How women are rewriting the rules of wealth

0:01 spk_0

Welcome to Trader Talk, where we dish out the latest Wall Street buzz to keep your portfolio sizzling. I’m Kenny Polcari coming to you live from the finance headquarters here in the heart of New York City, a global hub where deals are made, fortunes are built in the next market move is always just around the corner. Coming up, I’m going to share my thoughts on financial stability. I’m gonna chat with my good friend Jennifer Ridley Hansen, and then I’m gonna share my Pollodi Barrio recipe. We’ll get to that in a moment, but let’s jump into the big take.Everybody wants to be rich, but here’s the truth. Financial stability is a real goal. Wealth looks impressive, stability feels peaceful. It’s the difference between staying up late, watching the market ticker, and sleeping soundly, no matter what the headlines say. Financial stability means you built a strong foundation, strong enough to handle surprises, job losses, medical.Market swings, you name it. You’re not bulletproof, but you’re prepared. It’s not about how much you make, it’s about how much room you’ve created to breathe. So what does that look like in real life? You got 6 months of expenses saved, you’re living on less than you earned, and you’re investing at least 15 to 20% of what you make. Your debts don’t choke your paycheck. Your insurance actually protects your.And your net worth grows year in and year out, no matter how small the gains. That’s stability. Too many people chase the next trade, the next car, the next upgrade, and they call it progress. But the real progress is boring. It’s paying yourself first. It’s saying no to lifestyle creep. It’s building margin into life. So when something breaks, and something always breaks, you don’t.Financial stability isn’t built in bull markets. It’s tested in bear markets. It’s what lets you stay invested while everybody else panics, and it’s what gives you the freedom to take opportunities others can’t afford. The bottom line, stability is the quiet flex. You don’t need to flash it or brag about it or post it online. You just know that no matter what happens tomorrow, you’re gonna be fine, and that’s the kind of wealth that lasts.I’d like to introduce my next guest, and she’s a dear friend of mine, Jennifer Ridley Hansen. She’s director of wealth planning and senior wealth advisor and a partner at Slatesone Wealth. She’s a certified financial planner with over 25 years of experience. She leads the firm’s wealth planning platform and works closely with clients to craft customized strategies for their financial goals. Before joining Slatestone, she spent 16 years in private banking and wealth management at M&I Bank and BMO.Advising high net worth families on trust, tax, and estate planning. Earlier in her career, Jennifer served as director of financial planning at Financial Finance, where she helped pioneer nationwide financial wellness programs. She holds both the CFP and the CDFA designations, and we’re going to get into that, combining technical expertise with a deep understanding of life’s financial transitions. Please join me in welcoming Jennifer Ridley Hansen. Jennifer, it is a pleasure.pleasure to have you here all the way from Wisconsin, no less here in the heart of New York City. It’s

3:18 spk_1

great to be here. Thank you so much, Kenny, for having me.

3:20 spk_0

Well, it’s always a pleasure. Listen, I think one of the key things, and I said it with your designation, the CD CD CDFA, which is specifically certified divorce retirement planning. So let’s talk about that because it’s, let’s talk about women and wealth and why women, uh, number one, are taking a larger role in financial decision making and legacy planning. But what that really means, why you got that designation.And how in fact important it is.

3:44 spk_1

Yeah, so, so it’s a certified divorce financial analyst is what the CDFA stands for. And so really a specialized training in the financial components of divorce. And so it’s really looking at things like proposed financial settlement options, really negotiating that with my client. So I really joined the client’s team, so that may include their CPA, their attorney, other people in their life that are kind of part of what they’re really looking at in terms of settling the divorce. And so it’s really running those numbers for a client.Obviously divorce is a very difficult time for people. And so you’re not always thinking straight. as

4:16 spk_0

the person getting divorced,

4:18 spk_1

thinking straight,

4:19 spk_0

which is why you need all these other people around you.

4:21 spk_1

Exactly. So you really need to have a strong team around you. And so I really joined that team and really again kind of lead the financial side of it for my client. A lot of clients aren’t familiar with all the ins and outs of the finances, and I think part of it too is when you get to splitting assets, you’re also really then splitting accounts. So once you get through the settlement and you negotiate thatYou agree upon it. The other thing that’s really key with the divorce planning is making sure that that settlement is going to really last. So when you agree to that and you sign that and you finalize everything, you’ve got to make sure that that’s enough money to last for the rest of your life.

