Wealth Planning for Independent Women over 45: How to Overcome Challenges and Thrive on Your Own Terms

Are you navigating life solo and wondering how to build lasting financial security — without a second income or a partner? This episode is for you.

Join Glory Gray, Financial Planner and Wealth Manager, as she dives into the unique realities of wealth planning for single women over 45 — whether you’re single by choice or by chance.

You’ll learn:

• The top 5 financial challenges single women face — and how to overcome them
• How to turn your independence into your greatest financial strength
• Practical strategies to build a strong foundation, invest wisely, plan for retirement, and protect your future
• Why estate planning and building your financial dream team is essential when you’re planning solo

Glory also shares inspiring real-life examples of how Canadian women are redefining success, housing, retirement, and joy on their terms.

💡 Plus: Grab Glory’s free guide, “12 Smart Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Wealth Advisor” at GloryGray.com — a must-have if you're looking to partner with a pro who truly 'gets you.'

Whether you’re managing your money alone or simply want a plan that puts you first, this empowering episode will leave you feeling informed, confident, and in control.

🔔 Subscribe, share with a fellow independent woman, and don’t miss next month’s episode: “Building Your Personal Financial Dream Team.”

Hosted by Glory Gray, BSc Finance, MFA

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Chapters

• 1:24 The Unique Financial Challenges Single Women Face
• 3:55 The Financial Freedoms and Advantages Single Women Have
• 6:03 Key Financial Planning Strategies for Single Women in Canada
• 12:54 Key takeaways for Financial Planning for Single Women

Transcript

Announcer:

You're listening to the Women's Wealth Canada podcast with Glory Gray. 

Announcer: Are you going through a life transition and need to find a wealth advisor to manage your investments?  You don’t have to feel discouraged wondering how to find the right one. Grab my free guide, “12 Smart Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Wealth Advisor.” This guide gives you all the questions and why you should ask them. Just go to GloryGray.com, pop in your email address and we’ll send it right to your inbox. 

GLORY:
 Welcome to Women’s Wealth Canada  — the show where we help Canadian women like you take control of your money and build YOUR life YOUR way.

I’m your host, Glory Gray — Financial Planner and Wealth Manager. I work with women all over Canada, and today, I want to talk to a group that doesn’t always get the financial spotlight: single women.

Whether you’re single by choice or by chance, today’s episode is just for you.

We’re going to explore some of the unique challenges of managing money on your own — but we’re also going to talk about the freedoms that come with going solo. And, I’ll share some practical strategies you can use right now to build a plan that reflects your independence and protects your peace of mind.

Let’s dive in.

PART 1: The Unique Challenges
GLORY:
All right, let’s start with the realities of planning your financial future as a single woman.

Your experience is different — and your financial plan should be too.

Let’s look at a few of the common challenges:

🔸 First, it’s all on you.
 You’re the breadwinner — and the backup plan. If you lose your job, get sick, or face a big change in your life, there’s no second income to fall back on. That makes emergency planning and insurance protection extra important for you. So, that’s one challenge. 

Plus, women are usually the caregivers, caring for both children and elderly parents more so than men. If that’s you, you’ll want to consider that in your savings plans.

🔸 Second, retirement planning is up to you.
 You won’t have a partner’s pension to lean on and you’ll be paying all the housing costs. If you want to retire well, you’ll need a clear, focused plan — and you’ll want to start early if you can.

🔸 The third challenge is that housing is a big hurdle.
 Buying — or even renting — in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, or Calgary on one income? It’s tough. But women are getting creative. From co-ownership with friends to moving to smaller communities — you’ve got options, even if they look different from the norm.

There are two neighbours of mine who both lost their spouses. They ended up selling their respective houses and buying one bigger house that they shared together. It had separate suites so they had their own space, but it was less expensive than owning two houses. 

What I really loved was that they turned their living room into a massive library and music room. They lined the walls with bookcases and in the center was a baby grand piano and other instruments. And they invited friends over to play with them or just enjoy the music. Brilliant.

