Divorce delays retirement plans

A large majority (80%) of “grey divorcees,” people who divorced at the age of 50 or older, say they will delay retirement because they need to work longer than planned. And 62% say their post-divorce savings and investments will no longer be adequate to fund their retirement, finds Investors Group.

Read: Growing income during retirement

“Going through a divorce can be difficult at any age, but older couples face unique challenges in retirement planning as a result of later-in-life separations,” says Christine Van Cauwenberghe, assistant vice president of Tax and Estate Planning at Investors Group. “With limited earning power and less time to recoup their financial losses, grey divorcees need to re-visit their financial plans.”

Read: Do your clients really understand retirement? Additional findings include:

• 54% of those who divorced at or past the age of 50 found it difficult to make financial decisions surrounding their divorce;
• 53% had to adjust their retirement plans; and
• 47% will have to scale back on their anticipated retirement lifestyle.

Read: The new retirement math

The financial difficulties that grey divorces experience include:

• managing living expenses post-divorce or separation (47%);
• division of assets causing financial stress (36%);
• cost of divorce proceedings (33%); and
• no longer having enough retirement savings (26%).

Read: Divorce in the digital age

Experts help ease the process

Almost three quarters (74%) of respondents who sought the advice of an advisor during their divorce agreed they were given sound financial advice throughout the process and 82% agreed their advice was helpful post-divorce.

Read: How to handle cross-border divorce And those who sought financial advice before their divorce were more confident about their retirement with 39% feeling they would still have enough savings and investments to fund the retirement lifestyle they had planned. Of those who did not work with an advisor, only 28% believe they still have enough to fund their retirement.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.