4:52 spk_0

And really, that’s something that you help them decide when you do all this planning. It doesn’t necessarily mean that when somebody gets divorced, that they can’t, she may have a job of her own, which which is gonna only benefit and enhance what she, what they end up splitting and getting in a divorce settlement.

5:08 spk_1

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that’s really the biggest key is knowing how the money is going to last, how is it going to be managed, making sure that it can support you for your whole life, because as we know, statistics say women do live longer than men on average by about 7 years. And so I think when you’re going through divorce, the other thing too that I want to talk about isWhat’s called the gray divorce. So I don’t know if you’ve heard that term.

5:28 spk_0

Let’s talk about it because that’s that’s actually becoming more of a popular term. I hate to say it like that, but it is.

5:34 spk_1

Yes, it is. And so, so really the statistic today is that 1 in 4 divorces today involve women over the age of 65.OK, so when you, that’s the gray and so not all of us have the gray, you know, when we get to that age, but,

5:48 spk_0

but I have plenty of grayI’m not getting

5:50 spk_1

divorced. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And so I think what that means though is if you think about it, so, so for someone who’s been married, let’s say 20 to 30 years, right, they’ve raised their kids, the kids have left the house, um, you know.Maybe they’re looking at retiring, um, they own assets, they’ve got retirement accounts, they may be, I’m sure they own a home or a mortgage, they’ve got complicated stuff. And so I think when you go through divorce at that time, there’s a lot to look at. And again, that’s where that whole long term plan makes the most sense because if you’re going to agree to something and you’re 65 or older,You need to make sure again that you’re getting something that’s going to last for the rest of your lifetime. And so it’s really not just women who don’t have jobs, it’s really women who were in a marriage where they supported the family and you raised the kids and had their own career. We’ve still got assets to split and we still need things that we need to really take care of. And so I think part of it is getting to the point of now that we’re gray, we’ve got more complicated situations. And I think especially what I work a lot with our people.Who have more complicated situations. So complex assets, um, entrepreneurs, business owners, you know, people who own multiple businesses. So there’s maybe more complex assets to split, but even splitting a retirement account isn’t that simple. And there’s a lot of things you can do wrong. And so I think that’s where again having professional advice is really critical.

7:07 spk_0

Well, let me ask you a question about splitting retirement accounts. So for instance, a married couple, he’s got a retirement account, she’s got a retirement account, right? Now, maybe hehas more money in it. Maybe hers has more money in it. But when you come to split the assets, does it work both ways? Do they just take the total of the assets and split them right down the middle, no matter who has more?

7:25 spk_1

So I mean, it really depends on the state. So state law really governs the assets split in terms of divorce. OK, so, so, so that’s really kind of the first thing to look at. They’re not all the same. They’re not all the same, but I think part of it too is looking at, you really want to get to the point that each party is going to walk away with about whether it’s equal, whether it’sable whether it’s fair, whether it’s kind of making accommodations for one person owns the business, and that’s their livelihood. Well, they can’t really sell the business and give the other partner. So I think you have to that’s when the negotiation comes in. And I think that’s where I help my client figure out what’s fair, um, what’s really reasonable, and what can you really expect. And so I think my clients aren’t looking to, you know, kind of take their partner out and have them end up penniless. I mean, no one’s really going for that. I think people generally want to beFair. And I think it’s just a matter of how do you get to the point that’s fair, and then how do you get to the point that financially it’s going to be sustainable for both parties, right? And so I think that’s really where you start. And so it’s not as simple as you just cut everything down in the middle because there may be certain assets that can’t be split or certain things that you know one party has that the other doesn’t. And so you got to make trades. And so and so that’s really when I talk about this financial settlement spreadsheet, it’s really plugging in numbers to get to that point that we can agree on something.

8:39 spk_0

And as a spreadsheet, I guess it depends on the divorce, depends on the people, depends on the assets, how you in fact set that spreadsheet up, because some people may be, may be much more complicated. Others may just have a simple, just a simple, maybe they don’t have a lot of assets or not complex. They just have two big retirement accounts,

8:57 spk_1

right? Exactly. So that’s really where we can look at what’s best for both parties and then figure out how to get there in the in the most efficient way of, youknow,

9:05 spk_0

and in your practice.This, uh, in your experience, are there in fact, have you seen an uptick in gray divorce? Yes,

