If you’re still single, you’re not alone. The percentage of American adults who have never married continues to rise, according to a new report released by the Pew Research Center this week. About one in every five adults age 25 and older, or about 42 million people, have never married, compared to 1 in 10 adults in the same age bracket in 1960. Reasons include later marriages as well as more people having children and living together outside of marriage, Pew reports.
Those demographic changes mean big changes for people’s finances, too. When you’re single, for example, you might face higher living expenses because you’re less likely to split household costs with a partner. And if you’re a single parent, then you have to juggle your own retirement savings with the cost of raising children and potentially paying for their college educations.
The Pew report suggests that finding a partner with a good job is of particular importance to single women who are dating. In the survey of 2,003 adults, 78 percent of women who have never been married said finding a partner with a steady job is “very important.” (Men report being more concerned about finding someone with similar thoughts on raising children than someone with a steady job.) Those men are not always easy to find, though. Pew points out that “changes in the labor market have contributed to a shrinking pool of available employed young men,” and that a record portion of young adults — 1 in 4 — might not walk down the aisle even by middle age .
[Read: How Men Can Save on First Dates.]
Young, single adults also cited financial security as an obstacle to settling down and getting married. In fact, 1 in 3 never-married young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 attributed their single status to money concerns.
In light of these findings, we asked two financial experts, Manisha Thakor, founder and CEO of MoneyZen Wealth Management in Santa Fe, New Mexico , and Michael Eisenberg, a financial advisor based in Los Angeles, to weigh in on how single adults should manage their finances. Here are their tips:
1. Double down on savings.
When you have a partner with a job, you have a built-in emergency fund in the form of his or her income. But when you’re on your own and your job suddenly disappears, you have little to fall back on other than your own savings. That’s why Thakor urges single women and men to maximize their emergency funds. “When you are your own financial safety net, you need to be extra sure you are heading out into the world from the strongest financial place you can muster up,” she says.
[Read: Money Tips for Single Parents Saving for Retirement and College.]
2. Consider earning extra.
“When you are single, you might find yourself in a position of having more flexibility to take on extra work and earn extra money,” Thakor says. Ramping up income while unencumbered by other responsibilities can make it easier to handle caregiving — for aging parents or children — when necessary down the road, she says.
3. Talk with your parents.
Eisenberg notes that caregiving for aging parents who need full-time medical help can be as much as $7,000 a month; discussing these needs with parents in advance, before they need help, can make it easier to handle later. He suggests raising the topic of whether they have sufficient savings and cautions against counting on an inheritance, particularly given the potential expense of medical care parents might face later in life.
[See: 10 Money Questions to Ask Your Parents.]
4. Sort out retirement plans.
Thakor says single women might not think to update their beneficiaries on all their retirement accounts (or to take care of other essential paperwork, such as writing a will and completing medical and durable power of attorney paperwork) until they get married or have children, but it’s important for everyone to have this kind of estate planning in place. Also important, she notes, is to remove names you no longer want on those accounts; for example, an ex-husband.
Single retirees should also be careful to withdraw from savings at a rate they can maintain, which Thakor says is usually 4 percent or less of assets. “When there are two of you who could potentially take on part-time work or develop an encore career, you have more flexibility to be a little ‘off’ in your spending ratios,” she says.
Eisenberg urges his single clients to start saving through their employer’s 401(k) as soon as possible. “If you can start putting money away early, it will help you go a long way toward reaching financial freedom when you get into your 60s and 70s,” he says.
Eisenberg points out that when it comes to money, being single can also be a benefit, because it makes some financial decisions simpler. When you’re part of a couple, you might be mismatched on your spending and saving preferences, have conflicting financial goals or bring different amounts of debt into the relationship. When you’re single, you can focus exclusively on your own goals, and your own spending and savings habits. “It makes it a little easier, because you only have one person’s negatives and one person’s dreams to deal with,” he says. He suggests aggressively pursuing those goals now, before life gets more complicated. “Before you know it, you’re middle-aged with a couple kids.”
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Money Tips for Single Ladies (and Gents) originally appeared on usnews.com
