Financial Planning for Single Moms (Without the Overwhelm) | Women & Wealth

Everyone's financial situation is very different and single moms are no exception to that. And just because you're a single mom does not mean that you have to do it alone. Today we're going to be covering some financial planning topics that are specific to being a single mom. Welcome back to the channel. If you've liked anything you've seen so far or if you're excited to learn more about finances in general then like and subscribe. We're happy that you're here. I'm Katie Brinkerhoff. I'm a wealth advisor here at Capital Financial Network. And I'm Allison Fresca and I'm also a wealth advisor at Capital Financial Network. So like Katie said we're going to be going into some financial planning tips for single moms. So to start off we wanted to go through critical steps for a sole provider. So that may not be your situation but if it is if you are a sole provider these are some things that you really want to make sure that you focus on right off the bat. So we're going to go through five. Number one would be having an emergency fund. So like cash savings to cover anything that might come up unexpectedly. Number two would be having good health insurance coverage. And then number three life insurance. Definitely a big important part if you're a sole provider for your family. And then in that same line having disability insurance. So if something were to happen to you then you have coverage for your income. And then the fifth and final one that we believe is a critical step for a sole provider would be putting together your estate plan. Meaning like will, trust, especially guardianship for your kids and just making sure that that's all squared away. So that's kind of the foundation to set for single moms at the very beginning. Perfect love it. Okay so the next thing that we wanted to talk through was making sure that you're in control of your current financial situation. So the first step would just be making sure that you have a budget and that you're adhering to it. And there's really a lot of great softwares out there that you can use. We talked before this I use EveryDollar. I use Monarch. Yeah we're not endorsing any of those. They're all really great. You'll be able to find. You just want to make sure you're tracking your spending and you know how much you're spending and you're not getting into credit card debt or other sort of debt. Right. You want to make sure that you are investing if possible. Make sure that you know you're focusing on the critical needs. Your family, your kids, your job, whatever that looks like. You want to make sure that while you're doing that your money is taken care of. So get it invested somehow. Watch our other videos if you have questions. But make sure that your money is not just sitting in cash besides what your emergency savings is. Yeah. I mean I think for single moms. Sorry to cut in. I think for single moms one of the biggest things is that they're just busy. So it's so easy. Like maybe you get your budget in place. You have your cash savings. But then the cash savings maybe starts to build and you're just busy focusing on other things. But when you have the flexibility to get some of that invested in working for you it's only going to set you up for a better foundation down the road. Definitely. Yes. Yep. And we're available to reach out if you have questions. Happy to look at anyone's situation of course. And then to go off that we also you don't neglect retirement savings right. If you're working and you have a job that offers a match on your 401k or any sort of match on an HSA make sure you're taking advantage of that free money. So make sure that you're not neglecting retirement just because it might feel a long ways away or you don't know if you'll ever make it there. You will. Trust me it's going to be great. And don't neglect those retirement savings. And then the last one which I love is that just research your options right. There's lots of things that are available for single moms. SNAP, WIC, housing benefits things like that. And those are available and you should absolutely tap into those if it's something that is that you're eligible for. Definitely. Next we wanted to talk a little bit more about the intangible side of financial planning for single moms. So some things that we had talked about before this was raising your kids to make smart financial decisions. Especially if you're their primary influence as a parent that's a great opportunity for you to set a good example and kind of coach them and talk them through some of the decisions that you're making with your own finances because that's often one of the best ways for them to learn. And also this is just kind of a shout out but remember that your best is all that you can do. You don't need to be an expert on finance. You don't need to be a millionaire or anything like that. You do the best that you can for your kids and no one is expecting more than that. Another thing that we thought or that we've seen be really helpful is building a community with other women maybe even other moms that are in the same boat to be able to share your experiences and also talk through financial tips that you've learned or things that you've experienced. The more you integrate into community you can learn from each other's mistakes and successes and things like that. So we figured that was mentioned or that was worth mentioning alongside the kind of standard financial tips. It's funny we're so hard on ourselves as women. I was talking to someone yesterday that I work with and so funny she was like saying well I've kind of cut back on some things and I'm not working as much I'm kind of feeling bored. Why do we feel the need to always be doing everything all the time? We think that not working full time is not enough. There's just so many things that we're so hard on ourselves but don't be hard on yourself. We'll be your biggest cheerleaders to make sure that you're not hard on yourself and you're doing a great job. Just a couple more financial tidbits we wanted to mention is that there are some options available to some people that are eligible for a social security benefit. So make sure you've looked into that. Once again reach out if you have questions we can help navigate the social security world for you but there may be options that are available to you or your kids depending on the circumstances of your life. Do you want to talk about the child tax credit? Some other just kind of miscellaneous things to include here is child tax credit. Oftentimes if you're going to file your taxes either online or with a CPA then they'll include that for you but just making sure that you're taking advantage of that for each of your kids. See our future videos for more information about life insurance, education savings, budgeting, things like that. So we'll be going more in depth on that. This is just a roadmap for you to get an idea of where to start as a single mom. Yep if you're a single mom or anyone out here that's watching you're doing amazing. We're your biggest cheerleaders. If you have questions or if you need any advice feel free to call us. This was all just educational in nature so there may be a follow-up questions if you do have those find us on the website or call us or like and subscribe. Follow along as we continue to educate and hopefully help anyone out there in any situation and we'll see you next time.