9:14 spk_1

absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, so it never used to be that 1 in 4 divorces involved 65 year olds. I mean, I would say just anecdotally with my own practice, you know, I’ve got 70 year olds going through divorce and a first marriage. And so I think that’s the thing too. So the other stat I want to share sadly is that you know it’s still 50% of divorces.50% of marriages end in divorce still. So I think when you look at that, it’s like whether you’re, you know, 25 or 65, half the time you’re going to end up divorcing. Yeah,

9:45 spk_0

yeah, I, I often wonder because, you know, we, the great divorce is clearly part of the industry and you start talking about, but I often wonder why, and I get it, you know, you stay together for the kids and blah blah blah, you do all that stuff. And then you’re 65 and you look at each other and say, OK, I want out. I always find that very interesting, you know, becauseLet’s be honest, at 65, you’re closer to the end than you were at the beginning. Do you know what I mean? Well,

10:10 spk_1

but I think exactly because of that though, Kenny, is a lot of people look at their spouse now and say, you know what, I don’t know that I want toyou anymore.

10:18 spk_0

I want to spend the next 10 or 15 yearswith you.

10:21 spk_1

I mean, it happens. It happens. So I think that’s, and it could be sometimes again like you said, people stay together for various reasons and then they finally like, OK, now, now what do we do? And sometimes people have just grown apart.

10:30 spk_0

Hold that thought one minute. We’re gonna be right back. We’re going to take a break,

10:32 spk_1

OK.

10:38 spk_0

OK, so people sometimes just stay, stay together. Maybe it’s a business like you said, maybe they got a business and it’s difficult to kind of split, and they’re both involved in it, um, and so I guess that would be another reason, right? Absolutely. It’s interesting because I wonder, I, I wonder what the, the grown children end up thinking about their parents at 65 or 70 years old getting a divorce. Yeah,

11:00 spk_1

I mean.I mean, they’re really shocked. I think often because they don’t really know. I mean, a lot of a lot of kids at that age, you know, they haven’t, they’ve been out of the house for a long time. They’ve gone to college, so they’ve moved on and they notice that mom and dad maybe aren’t as you know, together as they want them to be. But I think, you know, the kids don’t really know and they’re not always really a part of it. But I think sometimes they’re also really devastated when this happens because again, it really kind of throwsRight,

11:25 spk_0

pops a bubble that from what you thought you had or was, right? I think there are other, I think there are others though that recognize that maybe their parents’ marriage wasn’t what it was and they’re probably better off if they divorce, right? All right, so let’s move on to talk about, uh, you’ve got this, this theme that you like to talk about is integrated purpose and philanthropy, um, uh.In general, but now let’s talk about, you know, maybe in this situation. So let’s let’s talk about it broadly about philanthropic giving and how everyone should consider. But then in this case, to your point, you said it on kind of your opening remarks about women tend to outlive the men. Whether they’re divorced or they’re not, they still tend to outlive the husband, and they’re the ones that end up in the end with having to make a lot of philanthropic decisions. I guess unless they make them while they’re still married and they say, here’s what we both want.But I suppose in the end, the wife, if she’s the last one left, she can change anything shewants.

12:19 spk_1

Usually, yeah, it really kind of depends. But I think, I think part of it is really looking at, you know, how much wealth do you have? Where did, where did it come from, and then where do you really want it to go? And I think there’s a lot of ways to plan that out for clients. Um, I think the other thing is, you know, because women live longer, I think what we’re seeing now is what’s called the great wealth transfer. So you may have heard that term as well. And so what that means is thatThe baby boom generation is really either getting to the end of retirement or really kind of dying off within the next 10 years. I mean, I’m sorry, but the next. I mean, right? It’s true, right? And so I think but if you think about it, when, when, when the parents die and the kids inherit, it’s going to be the daughters who are going to retain the wealth longer. And then if you think about, you know, people getting divorced, it’s the women who are going to retain the wealth longer.Right. And if you think of somebody, if their spouse dies, it’s the women who are going to be retained. So you think of all that together. This is why the women are ending up with a bigger pot of money.

13:15 spk_0

And in the end, direct a lot of the philanthropic giving.

13:18 spk_1

Yes, exactly, exactly. And so I mean, I think women in general tend to be more philanthropic, and I think sometimes it starts really small. I mean, it doesn’t have to be millions of dollars that we’re talking about giving away. It may be something really small where you’re doing something.On a regular basis, but I think for some clients they want to integrate the charitable plan with the overall estate plan.

