit the simple mold of being a straight couple. And yes, it is deeply unfair, but Love Letters is much more concerned with what this particular couple has to do in reaction to the unfairness. It is one thing to rail against unfair treatment, but if Céline and Nadia want a child, they must play by the equally unfair rules. The decision, from screenwriters Douard and Laurette Polmanss, to focus the perspective on Céline, who is not pregnant, is a seriously smart one, because it allows everyone, regardless of gender or orientation, to easily relate. It must be a difficult place to be, especially for a woman, to be in line to parent a child without the concern and care from others that comes from visual signs of pregnancy. Certainly, it helps that Rumpf is immensely talented, being able to subtly communicate complexity with minimal dialogue. And yet, they also manage not to give Nadia and, by extension, their relationship, short shrift. Both of these women seem like actual, living humans and not simply an extension of political ideology. They love, they disagree, they make up, they move forward together, even when things are difficult. The camerawork, helmed by cinematographer Jacques Girault, is organized nearly in documentary style. It feels both professional and deeply intimate, which is demanded by the subject material. If we see one of the two women as villains in any way, none of this holds together. But as Céline and Nadia move through their trials and tribulations, including reconnecting with Céline's mother, Marguerite (Noémie Lvovsky), there are beautiful imperfections shown that make them whole, and better, together. The mother-daughter relationship between Marguerite and Céline, which seems distant at its introduction, might have the most important interactions in the film. One might expect a knock-down, drag-out fight, an explosive moment that either severs the relationship or fixes all of the problems of a long life, both together and apart. But unlike most films, Douard chooses to focus on a sense of reality. Marguerite, being a successful musician, was not present for much of Céline's childhood, and their relationship suffered. She is not evil or terribly manipulative; she is simply a woman who did not fit the exact mold of Mother. Love Letters is clearly a deeply personal story, but one that is important to consider, especially for those who have never faced this kind of difficulty, and likely never will. The film incites a sense of empathy without ever treading in the easy waters of guilt. The truth that Love Letters analyzes is that the idea of fitting the prescribed definition of anything is a useless enterprise. Someone could appear to be the perfect mother, but behind closed doors is the worst imaginable. Despite not being the one to give birth, despite not having a perfect example of maternal care, who is to say that Céline will not be an incredible caretaker? What right does a government have to make her work so hard for what is a right for many men and women? Love Letters held its World Premiere in the Special Screenings section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Director: Alice Douard Screenwriters: Alice Douard, Laurette Polmanss Rated: NR Runtime: 97m
