Candace L. DeLuca

Don’t treat the business as your retirement plan. Build personal wealth outside the company—through tax-advantaged retirement accounts, diversified investments, and a written succession or exit strategy—so your family’s financial security doesn’t depend on one future sale going exactly as hoped.

Plan your retirement paycheck before you plan the market. Decide what you need each month from Social Security, pensions, and portfolio withdrawals, then set aside two years of cash for living expenses so a downturn doesn’t force you to sell at the wrong time. That structure protects both your income and the long-term growth you’ll still need over a multi-decade retirement.

Be an integral part of building your financial plan around you—not just around your household. Make sure you understand the accounts, benefits, equity, and estate documents, and that retirement savings, emergency reserves, and decision-making authority aren’t concentrated in someone else’s file. You are a client of the advisor, not an optional "plus-one" at meetings or copied on emails. Women and female leaders often live longer, carry more caregiving years, and are more likely to manage money alone later. Clarity today is what protects your options tomorrow.

Get a complete picture of the marital estate—and of your life after the decree—before you agree to terms. List assets, debts, income, taxes, retirement accounts, and monthly cash flow as two separate households, not one. A split that looks even on paper can still leave you short if you haven’t planned Social Security, health coverage, housing, and how retirement money will actually transfer. Slow the financial decisions down long enough to see the next chapter, not just the settlement.

Write the retirement paycheck before you leave the job. Map Social Security, any pension, and portfolio withdrawals against real monthly expenses—and test what happens if you retire a year earlier or later. The plan is not a target number in an account. It is knowing which dollars will cover which bills, in which tax year, without forcing you to sell at the wrong time.

Pause major money moves until the next chapter is visible. In the first months, secure cash flow—survivor benefits, life insurance proceeds in a safe place, bills on autopay—and gather the accounts, titles, and beneficiaries. You do not have to redesign the portfolio, sell the house, or make tax elections on grief’s timetable. Stability first. Decisions that change the next decade can wait until you have a clear picture and a small team beside you.