13:36 spk_0

So does it make sense at a certain point in your life, 65, 70, whatever, if you, if you want to give away. Now again, you don’t have to have millions and millions necessarily, but does it make sense for people to consider adding a donor advised fund, which are apparently very easy these days to create as part of your estate plan.Uh, into the estate plan so it makes it easier. Yeah, I

13:59 spk_1

mean, the donor advice fund, I’m glad you brought that up. That’s one of the most popular tools that I see. So it also is called the DAFF, sometimes, right? And so that kind of an account is very flexible. So what’s nice about it is you can set it up today, you can put money in. So you typically are looking for low basis stock, or something that you don’t want to sell because of capital gains.Or you can put in like real estate, other assets, other property, right, so you put the money into and

14:22 spk_0

you

14:22 spk_1

get a

14:22 spk_0

deduction right up front, do you not?

14:24 spk_1

And so that’s kind of the magic of it, right? And so you can put money in today, you can get the charitable deduction, OK. And then you can leave that money in the donor advise fund. It can grow, it can grow. It’s invested, so whatever goes into the funds.Sold and reinvested into something more diversified. And so now that portfolio is being managed and you can pay out grants, you can also let it accumulate. You don’t have to pay out, unlike things like private foundations where annually you’ve got to require distribution. Right.

14:52 spk_0

Let me ask a question about the donor advice fund. If, if, if I put stock into this donor advice fund, for instance, does the stockIf I put in a low basis stock, when it goes into the fund, what’s the basis? Is it the base, is it my basis or does it get adjusted so there’s notax on it?

15:09 spk_1

Well, so you’re going to get the deduction based on the value, market value, OK, OK. And then it goes into the fund, so your basis kind of goes away.

15:16 spk_0

My basis goes away, but what’s the is it, but there’s got to be a basis in the fund.

15:20 spk_1

No, I mean, it doesn’t really matter because when it goes.Into the fund, it gets sold because the whole point is that the fund, the donor advised fund wants a diversified portfolio, so they’re not going to own whatever stock.

15:31 spk_0

They’re going to create their

15:31 spk_1

own stock. So they sell they sell it, no capital gains. You got the charitable deduction. Now they reinvest. And so for our clients, we manage that we invest the donor advise fund for them. So we’re looking at again, typically kind ofBalanced portfolio, but if they say we’re not going to distribute for 25 years, and they can do that. Absolutely. And so then we’re we’re going to be more aggressive with that. But if they say we’re going to pay this out in 1 or 2 years, we’re going to adjust the investment plan accordingly, just like you would with any kind of an account. So it’s really flexible that way.

16:02 spk_0

Youknow what’s interesting, I had a conversation with one of my clients a couple of weeks ago.It’s just a husband and wife. They don’t have any children. And they’re in their early 60s, and they’re healthy, they’re fine, but they’re already thinking about what do I do at the end. And so, you know, the husband’s gonna pass away first and the wife says, you know, I want to give all this money toWhatever. And she said, I’m just gonna, you know, they’re just gonna get all the money. And I said, well, why would you necessarily do that? Why wouldn’t you do, um, like something, consider something like a perpetual uh trust that is donor, that’s a basically a philanthropic fund that then allows it to go on forever, right? So instead of just handing some organization here 2 or 5 or $10 million.Do you that money when the wife or the second spouse dies, goes into this perpetual trust which ends up giving forever, right?

16:54 spk_1

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think it’s a great idea and I think a lot of families want to get involved with the giving together. And so I’ve got a lot of clients who use the donor advised fund as kind of like a mini private family foundation, right? And so you can get the kids involved so that and I think especially for the wealthier clients.Some parents get to the point that they say, how much wealth is enough to transfer to my kids? Do I want to, if I’ve got, am I fortunate to have, you know, $20 million do my kids each need $10 million or do I really want them to not have that lifestyle and get enough, but maybe not

17:25 spk_0

so much, but don’t overdo it. Don’t let, don’t give them enough that they don’t have to work they just travel the world and do nothing. Exactly.

17:33 spk_1

Exactly. And I think that’s again.You know, when I worked in the trust area at the bank, you know, we saw a lot of what you call like the trust fund babies, you know, kids who kind of never had to work, never had to graduate college, never had to. So I think that’s what a lot of parents still fear. They don’t want to create that for their kids or their grandkids because if the parents don’t spend it, it’s going to pass down to multiple generations. And so what do you want to really, so I think for a lot of these families, making charity is kind of a big part of the overall plan.Where the family gets involved in giving, so they have the kids come at, you know, holidays, come sit around the Thanksgiving table. Let’s talk about what charities we want to benefit this year. So then each child can come with their recommendations, then they’re involved, and then they do the they do the vetting, they really do the research, and

18:15 spk_0

they feel like they’re part of.A good experience and really changing somebody’s life or changing some part of the world.

