For widows, having to deal with a traumatic personal loss plus the finances and other tasks of daily living can be overwhelming. The best way to ease the burden is to “be involved with your finances ahead of time so you only have to deal with the grief,” says Alexandra Armstrong, a certified financial planner and co-author with Mary R. Donahue of On Your Own: A Widow’s Guide to Emotional and Financial Well-Being.
Armstrong herself became a widow in 2023, and when I interviewed several of my women friends who had become widowed in the past few years, all three seconded her advice.
