The Book

Single Women and Money

Finally, there’s a money guide to help single women survive and thrive.

Single Women and Money is an accessible guide to living a financially secure and successful life as a single woman. It’s a book for the millions of unpartnered women in America who must make ends meet on a single salary—which is typically less than what men earn.

Using stories of actual women, as well as data and experts’ insights, the book chronicles the financial issues of single women. It provides the tools needed to tackle their daily and longer-term needs and probes the issues specific to divorcées, widows, women who never married, and single mothers. Single women reveal their moving stories detailing how many have overcome obstacles. From there, the book provides specific guidance on a variety of money issues including saving, spending, shedding debt, investing, retirement, taxes, and more. Offering resources women can turn to in hard times, the authors also suggest ways society can, and should, assist single women.

“Sound advice and valuable resources for women of all ages.”

—George Mannes, senior editor, AARP The Magazine

Why We Wrote our Book

Why We Wrote Single Women and Money

We know what you’re up against: You can’t save for the future because of crushing student debt. Or, you’re struggling to sort out the family’s finances after losing your spouse. Or you’re hunting high and low for affordable childcare.

Or maybe you have an ample income. Or a sizable inheritance. But you’re unsure—since women have too seldom been schooled in finance—how to grow your savings to secure a comfortable future.

And in the back of your mind, troubling long-term questions persist: As a single person, who will care for you in your old age? When should you create a will, and who should you trust to carry out your health care and financial wishes if you become incapacitated?

These are just a sampling of the issues you grapple with as a single woman.

And you face them with one hand tied: Often, you survive on one income, which is less than men typically earn. And you may have to support family members on your solo wages.

But if all this sounds overwhelming, it need not be. That’s why we have written Single Women and Money. We aim to demystify money management so that you can feel confident about your spending and savings today and about your long-term financial future. We tackle the essentials, including budgeting, debt repayment, investing (including ESG), tax strategies, job hunting, maximizing your Social Security benefit and much more. And we have personalized the information, with anecdotes of single women handling real-life situations.

And if calamities should strike—if you become jobless, or are strapped for money after a divorce or confront high hospital bills? Single Women and Money provides a host of resources to turn to in our chapter on Help in Hard Times.

But ultimately, Single Women and Money isn’t just a guide to surviving financially and prospering on one’s own. Going beyond the self-help essentials, we probe the constraints society has imposed—the traditions that have held women back, financially. For example, the expectation that women should marry and be supported by a spouse has helped fuel gender discrimination at work—a particular penalty for single women who must earn their own living.

Thus, we call on society—families, educators and policy makers—to recognize its responsibility and take action. We highlight policies and practices that would tear down discriminatory barriers to working women and create opportunities, for instance, in growing fields such as the sciences and in leadership positions. As Single Women and Money asserts, single women need to take charge of their finances to secure a comfortable life. But society must be their partner: America’s 66 million single women deserve no less.