cover image Money and the Mature Woman: How to Hold on to Your Income, Keep Your Home, Plan Your Estate

Money and the Mature Woman: How to Hold on to Your Income, Keep Your Home, Plan Your Estate

Frances Leonard. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, $19.9 (282pp) ISBN 978-0-201-60897-7

Leonard ( Women and Money ) here offers a comprehensive personal-finance guide based on a gender-biased reality: on the whole, American women are paid less and live longer than men; most die single, while most men die married. For quick, if simplistic, understanding, Leonard advises readers to view an investment portfolio as ``your kitchen cupboard,'' but her vast knowledge, intense commitment and powers of organization and lively expression make this life-and-retirement handbook a powerful feminist resource, as well as a sociological eye-opener for men and older offspring. Leonard airs little-known wrinkles and gives action tips on stocks, bonds, bank CDs, mutual funds, insurance and annuities, along with an analyses of home-financing options, Social Security, Medicare, testacy complexities and the survivors' nightmare, encountered mainly by women: financially ruinous long-term health care. Leonard also warns against fradulent schemes often aimed at older women. (Mar.)