1. Rebalance your target mix of stocks and bonds based on your long-term financial goals and your risk tolerance;
2. Improve the diversification of your investments, and/or;
3. Upgrade the quality of your investments.

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• Know your rights. According to the Credit Card Act of 2009, when an executor requests a credit card balance, the issuer is required to provide it within 30 days. Also, the issuer can't charge late fees or annual fees while the estate is being settled. And new Federal Trade Commission guidelines limit aggressive tactics for debt collectors trying to get money from the decedent's relatives.
• Educate yourself. If you are a surviving spouse and want to learn more about different credit cards, sites like LowCards.com and NerdWallet.com are good resources.
• Get more help if you need it. Go to Nolo.com for free legal information. Or contact an estate-planning attorney if you need further assistance. They can help guide you through the process. You can search for attorneys in your area using the American Bar Association's website.

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It Isn't What You Expect

Two hints: it's not inflation, and it's not taxes. The biggest risk to your nest egg is a long-term care event.

With the average cost of long-term care in an assisted living facility at $3300 per month, a $100,000 nest egg could be wiped out in two-and-a-half years. A private room in a nursing home at an average daily rate of $222 will decimate that $100,000 balance in just 15 months. Still worse, the cost of long-term care has increased nearly 6% annually for the past five years.

Advances in medicine allow us to live longer, but have increased our need for care when we're old and worn out. And if acute diseases like heart failure don't do us in, the chronic ones like Alzheimer's and cancer eventually do. In the process, they'll extend the number of months -- maybe years -- that we'll likely need long-term care.

The four options we have when facing a long-term care event include spending down our assets, relying on family, going on Medicaid (not to be confused with Medicare), and buying long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance policyholders typically cite "not wanting to be a burden on family" as the main reason for purchase.

The Odds Speak for Themselves

Consumers hate paying for something on which they may never see a return, but consider the following.

• Odds of your home burning to the ground -- 1 in 16,000
• Probability of totaling out your car -- 1 in 100
• Odds of meeting a $2,500 medical insurance deductible annually -- 1 in 25
• Probability of needing long-term care -- 1 in 2 for a woman; 1 in 3 for a man

We wouldn't go a day without owning home, auto, or health insurance. But statistically speaking, the probabilities of these events occurring pales in comparison to that of needing long-term care.

Want even more reason to ponder long-term care insurance for yourself or a loved one? Consider this: Over half of U.S. states have "filial support" laws that could prod you into forking over cash for your parents' unpaid long-term care debts.

Long-term Care Insurance 101

Health insurance and Medicare help pay for immediate medical expenses, whereas long-term care insurance helps people cope with the cost of chronic illnesses.

Long-term care insurance typically covers out-of-pocket expenses that come with home care, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes. The policies pay for help with everything from the basics, like dressing and bathing, to skilled care.

A long-term care insurance policy creates a pool of money for your future use. How big the pool is depends on the size of the policy; the larger the pool, the bigger the premiums. How fast the pool is drained depends on what type of long-term care is required and how often it's needed.

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With the average cost of a wedding clocking in at $27,000 (not including the average $5,000 cost of a honeymoon), savvy couples are hunting for cost savings wherever they can find them. And while it takes some planning, effort, and elbow grease, but budget-conscious spouses-to-be can save oodles of money on their wedding day.

As a couple, you should plan a wedding that is authentic to you. Separate the needs from the wants, avoid frivolous expenses, and ignore the expectations of others.

Then, instead of plunking down tens of thousands of dollars, consider some of these sensible options for fabulous weddings on the cheap.

Gallery: Painless Ways to Dramatically Slash Wedding Costs

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In my career as a financial advisor, I have spoken with thousands of men and women about their finances. After a while, I saw patterns emerge in the differences between the sexes with regards to money -- how they viewed money, how they managed money, and how they wanted to learn about money.

I thought I might be making too many generalizations based on my experiences, but then I came across a recent study on the gender gap in financial literacy that supports my findings.

Widening Gender Gap in Financial Literacy

According to a recent study from Financial Finesse, a company that provides workplace financial wellness services, women are falling behind men in several areas of financial planning. This gap is noticeably growing with regards to paying off debt, arming an emergency fund with a few months' living expenses, and having basic stock, bond, and mutual fund knowledge.

On a positive note, the study found little to no gender gap with respect to longer-term planning. Women participate in workplace retirement plans about as much as men, and also report roughly equal engagement with long-term estate planning.