18:23 spk_1

Exactly, exactly. I think the other thing too is that when you think about things like estate taxes, so if you’re in a situation where your estate might be taxable, the donor advise fund also is another way to avoid estate tax because what goes in the fund is not in your estate. And so again, if you think about the kids could pay taxes on what they inherit, or you can put it into a charitable fund and they can give money out.That maybe they would be given to charity anyway. And so there’s a lot of those strategies again that are reallyvaluable.

18:49 spk_0

So, so let’s just talk about one last thing before we run out of time. Talk about, you know, trying to, especially, especially in a divorce situation, here you are talking to a divorced woman now who may be new to really kind of understanding her financial plan. Is, is how do you talk to them about investing in what they perceive to maybe be aVolatile environment and they’re nervous.

19:11 spk_1

Yeah, yeah. I mean, so I think a lot of it is really just building a strong team around you. So not everybody was born knowing how to do finances, right? And I think a lot of women in particular, it wasn’t their favorite math was not their favorite subject. And this is not always. I mean, a lot of women are obviously very savvy. We know many, many of them, right? So it’s not that, but it’s more the familiarity. And so I think to do it on your own, you just don’t.the resource and you don’t have the time. And why would you want to become an expert on all this at this stage when you’re going througheverything else?

19:40 spk_0

Yeah, no, and I think you’re right. And I think that’s, and that becomes, I think, even more true as, you know, certainly people get older. I know my own parents’ situation at the moment, they’re 90 years old. And so, and I know what’s gonna happen. Something happens to my dad. My mother’s gonna say help me because you not because she doesn’t understand, but she’s 90.

19:59 spk_1

Exactly. Why would you want?Yeah. So I think building a team around you, I think finding an advisor that you can trust is really key because the person you can trust who’s really looking out for your best interests and truly acting as a fiduciary, because I think a lot of people say they’re a fiduciary and they’re really not.

20:15 spk_0

And so a fiduciary is in fact, go

20:18 spk_1

ahead. Yeah, I mean, as someone who’s looking out for your best interest at all times, at all times and that’s exactly what we do for our clients. That’s what you want.Right.

20:27 spk_0

That’s who you are on your team. That that’s for sure. Um, listen, Jennifer, I really enjoyed this conversation and I appreciate you coming down and all the way from Wisconsin to have the conversation. I love having you on the Slate stone team because I think it’s very important and certainly the void that you fill, the space that you fill, uh, it is in fact a very real space and people need to be paying more attention and and at Slate stone, we do. And so, and we’re lucky enough to have you, so I appreciate that very much.Now I’m gonna jump into my dish of the day because that’s how I always end the podcast, and this one is polla del barrio. So it’s like, it’s like home cooking. That’s really what it is. It’s the idea of cooking, first of all, everything in one pot, like one pan cooking, and it’s not new at all, right? It’s really one of the oldest methods of preparing food, and it really appears in cuisines across the globe. The dishes are proof that comfort food cooked in one pot can speak every language. Every culture’s got its version of the one pan.In Italy it’s chicken cacciatore in Spain and across the Caribbean it’s pollo guisado, and in every Latin kitchen I’ve ever stepped into, there’s always a pot simmering away with garlic and onion and peppers and something soulful that that the smell alone could pull the neighbors in off the street. Anyway, this dish was born out of that spirit. Polla del Barrio is neighborhood chicken, like comfort food. And it’s about cooking with what you’ve got, where you are, and making it taste like home. Just a bigHeavy metal pan, a splash of some white wine, and a little patience. The trick is to let the chicken sear, then slow it all down, let the onions melt, the carrots soften in the garlic perfume, the whole kitchen. By the time it’s done, you’ve built a sauce that hugs every bite. You serve it with a piece of crusty loaf or crusty bread. You pass it around the table and you don’t dare apologize for licking your fingers. You can scan the QR code on the screen for the full recipe, and you can thank me later.Now look, that’s a wrap for today’s trader talk, but the conversation always continues. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You got questions or topics that you want me to cover? Email us at tradedertalk@yahoo Inc.com because we’re always listening. Until next time, stay sharp, stay disciplined and stay in touch. Take good care.

22:46 spk_2

This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.