🔸 A fourth hurdle is healthcare as you age.
 Without a partner in the picture, you’ll need a plan for who helps you navigate health decisions — and how you’ll fund care if you need it down the road.

🔸 And finally, the social stigma.
 There’s still that lingering idea out there that being a single woman is somehow a temporary or lesser state of being. But you and I know: it’s not. Being single is a whole, full, powerful way to live — and we need to build financial plans that honour that.

PART 2: The Freedoms and Advantages
GLORY:
Now — let’s talk about the flip side. Because while being single comes with challenges, it also comes with incredible freedom.

And from where I sit, working with clients across Canada, I’ve seen single women make some of the most thoughtful, creative, and courageous financial choices out there.

Let’s talk about a few of these advantages:

🔹 Number one, you have total control.
 You decide what your money supports. Want to retire early? Travel the world? Invest in your own business? You don’t need permission.You don’t need a consensus. 

🔹 Also, your plan reflects your values.
 No compromise. No his-and-hers or hers-and-hers goals. Just your priorities, clearly reflected in your investments and financial decisions. So, you can invest the way YOU want to. 

And you may have heard me say before, the research has shown that women outperform men when it comes to long term investing. You’ve got this.

🔹 A third advantage is that you’re agile. You’re creative.
 I’ve seen women partner with friends to buy property, as I mentioned. Or, they join co-housing communities, or design lifestyles that don’t fit any of the old rules — and they’re thriving. A few choose not to have what we would consider a home at all. Some are professional housesitters. Some live out of a camper. Some are on a cruise ship 365 days of the year. If you can find a lifestyle that keeps you in good health, allows you to be socially active, because that’s very important, especially if you’re single, and feeds your soul, great!

🔹 Finally, you have the advantage that you’re building wealth for you.
 You’re not building someone else’s legacy — you’re building a life of freedom, stability, and joy, on your terms.

So yes — single doesn’t mean stuck. It means self-defined.

PART 3: Key Planning Strategies
GLORY:
So, keeping in mind the challenges of being single in Canada and the freedoms and advantages — let’s talk about what smart wealth planning actually looks like for single women in Canada.

Here’s a simple framework I use with clients to build confidence and clarity, no matter your income level or stage of life.

 1. Build a Strong Foundation

• Mindful Spending Plan:
   You’ve heard me say this many times, your mindful spending plan is where you always must start. Grab your bank statement and your credit card statement. Look at how much you spend each month on everything. Are you spending money on anything that doesn’t really serve you? That doesn’t bring you joy or good health? Get rid of those mindless items and put your money towards things that bring you joy, wisdom, memories and good health.  Once you have a good idea of what you must spend on basics every month, you have the first building block of a financial plan for life. 
• Emergency fund:
   This is money you put into a savings account that earns you interest, away from your chequing account. Aim for an amount that is equal to 6–12 months of your basic expenses. It’s your safety net when there’s no second income. Importantly, it will keep you from going into credit card debt when something unexpected happens.
• Insurance:
   Spend some time thinking about what would happen if you were hurt and can’t work or were to pass away suddenly. Disability insurance or critical illness insurance protect your income if you can’t work. Life insurance is very important if you have children or someone else who is going to depend on your income if you were to pass away unexpectedly. If you are single with no dependents, you may not need life insurance, but do think about what would happen if you can’t work.
• Legal basics:
   A Power of Attorney is essential for a single person because no partner is available to advocate for you if you are unable to take care of your own affairs yourself because you’re ill. Also make sure you have a Will and Healthcare Directive in place. A Healthcare Directive allows someone else to work with health care workers per your wishes if you’re unable to do it yourself. For example, if you’re unconscious. A will is very important if you’re single. Who will take care of your children? Your pets? With no will, your estate will be handled per provincial law and that may not be what you want.     

 2. Invest Early and Often

• If you find you are paying too much in income taxes, contributing money into your RRSP is going to solve two goals at the same time: saving on taxes and saving for your retirement. 
  