It's the nitty-gritty of financial management where women are coming up short. To better understand why, here's what I discovered that women want in terms of their personal finances.

o. Women want peace of mind: For women, financial peace of mind is the ultimate personal finance goal. Women want a secure and sound financial future for themselves and their families, and they view their investments as a way to support and protect their loved ones. Surveys -- and my personal experiences as a financial advisor -- show men are typically more interested in wealth accumulation.

o. Women want time to research their options: Women are deliberate decision-makers and take their time doing research. Women prefer gathering information from a vast group of experts before taking action and initiating a plan. Women also prefer thinking through and planning for "devil's advocate" and "what if" scenarios to help protect them against the unexpected.

o. Women want an ally, not a bossy know-it-all: Education, collaboration, and patience are critically important to women. If a woman feels condescended to or the environment does not foster question-asking, then she'll disengage from the dialogue. A woman needs to feel the financial educator is an empowering ally, not a rival. Whereas men typically want the facts and information to make investing decisions on their own, women prefer a collaborative, nurturing environment.

Get More Engaged with Your Finances

The good news is women are seeking financial information and education at rapid rates -- roughly twice the rate of men, according to Financial Finesse's findings. That's a trend worth continuing, particularly in light of the unique financial challenges women face. (See "The $849,000 Penalty for Being Born Female" for more on that.)

Here's how you can take matters into your own hands.

• Educate yourself. Look for an investing class at a local community center or college. Many of them are free or very low cost. Join an investment club. Ask your daughter, sister, mother, or friend to attend with you. Have fun with it.
• Make the most of the savings tools available to you at your workplace or if you are self-employed.
• If your spouse or partner handles the money, call a family finance meeting. Ask that individual to teach you what s/he does. Find out how the budget looks, bills are paid, household cash is managed, and investments are monitored. After you understand, take your turn. You don't have to do it forever, but you should know how. You may even enjoy it and improve your family's finances.
• If you choose to get professional financial help, interview prospective financial advisors. If the advisor won't take the time to listen, get to know your needs, and explain concepts to you clearly and simply, then feel free to walk out and don't look back. Find an advisor who speaks your language at your pace.

Gallery: The $849,000 Penalty for Being Born Female

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While we've been lounging poolside and enjoying our summers, the sun has been putting in a lot of overtime -- which has U.S. crops and farmers suffering horribly as a nationwide drought persists.

Many crops have been burned, including grains such as corn and wheat -- grains that are precursors to many foods such as sodas, cereals, baked goods, dairy products, chicken and beef.

Experts predict rising commodity prices will result in up to a 5% increase in food prices in 2013 -- and perhaps even into early 2014 -- leading to higher grocery bills and restaurant tabs for consumers.

What This Means to a Family of Four

The Department of Agriculture Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion estimates a moderate weekly grocery bill for a family of four with school-age children at roughly $236.60, which translates into an annual family budget of approximately $12,300 for food consumed at home.
Assuming the anticipated 5% increase in food prices next year, a family of four is looking at an additional $615 on their annual grocery bill in 2013.

For dining away from home, if we assume the average American family of four's typical weekly restaurant bill is $100, or $5,200 per year. That 5% increase will add $260 to a family's restaurant spending next year.

All told, the unrelenting national drought could add up to an extra $875 on food spending for an average family of four. But you can avoid getting hit by that entire bite by adopting some smart shopping strategies.

Four ways to offset rising food costs

In the face of increased grocery and restaurant costs, families have two main choices: Scale back food expenditures or cut spending on other places to free up more money for food. Here some strategies to help you save.

1. Shop generic in certain categories: According to Discovery Channel's TLC, store-brand products thought to be the same as their pricier name-brand cousins include milk, flour, sugar, staple cereals, baby formula, bottled water, salt, bleach, aluminum foil, antacids, and pain relievers. Grab store-brand staples for these items. Doing so at the grocery store each week is a painless way to free up some cash.

2. Crunch the numbers in the checkout line: You already know that sticking to your shopping list will keep impulse spending under control. So when you're tempted to toss an unnecessary $5 item in the cart each weekly trip to the store, think about the extra $260 that amounts to annually. Another tip: Avoid the temptation to buy prewashed and pre-chopped bagged veggies -- the "convenience" costs you a bundle. (For more ideas, check out The Motley Fool's "4 Simple Rules for Supermarket Savings.")

