Financial planning for women whose decisions now depend on each other.
You’ve spent years building your savings. Now the questions are becoming more connected.
Can you step back from work? How much can you comfortably spend? Which accounts should you use first? What would a change in your career, health or family mean for the future you’re planning?
At Align Financial Solutions, we help you understand those connections. Our financial planning brings your retirement goals, investments, tax considerations and family priorities into one picture, with clear recommendations and practical next steps.
Why Financial Planning for Women Needs a Different Lens
Your plan needs to account for the years you may spend managing money on your own.
Women live longer on average, which can mean funding a longer retirement. For a married couple receiving Social Security, two benefits generally become one after a spouse dies. The surviving spouse may later face single-filer tax brackets, even when household expenses haven’t fallen nearly as much as income.
If you’re single, your plan needs to support household expenses without a spouse’s income and make room for future care and trusted decision-making support.
These realities affect how much you keep available, which accounts you draw from and how you prepare for later life. At Align, we bring those questions into the planning conversation so you can understand your choices before a transition makes them urgent.
What is included in financial planning at Align?
Your plan is called the Wealth Blueprint™. It is scoped to your situation, so not every item below applies to every client, but this is the work behind it.
Retirement timing and income
- Retirement date scenarios, side by side: what leaving at 58 costs compared with 62 or 65, and whether part-time work changes the answer
- A year-by-year retirement income plan showing which dollars come from where
- Social Security claiming analysis, including the survivor benefit if you are married and the switching strategy if you are widowed
- Pension, deferred compensation, and annuity election analysis: lump sum versus annuity, single versus joint life, timing
- Withdrawal order across taxable, pre-tax, and Roth accounts
- A sustainable spending figure with guardrails, stress-tested against long life, poor markets early in retirement, and higher healthcare costs
- A health coverage plan for the years between your last paycheck and Medicare at 65
Tax planning across every account
- A multi-year tax projection, not a single-year snapshot
- Roth conversion analysis: how much to convert and in which years, in the window before required minimum distributions begin at 73 or 75
- Required minimum distribution projection and the tax bill it implies
- Medicare premium (IRMAA) threshold map, two years ahead
- Capital gains timing and tax-loss harvesting opportunities
- Charitable giving strategy: appreciated stock, donor-advised funds, qualified charitable distributions
- New Jersey state tax review, including the retirement income exclusion
- Coordination with your CPA so the plan and the return agree
Investments, coordinated with the plan
- An account-by-account review of everything you hold, wherever it is held
- Asset location: which investments belong in which account based on tax treatment
- Concentration analysis, including exposure to your employer’s stock
- A cash reserve and bridge-funding plan for the years before Medicare and Social Security
- A written investment strategy that states what each account is for, how much risk it carries, and why
Equity compensation and career decisions
- A grant-by-grant inventory of restricted stock units, options, and employee stock purchase plan shares, with a vest calendar
- Tax withholding gap analysis so April does not surprise you
- A sell-and-diversify plan with the tax cost of each step
- Job change, layoff, and severance scenarios: what each one does to unvested grants, benefits, and the retirement date
- Review of your employer’s plan documents; for many large New Jersey and New York employers we have already read them
Estate, family, and protection
- Beneficiary designation and account titling audit
- Insurance review: what you need, what you are overpaying for, and long-term care planning on paper rather than in a crisis
- Estate document checklist and a prepared list of questions for your attorney
- Planning for the people who depend on you: aging parents, adult children, a spouse who does not handle the money
- Legacy intentions built into the numbers, not left as a wish
How the financial planning process works
The analysis is built in RightCapital and Holistiplan, then translated into plain language so you can see the trade-offs before you decide.
1. Organize and Align
- A first conversation about what you are trying to decide and what a good outcome looks like
- Statements, tax returns, benefits and equity documents, and estate papers gathered once, into one place
- Your one-page money map: where every dollar sits today and the job it has
2. Analyze and Collaborate
- Scenarios modeled side by side: retire at 58 against 62, convert this year against next, keep the stock against selling it
- A multi-year tax projection with the Roth window and the Medicare thresholds drawn on it
- A working session where you see the trade-offs in numbers and we say where the outcome is uncertain
3. Recommend and Implement
- Your Wealth Blueprint™ in writing: findings, recommendations in plain language, and the reasoning behind each one
- A prioritized action list that says who does what, and a table showing how long the money lasts under each path
- A short list of what we need from you, and what goes to your CPA or attorney
Align’s commitment to your financial freedom
Fee-only fiduciary
We work only for you: never for commissions or product sales. This means our advice is always aligned with your best interests, without conflicts of interest or hidden agendas.
Women-focused approach
We understand the unique financial challenges and opportunities women face. Our process is designed to address these realities while building your financial confidence and knowledge.
Emotional intelligence
Money decisions aren’t just about numbers: they involve emotions, values, and relationships. We create space for these important dimensions, helping you work through both the financial and personal aspects of money management.
Is this the right fit?
Financial planning at Align is built for women whose finances have real moving parts:
- Equity compensation vesting each year
- A business or a coming sale
- Multiple account types pulling in different tax directions
- A retirement transition with too much at stake to improvise
- A household where you are the one making the financial decisions, sometimes for the first time
Two situations have their own pages: financial planning for single women, where the plan has to carry itself, and financial planning for high-earning women, where income is ahead of assets. If your situation is simpler than that, we will tell you so on the call and point you toward better-fitting resources.
Hazel Secco, CFP®, CDFA®, founded Align Financial Solutions and leads every relationship. Align is a fee-only fiduciary firm and a member of NAPFA: we are obligated to act in your best interest, at all times. We are based in Hoboken, New Jersey, registered as an investment adviser in New Jersey, and most of our work happens virtually. More on how we work with clients across New Jersey.
Financial Planning Questions
What is the Wealth Blueprint™?
The Wealth Blueprint™ is the written financial plan at the center of every Align relationship: your organized balance sheet and cash flow, the retirement scenarios we modeled, and tax planning opportunities.
Does financial planning include retirement planning?
Yes, and for most clients it is the center of the plan: when to retire, how to fund spending, when to claim Social Security, how to bridge health coverage to Medicare, and how to use the years before required minimum distributions for Roth conversions.
Can you help with tax planning if I already have a CPA?
Yes. Your CPA files your tax return; we plan the years ahead of it. We model Roth conversions, gain timing, charitable giving, and Medicare surcharge thresholds inside your plan and coordinate with your CPA.
Can I work with Align if I manage my own investments?
We can discuss whether a planning-only relationship is suitable for your needs. Planning can address retirement, taxes, investment strategy and other agreed priorities while you retain responsibility for investment execution.
If you want Align to manage your investments as well, explore our Wealth Management service.
How much does financial planning cost?
Your fee depends on the scope of work we agree on, and it is quoted in writing before you sign. For most clients the fee is $12,000 a year or more. The full schedule is in our Form ADV Part 2A.
Start with the decision on your mind
You do not need to organize anything first. Tell us what you are trying to decide, what feels unresolved, and where you want a second set of eyes. On a 15-minute call, we will discuss whether Align is the right fit and what working together would involve.