Future Returns: Why Women Need to Participate in Financial Planning

It sounds hopelessly antiquated: A female spouse cedes control of the family’s finances, either willingly or unwillingly, to her male partner, only to be caught by surprise when her husband dies.

Yet financial advisors say it’s true—and problematic. Data is spotty, but a 2019 UBS survey of high-net-worth women found that 56% of American women aged 20-34 deferred long-term financial decisions to their spouse, as did 54% of women 51 and older.

Vance Barse is the founder of Your Dedicated Fiduciary, an investment advisor firm based in San Diego, Calif., that has made centring women a bedrock of its practice: two-thirds of its clients are female-headed households.

In a conversation with Penta, Barse says that if women aren’t part of the financial-planning conversation already, they should be. And if they lose their spouse before that can happen, they should be deliberate, not hasty, in finding a trusted advisor.

‘A Little Resentful’

No one wants to think about losing a spouse, but it will happen at some point—and as all the statistics show, it’s far more likely for a woman to outlive her male partner. That’s why Barse tries to centre female-headed households in his business model, but also why it’s wise for couples to make sure the wife has a say in the family finances before she’s all alone.

Barse describes the scenario he and other advisors see far too often with new widows: “After that initial shock, there is acceptance of the reality, which is that she is the one in charge of estate administration, she is the one who receives the estate, and now she is front and centre in her own financial life. There’s a transition where these women may become a little resentful or realise that they don’t have a trusting relationship with the person who was the husband’s—not the family’s—advisor.”

That’s when many widows fire the family’s existing advisor, and go in search of someone they can trust, Barse says.

But Barse says women usually turn to friends and family members for recommendations. Far too often those people aren’t right for the new widow, and may even take advantage of her.

High-net-worth women don’t need a retail advisor selling them whatever mutual fund the home office is hawking, Barse points out—they need what he calls an “in-house, right-hand person” to manage all aspects of the household’s financial life, even if that’s not what the husband’s expectations were while he was alive.

Look Before It’s Too Late

Women with male spouses—even happily married ones—may want to take a more active role in the family’s finances sooner rather than later, even if their husbands are content with the way things have always been, and especially if they feel left out of the conversation.

“When a new client couple first comes in, I ask, in a social situation, which one of you typically talks first,” Barse says. “Whichever of the spouses raises the hand and says I do, I turn to the other spouse. That means we’re giving the less-vocal spouse more of a voice right out of the gate.”

That’s critical, he says, not only because both voices should be heard, but because men and women often bring different perspectives to financial planning. With high-net-worth women, Barse says, “the conversation focuses more on how to make an impact and how to keep as much money in the estate as possible and prevent the heirs from fighting over the assets.”

For Widows

Women who have lost a spouse are in a difficult position. The recent loss may make it difficult to think about vetting someone analytically. Still, Barse offers a few considerations, starting with approaching the existing advisor as if he or she were any other candidate for the job.

“It’s highly appropriate to interview different financial advisors and their firms to determine which one feels like the best long-term fit,” he says. “There is no such thing as too much due diligence.”

Ask the advisor to detail in writing what products and strategies are in your best interest, what value they will bring to your estate, and how much that will cost you

Ask the advisor to outline any potential conflicts of interest in writing. Barse recalls one client whose family advisor had put almost 100% of the household assets in expensive financial products such as mutual funds managed by the advisor’s parent company—but one that just happened to have a different name.

Ask the financial advisor to outline how he or she will work alongside other estate advisors such as the CPA, the estate planner, the insurance agent, the realtor, and so on. You need someone to be sure all the professionals are communicating with each other and that there are no gaps.

Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu delivered a warning to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a recent visit to Washington: Already-high airfares will surge if the war in Iran doesn’t end soon.

Sununu, a Republican who represents some of the biggest airlines as president of the industry group Airlines for America, has for weeks sounded the alarm to Trump administration officials about the economic fallout from high jet fuel prices. The war, Sununu has argued, must come to a close soon, or things will get worse.

Administration officials have gotten the message.

Privately, President Trump’s advisers are increasingly worried that Republicans will pay a political price for the rising fuel costs, according to people familiar with the matter. Many of those advisers are eager to end the war, hoping prices will begin to moderate before November’s midterm elections.

