The Unique Retirement Planning Considerations of “Single Savers”
The marriage rate among Americans has declined sharply over the past four decades — and the financial implications of that shift are profound, particularly for retirement planning. Divorced, widowed, and never-partnered singles face a set of retirement planning challenges that differ meaningfully from those of their married or partnered peers. At Kal Onomato, our financial management advisory team provides the personalized, in-depth retirement planning guidance that single savers specifically need — building strategies that account for the real pressures of planning alone.
A Demographic Shift That Demands a Different Planning Conversation
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 60.8% of American households were headed by married couples in 1980. By 2024, that figure had fallen to 47.1% — a seismic demographic shift that has left a growing majority of American households navigating financial life without a partner. Whether through divorce, the death of a spouse, or simply never having partnered, a significant and growing share of Florida adults are planning for retirement on a single income — and the planning tools, strategies, and conversations most commonly offered by financial advisors were largely designed with couples in mind.
Research from Nationwide’s Advisor Authority study paints a clear picture of the financial anxiety single savers carry. More than a third report greater financial strain than married or partnered peers. Nearly one in five wonder if they will ever be able to retire at all. These concerns are not unfounded — they reflect the genuine structural challenges that come with planning for retirement without a partner to share income, expenses, risk, and decision-making. Our financial advisory team at Kal Onomato works with Florida single savers to address these challenges with the personalized depth and directness they deserve. See results on our client stories page.
ⓘ Source: Nationwide Advisor Authority Survey. For illustrative purposes. Individual circumstances vary. Consult a qualified financial advisor before making retirement savings decisions based on these findings.
Four Areas Where Single Savers Face Distinct Retirement Challenges
The challenges single savers face are not simply a matter of having less income — they are structural, compounding, and often underappreciated by planning tools and conversations designed for couples. Understanding each challenge clearly is the foundation of building a strategy that genuinely addresses them. Our financial advisory team and tax planning specialists address all four dimensions in every single-saver retirement planning engagement.
Building a Safety Net on a Single Income Is Harder — and More Critical
For married or partnered households, an unexpected expense — a medical bill, a car repair, a job disruption — can often be absorbed by the other partner’s income or savings while the affected partner recovers. Single savers have no such buffer. Building a robust emergency fund on a single income is more challenging because every dollar allocated to emergency savings is a dollar not being invested for retirement — yet the consequences of not having one are more severe. When a single saver without adequate emergency savings faces an unexpected expense, retirement contributions are typically the first casualty, creating a disruption in the long-term savings trajectory that is difficult and time-consuming to recover from. Our advisory team helps Florida single savers determine the right emergency fund target for their specific income level and expense structure — and builds the savings strategy that funds both goals efficiently.
No Built-In Caregiver Means Planning Must Start Early
Married and partnered individuals often have an informal long-term care safety net in a spouse or partner who can provide or coordinate care during illness, disability, or the decline of aging. Single savers — whether divorced, widowed, or never partnered — are far less likely to have a clear caregiving solution in place. The financial implications of this gap are significant: without an informal caregiver, the cost of professional long-term care falls entirely on the individual’s own assets. Long-term care costs in Florida can reach tens of thousands of dollars per year for in-home care and substantially more for residential care facilities. For single savers, this is not a risk to plan around at 60 — it is a planning consideration that should be addressed in the 40s and 50s, when the cost of long-term care insurance is still manageable and alternative planning vehicles like health savings accounts and annuities with long-term care riders can be meaningfully deployed. Our advisory team integrates long-term care planning into every single-saver retirement strategy from the beginning.
Singles Often Face Higher Effective Tax Rates — Affecting Both Savings and Retirement Income
The U.S. tax code has historically been structured in ways that favor married couples — most notably through the “marriage bonus” that applies when spouses have significantly different income levels. Single filers generally face higher marginal tax rates on equivalent income than married filers filing jointly. This disparity affects a single saver’s capacity to save — more of every dollar earned goes to taxes — and it affects their retirement income, particularly for single savers who will have only one Social Security benefit and whose retirement account withdrawals will be taxed at single-filer rates that rise more steeply with income. Strategic tax planning — including Roth conversion strategies, tax-diversified account structures, and Social Security claiming optimization — is particularly high-value for single savers. Our tax planning team coordinates retirement strategy and tax planning simultaneously for Florida single-saver clients to minimize lifetime tax burden on retirement income.