  
• If I have a client who has many different large goals they’re saving for at the same time and plan to take some money out in the next few years, it might make more sense to contribute money into their TFSA if they need a lot of flexibility. 
  
  
• If you’ve maxed out both your RRSP and TFSA, look into non-registered investments. Sometimes this is called a plain investment account. These accounts don’t have the advantage of tax-deferred growth that RRSP and TFSAs have. TFSAs actually have tax-free growth. But you can only put so much money into those accounts, so look to investment accounts after those are maxed out.
  
  
  

✨ Tip: Time and consistency are more powerful than big lump sums. Set up automatic deposits. Set it and forget it.   

 3. Plan Your Retirement Like a CEO

This is where I spend most of my time with my clients: Helping them think like a CEO. 

• First, think about where you want to live in retirement and what that lifestyle costs. You won’t know exactly, but you can get a good idea.
  
  
• Then, log into your My Service Canada Account and check your CPP benefits estimate. This will give you an idea of how much income you’ll have coming in from the government when you retire, so you know how much you’ll need to save to make up the difference.

• Next, to live that lifestyle, will you downsize? Rent? Work part-time? Travel?
  • I have a friend who funded her travel by bringing roommates into her home. Now,she can travel the world months at a time without worrying about who is caring for her home while she’s gone.

• Lastly, plan for long-term care in your later years. We tend to spend more money on our health care the last 5 years of our lives. But of course, we have no idea when that will be. So, don’t leave it to chance. Build it into your plan.

4. Build Your Financial Support Network

You may be single — but you don’t have to plan alone. One issue you may encounter is decision fatigue. When you’re a couple, you can learn from each other and make decisions together. When you’re on your own, you need to make all the decisions yourself. And that may cause you to procrastinate making decisions at all. 

You may feel that when you’re on your own, you need to know everything about your financial life. But you don’t, you just need a team.

• Start with finding a financial planner who understands women’s goals.
  
  
  
• Add an accountant, estate lawyer, and maybe a money coach or therapist if you think you have some stories in your life that are keeping you from achieving your goals.
  
  
  
• And surround yourself with a community of other women who talk openly about money. I’ve been thinking about starting a Women’s Wealth Canada community online. Drop a comment on YouTube or send me a text through your podcast app if you think that’s a good idea.

5. Don’t Skip Estate Planning

• Again, make sure you have a valid Will, a Power of Attorney, and a Healthcare Directive.

PART 4: Final Thoughts 

GLORY:
 So, here’s what I want you to take away today:

You don’t need a partner to be financially secure.
 You don’t need a second income to thrive.
 And you don’t need anyone’s permission to live life your way.

Wealth planning for single women isn’t about scarcity. It’s about sovereignty. You are the queen of your life!

You have the tools, the options, and the strength to build a life that works beautifully — just for you.

And if no one’s told you lately — you’re doing an incredible job.

Glory Gray: I wanted to let you know that our office is accepting new clients. So, if you live in Canada and want professional help building a custom financial strategy just for you, go to GloryGray.com and get in touch with me. We help women all across Canada and would welcome the opportunity to meet you and see if we can help.

 If this episode spoke to you, I’d love for you to share it with a fellow single woman. Someone who deserves to feel just as empowered and capable in her financial life as you do.

You can subscribe to the podcast, leave a review, or find me at GloryGray.com — I always love hearing from listeners, especially when you tell me about the goals you’re working on.

And don’t miss next month’s episode — we’ll be building your Personal Financial Dream Team: the trusted advisors every Canadian woman should have in her corner, no matter her relationship status.

Until next time I'm Glory Gray, your personal trainer for financial fitness telling you to take charge of your finances, plan for the future but most of all, enjoy today. Bye for now.

Announcer:

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice. It is not an offer to sell or buy or an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any entity or security cited. Mutual funds offered through Portfolio Strategies Corporation. Other products and services provided through Glory Gray Wealth Solutions.