The fallout from the U.S.-Israeli attack in late February has slowed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane, triggering a sharp increase in oil, gasoline and jet-fuel prices.

That means consumers are grappling with high costs ahead of the summer travel season, as they consider vacation plans.

Sixty-three per cent of Americans said they put a great deal or a good amount of blame on Trump for the increase in gas prices, according to a new poll conducted by NPR, PBS and Marist.

More than 8 in 10 Americans said struggles at the gas pump are putting strain on their finances.

Jet-fuel prices roughly doubled in a matter of weeks after the war began, and they have remained high. Airlines have said that will add billions of dollars of additional expenses this year, squeezing profit margins.

U.S. airlines spent more than $5 billion on fuel in March—up 30% from a year earlier, according to government data.

Carriers have been raising ticket prices, hoping to pass the cost along to consumers, and they are culling flights that will no longer make money at higher price levels.

In March, the price of a U.S. domestic round-trip economy ticket rose 21% from a year earlier to $570, according to Airlines Reporting Corp., which tracks travel-agency sales.

So far, airlines have said the higher fares haven’t deterred bookings and they are hoping to recoup more of the fuel-cost increases as the year goes on.

Earlier this week, Trump said the current price of oil is “a very small price to pay for getting rid of a nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that if Iran got a nuclear weapon, the country would have more leverage to keep the strait closed and “make our gas prices like $9 a gallon or $8 a gallon.”

Trump has taken steps in recent days to bring the war to an end. Late Tuesday, the president paused a plan to help guide trapped commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, expressing optimism that a deal could be reached with Iran to end the conflict.

Crude oil prices fell below $100 a barrel on Wednesday, after reports that Iran and the U.S. are working with mediators on a one-page framework to restart negotiations aimed at ending the conflict and opening the strait.

Sununu said Trump administration officials are conscious of the economic fallout from the war: “They get it…and I think that’s why they’re trying to get through the war as fast as they can.”

But he cautioned that it could take months for prices to return to prewar levels.

“Ticket prices won’t go down immediately” after the strait is fully reopened, Sununu said. “You’re looking at elevated ticket prices through the summer and fall because it takes a while for the prices to go down.”

Since the initial U.S.-Israeli attack in late February, Sununu has met in Washington with National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, representatives from the Transportation Department and senior White House officials.

A White House official confirmed that Hassett and Sununu have discussed the effect of increased fuel prices on the airline industry. The official said the conversation touched on how the industry can mitigate the impact of high jet fuel prices on consumers.

“The president and his entire energy team anticipated these short-term disruptions to the global energy markets from Operation Epic Fury and had a plan prepared to mitigate these disruptions,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said, pointing to the administration’s decision to waive a century-old shipping law in a bid to lower the cost of moving oil.

Rogers said the administration is working with industry representatives to “address their concerns, explore potential actions, and inform the president’s policy decisions.”

A Treasury Department spokesman pointed to Bessent’s recent comments on Fox News that the U.S. economy remains strong despite price increases. The spokesman said Treasury officials have met with airline executives, who have reaffirmed strong ticket bookings.

“We’re cognizant that this short-term move up in prices is affecting the American people, but I am also confident, on the other side of this, prices will come down very quickly,” Bessent told Fox News on Monday.

The war has already contributed to one casualty in the industry: Spirit Airlines. Company representatives have said they were forced to close the airline because the sustained surge in jet-fuel prices derailed the company’s plan to emerge from chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The Trump administration and Spirit failed to come to an agreement for the company to receive a financial lifeline of as much as $500 million from the federal government.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has argued that the Iran war wasn’t the cause of Spirit’s demise, pointing to the company’s past financial struggles, as well as the Biden administration’s decision to challenge a merger with JetBlue.

Other budget airlines have also turned to the federal government for help since the U.S.-Israeli attack. A group of budget airlines last month sought $2.5 billion in financial assistance to offset higher fuel costs, and they separately wrote to lawmakers asking for relief from certain ticket taxes.

Future Returns: Why Women Need to Participate in Financial Planning

Administration officials have spoken to the airline industry, which has voiced concerns about the rising costs.