Pride and prosperity: financial tips for LGBTQ+ partners

Achieving financial well-being is challenging for many Americans, especially within the LGBTQ+ community. They face added hurdles, including discrimination, higher poverty rates, food insecurity, unemployment and job discrimination. These issues are even more pronounced for transgender individuals and LGBTQ+ people of color, affecting both their health and wealth.¹

Research from the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement shows that LGBTQ+ individuals often feel less optimistic about their financial futures and experience anxiety, overwhelm and depression related to money matters.² While these challenges may be familiar, there is hope. We’ll cover both the challenges and the steps to improve financial well-being for LGBTQ+ people and their partners below.
 

Financial concerns are real

There are specific challenges LGBTQ+ individuals and partners experience that can affect their overall well-being:³

• LGBTQ+ people face certain financial challenges compared to the general U.S. population. They report lower household incomes, with 57% earning less than $50K annually, compared to 34% of the general population. Only 13% of LGBTQ+ individuals make $100K or more, versus 34% of the rest of the nation. Inflation worsens these financial difficulties, further undermining their financial security.
• Savings rates are also lower among LGBTQ+ individuals, with more than half having less than $5K in savings and 20% having no savings at all. Additionally, only 50% of LGBTQ+ respondents can pay all their bills in full, which can lead to fees and lower credit scores.
• Debt is another significant issue, with 82% of LGBTQ+ respondents having some form of personal debt. Student loans are the largest source of debt at 28%, followed by credit card debt at 24%. Higher health care costs also change LGBTQ+ individuals, with expenses related to family formation, identity documentation and gender-affirming health care contributing to debt and higher poverty levels. Specifically, 63% have spent $1K or more, and 5% spent $50K or more for out-of-pocket for care.
• Lastly, the need to supplement income is prevalent, with 14% of LGBTQ+ individuals working two jobs and 1% working three or more jobs, despite most private sector workers having only one job (85%).
   

There is good news:

The good news is knowledge is power and here are some considerations to potentially improve and secure a better future.

Better together

1. Set shared goals, whatever they are. Whether your goals are considering expanding your family or buying a home for example, understanding how any family leave and health benefits can support aspiring parents is vital. Speak with your employer to see if they offer support for adoption, fostering, surrogacy or IVF to help avoid debt. When considering a home, homeownership rates are lower for the LGBTQ+ community,⁴ but with the right tools and planning, you can reduce expenses and debt to save for a down payment. Whatever your goals, ensure you’re both on the same page and set a plan and budget to achieve all of them.
2. Spending and savings goals — build a shared budget. Joining financial forces can help align your values, goals and habits. This can help reduce debt and expenses while increasing savings to reach your goals. Know where your money goes, use a budget calculator, build a shared budget to be able to get ahead and stay on track.
3. Take advantage of any workplace benefits and savings. If you are working and have benefits offered through your employer, consider maximizing all workplace benefits available to you to help strengthen you on your journey toward financial wellness.
4. Prioritize retirement savings. Set up your contributions so you are automatically contributing as much as possible from each paycheck to your workplace retirement plan. If your employer offers a match, save at least enough to get the full match — it’s free money. For those aged 50+ years and older, consider making catch-up contributions when you have extra funds.
5. Build an emergency fund, life is full of surprises. Shield yourself from the unexpected by building an emergency savings fund to cover at least 3-6 months of expenses. You can also automate your savings to make this easier.

You can also:

• Inquire about student loan repayment programs
• Understand family leave and medical benefits for family planning
• Consider health insurance coverage, including family expansion or gender-affirming coverages, disability or critical care insurance and if eligible, open a Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Protect loved ones with supplemental life insurance, wills, trusts and beneficiary updates
• Ask about employee aid and mental wellness programs
• Organize all financial, legal and tax documents, along with professional contacts, account numbers, passwords and account locations in one place
   

Sound complicated?

We’ve made it easy. Visit Voya Learn for live and on-demand educational content to help you and your partner plan for the future you envision. Need help? Consider working with a financial professional to address your personal situation and plan for a healthier financial future — for you or for two.