NEFE, AFSP Reach Out to Suicide Survivors with Practical Financial Help

If you are the survivor of a parent, spouse, or other family member who took his or her life, you will face grief, the associated emotional aftermath, and practical financial issues as well. This is especially true if the loved one was your family’s main breadwinner or decision maker.

To help you make sense of these financial issues—which can be confusing, intimidating, and overwhelming, the National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) produced a 60-page booklet titled Surviving a Suicide Loss: A Financial Guide.

“Often, when someone takes his or her own life, it’s the culmination of an extended period of erratic behavior caused by an illness, such as depression, bipolar disorder, or substance abuse,” said Joanne Harpel, director of Survivor Initiatives for AFSP. “The person may not have been making good financial decisions. People who are depressed may not bother paying their bills or even opening their mail. Someone with bipolar disorder who is going through a manic phase may be on a wild spending spree. Substance abuse often is related to financial issues, such as reckless or wasteful spending.”

The booklet provides checklists, worksheets, and tips related to taking a financial inventory, working with financial legal advisors, and settling the person’s estate. It also answers questions about taking control of your finances including calculating income and how much money you need to pay bills. You’ll also learn how to handle medical expenses, insurance, and business ownership. The text is interspersed with easy-to-understand charts, graphs, photos, and sidebars.

Brent Neiser, CFP®, director of Collaborative Programs at NEFE, called this a counterintuitive program. “The surviving spouse, children, and the loved ones now have to deal with money issues but may not want to talk about them in this context,” he said. “Many survivors are bewildered, shocked. They may not know enough about money problems, which could be part of the reason for the suicide. They can use this booklet with a counselor, a loved one, or just by themselves to explore the implications.”

Thousands of free copies were sent to local suicide survivor support groups across the country, where it has been positively received. “People have been so grateful and appreciative of it because they feel it meets their unique needs,” Harpel said.