Loneliness and Social Isolation Have Real Financial Consequences
Research cited in Nationwide’s Advisor Authority study highlights a dimension of single-saver retirement planning that is rarely discussed in traditional financial planning conversations: the link between social isolation, emotional wellbeing, and financial decision-making. Loneliness can take a significant toll on emotional wellbeing — both before and during retirement — and that toll has tangible financial consequences. Single savers without strong social networks are more likely to make reactive financial decisions under stress, more likely to experience retirement as an isolating rather than fulfilling life phase, and less likely to have the accountability structure that helps keep long-term financial plans on track. A strong support network — including trusted friends, family, community connections, and a proactive financial advisor who provides regular, engaged guidance — is not just an emotional asset for a single saver. It is a financial one. Our advisory team provides the consistent, engaged one-on-one financial partnership that single savers specifically benefit from having in their corner.
🌟 Single savers benefit most from in-depth, one-on-one financial guidance. Without a partner to share the responsibilities of retirement planning and financial decision-making — to serve as a sounding board, catch oversights, and share the cognitive load of long-term planning — single workers gain disproportionate value from a trusted financial advisor who provides exactly that kind of engaged, personalized partnership. The advisor relationship is not a luxury for single savers. It is often the most important structural advantage they can put in place. Our financial advisory team provides the deep, personalized retirement planning conversations that single savers need and deserve.
Five Retirement Planning Priorities for Florida Single Savers
The following five priorities reflect the specific actions that create the most retirement planning value for single savers — addressing the structural challenges described above with concrete, actionable strategies. Our financial advisory team builds retirement plans for Florida single-saver clients that address all five simultaneously, coordinated with their tax strategy through our tax planning team and monitored continuously through our AI financial platform.
Build a Larger Emergency Fund Than Standard Guidelines Suggest
Standard financial planning guidelines recommend three to six months of expenses in an emergency fund. For single savers, our advisory team recommends targeting six to twelve months — because the cost of a disruption is higher and the recovery time longer when there is no secondary income to rely on. Building this foundation first creates the stability that allows retirement contributions to continue without interruption when the unexpected occurs. For Florida single savers who are also self-employed or in variable-income careers, the upper end of this range is often the right target.
Address Long-Term Care Planning Explicitly and Early
For single savers, long-term care is not a background consideration — it is a foreground planning obligation that should be addressed in the 40s or early 50s, before the cost of insurance or alternative vehicles becomes prohibitive. Options include traditional long-term care insurance, hybrid life/long-term care policies, annuities with long-term care riders, and self-insuring through dedicated investment accounts. The right approach depends on health, age, income, and risk tolerance — and the right time to address it is years before it becomes urgent. Our advisory team evaluates long-term care options for every Florida single-saver client as a core component of their retirement plan.
Build a Tax-Diversified Retirement Portfolio to Manage Single-Filer Rate Exposure
Single savers paying higher effective tax rates on their working income should be especially intentional about building tax diversity in their retirement savings — balancing pre-tax accounts (traditional IRAs, 401(k)s) with after-tax accounts (Roth IRAs, Roth 401(k)s) and taxable investment accounts. Tax diversification gives single savers flexibility to manage their taxable income in retirement — pulling from different “buckets” to stay in lower marginal brackets and reduce the taxation of Social Security benefits. Roth conversion strategies, executed during lower-income years or before Required Minimum Distributions begin, can be particularly powerful for single savers. Our tax planning team coordinates Roth conversion and account structure decisions with the complete retirement strategy for every Florida single-saver client.
