On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview Kathleen Rehl on the second stage of widowhood: growth. Previously, we interviewed Kathleen on grace: the first stage of widowhood. Kathleen continues the discussion by sharing the process of growth. Because a widow’s cognitive functions have normalized, she is now able to do more general financial planning. Some of the decisions mentioned are basic estate planning, reevaluating investments, taxes, and retirement. A widow may also need to update her documentation, due to the fact that many of her documents may be in her husband’s name. Kathleen discusses the important change in mindset for the widow to make “our home” into “my home.” Many factors considered, there is no definite time period for the growth stage.
You may be a recent widow or know of a widow who is in this second phase of widowhood called Growth, or you may still be in the first phase of Grief. Regardless of which stage you are in, we’d love to help you. You may need help deciding what options you have regarding the proceeds from your late husband’s life insurance proceeds or annuity. You may need help with retirement decisions as Kathleen mentioned. Perhaps you need help updating your financial goals or estate planning documents, or just need someone to talk with regarding your financial questions. We have a page dedicated to widows and you can find it here. Please be sure to join us as Kathleen talks about the third stage: grace.
On upcoming podcasts, Kathleen will talk about the three stages of widowhood- Grief, Growth, and Grace, so be sure to subscribe by clicking here.
Kathleen Rehl Bio
Kathleen M. Rehl, Ph.D., CFP®, CeFT® wrote the multi-award-winning book, Moving Forward on Your Own: A Financial Guidebook for Widows. Experiencing widowhood herself, Dr. Rehl empowers widows financially™ and inspires their advisors. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, AARP Bulletin, CNBC, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Journal of Financial Service Professionals, Journal of Financial Planning, and other publications. Rehl owned a financial planning firm for 17 years before retiring to her “encore” career. She walks an hour daily, practices yoga, enjoys art and music festivals, writes poetry and makes art, loves her grandsons . . . and continues to evolve on her journey.