Optimize Social Security Claiming for a Single-Benefit Strategy
Married couples have strategic flexibility in Social Security claiming — spousal benefits, survivor benefits, and coordinated claiming strategies that can significantly increase their lifetime benefit. Single savers receive only their own benefit, making the claiming age decision particularly high-stakes. For Florida single savers who are in good health and have sufficient resources to delay claiming, waiting until 70 to claim Social Security produces the highest possible monthly benefit — a guaranteed, inflation-adjusted income stream that provides maximum financial security in later years when other resources may be depleted. Our advisory team models Social Security claiming scenarios for every Florida single-saver client and coordinates the decision with their overall retirement income strategy.
Establish a Comprehensive Healthcare and Estate Plan Without a Default Beneficiary
Married individuals have a legal default framework — spouses inherit assets, make healthcare decisions, and serve as natural trustees and beneficiaries. Single savers have no such default. Without explicit documentation, assets may not go where intended, healthcare decisions may be made by individuals who do not know your wishes, and estate administration can become significantly more costly and time-consuming. Florida single savers should have current, comprehensive estate planning documents — including a will, durable power of attorney, healthcare proxy, and advance directive — along with beneficiary designations on every retirement account and insurance policy that reflect their actual intentions. Our advisory team coordinates estate planning needs with our clients’ preferred legal professionals as part of our comprehensive financial advisory service.
How Kal Onomato Serves Florida’s Growing Single-Saver Community
At Kal Onomato, our licensed CPA and financial advisory team brings 15+ years of experience to retirement planning, tax strategy, and financial management for Florida individuals — including a significant and growing population of single savers who are navigating retirement planning with the unique structural challenges this guide describes. Our work for single-saver clients is fully aligned with IRS requirements for Florida-based taxpayers and Florida state accounting standards.
- Personalized single-saver retirement planning — our financial advisory team provides the deep, in-depth, one-on-one retirement planning conversations that single savers benefit from most — addressing emergency fund strategy, long-term care planning, Social Security optimization, account structure, and estate planning in an integrated, personalized plan built around each client’s specific life circumstances and retirement goals.
- Tax-coordinated retirement strategy for single filers — our tax planning team addresses the higher marginal rate exposure that single filers face through proactive account diversification, Roth conversion planning, and retirement income management strategies that minimize lifetime tax burden on Social Security, IRA withdrawals, and other retirement income sources.
- Long-term care planning integration — our advisory team evaluates long-term care planning options for every Florida single-saver client as a core component of their retirement strategy — modeling costs, evaluating insurance and self-insuring alternatives, and ensuring the plan accounts for the reality that there is no informal caregiver waiting in the background.
- AI-powered retirement trajectory monitoring — our AI financial platform tracks savings rates, account balances, tax positions, and retirement readiness metrics continuously — alerting our advisory team when any variable moves in a direction that warrants a strategy conversation, so single savers are never the last to know when their retirement plan needs attention.
- Ongoing advisory partnership — the support structure that makes the difference — for single savers without a partner to serve as a financial sounding board, our advisory relationship provides exactly that: a trusted, consistent, proactive financial partner who knows their situation, tracks their progress, and is always available for the planning conversations that matter. Read client stories at kal-onomato.com/client-stories or learn more on our advisory blog.
🤖 You Deserve a Financial Partner in Your Corner — Especially if You’re Planning Alone
The data is clear: single savers face real, structural retirement planning challenges that married and partnered peers do not. But data also shows that single savers who work with a knowledgeable, engaged financial advisor are significantly better positioned to address those challenges — because they have the consistent expert guidance, accountability, and strategic depth that makes the difference between a retirement that feels uncertain and one that feels genuinely prepared for. Our full-service advisory team is ready to be that partner. Schedule your free consultation today →
Frequently Asked Questions for Florida Single Savers
Planning for Retirement Alone? You Don’t Have to Do It Without Help.
Book a free 30-minute consultation with Kal. We will review your current retirement savings position, assess your emergency fund and long-term care planning, identify any tax strategy opportunities for single filers, and outline a clear, personalized retirement plan designed specifically for your life — not a template built for couples.