3. Don't let what's already in your fridge go to waste: We've all been there. It's Thursday night. You're racking your brain for dinner ideas. You open the refrigerator, and everything looks bland and boring. You think, "A decent meal could never materialize from this stuff!" As tempting as it is to pick up the phone and order takeout, there's a cheaper option. Sites like bigoven.com, allrecipes.com, supercook.com, and recipematcher.com allow you to enter the list of ingredients staring at you from under the fridge bulb and, voila, out pops a recipe for a meal from food that would most likely get pitched. Assuming $8 worth of food is tossed weekly, this trick saves $400 in a year.

4. Dine out on the cheap:

• Go out for lunch instead of dinner. Since lunch entrees are significantly cheaper than those at dinnertime, alter your dining-out clock and save big.
• Look for restaurant deals on Groupon or apps for cheap eats and drinks like happy hours or Nationwide Happy Hour Finder.
• Bring your own wine. Restaurants typically buy a bottle of wine for what they charge you for a glass of it. Buy your own wine at a discount retailer, like Costco, and bring it to the restaurant. Even after the restaurant's corkage fee, you'll still save.
• Skip the beverages altogether. Instead, order water with lemon. A family of four can shave roughly $10 off a restaurant tab by doing so. Assuming your family dines out once a week, this can save you more than $500 annually.

Gallery: Slash Your Annual Food Bill by $2,000 or More

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In the 1930s, Ginger Rogers beautifully synchronized her dancing in lockstep with Fred Astaire's footwork. Only, as the saying goes, she did it backwards and in high heels.

Unfortunately, when it comes to retirement planning, women face a similar challenge: a set of gender-specific financial obstacles that require more intensive efforts to overcome.

Here's a look at these retirement savings challenges, and what women can do to avoid getting tripped up by them.

The $849,000 Gap

There are three main factors that make it harder for women to save enough for retirement:

1. Longer life expectancy. Women live longer than men -- statistically, five years longer on average. According to 2009 data, life expectancy for a woman is nearly 81 years compared to almost 76 years for a man.

2. Taking more time off work to care for family members. Leaving a job to provide care for a child or elderly relative falls predominantly on women. "The average woman left the workforce for 11.5 years -- not always all at once -- to care for children, elderly parents, and a chronically ill spouse," according to a 2001 report titled "The State of Older Women in America."

3. Less pay for equal work. On average, a woman is compensated $0.77 on a man's dollar, according to a recent study from the Institute for Women's Policy Research based on 2011 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So just how much are these disparities costing a woman in terms of her retirement planning? All told, add up these costs over a lifetime, and we're talking about an $849,000 penalty for being born female.

If a woman entering the workforce today lives five years longer than a man, takes four years out of the workforce to care for loved ones, and makes an average of $30,800 per year (77% of his $40,000 annual salary), then she needs to save roughly $4,000 per year (before taxes) during the course of her working life toward retirement. In comparison, he needs to save $3,080 per year (before taxes) over the course of his working life. That works out to nearly 13% of her annual salary, as opposed to 7.7% of his.

Fair? No. Reality? Yes.

These disparities make it critical for women to understand their retirement planning options and to take steps now to narrow the savings gap. Here are some options:

If You're a Working Woman:

• If it's offered through your employer, take advantage of the 401(k) or other employer-sponsored retirement plan -- such as a 403(b) or 457 plan. The contribution limits are generous, and any dollar you contribute is one you don't pay in taxes.
• Many employers offer a 401(k) match. A match is like free money, so contribute at least the amount you need to receive the full match from your employer.
• Know your employer's vesting schedule. This spells out what percentage of your retirement plan match you can take with you if you leave your employer. By knowing your employer's vesting schedule, you can plan time out of the workforce while maximizing your benefits. Women who join and then leave the workforce without knowing their vesting schedule may be giving up hard-earned dollars.

If You're Married, But Don't Work:

• A spousal individual retirement account is a regular IRA account; it's just called that to describe how you can make an IRA contribution even if you have no taxable income.
• Stay-at-home moms (or dads, for that matter) can save for their retirement if their spouse has earned income. You don't need to have earned any money yourself to save for retirement -- in fact, you can contribute up to $5,000 in it so long as you meet the requirements.
• In order to make a spousal IRA contribution, you must be married and file a joint tax return. Also, the working spouse has to have earned more income than the amount of the contribution.

If You're Self-Employed:

• American women own 30% of small businesses. If you're a small business owner then don't overlook the retirement plan options available to you.
• Look into a SEP IRA, a retirement plan designed to benefit self-employed people. The potential amount you can contribute far exceeds the amount you could as a non-self-employed person. An added bonus: Contributions you make to a SEP IRA are generally 100% tax-deductible to your business and, like other retirement accounts, investment earnings in a SEP IRA grow tax-deferred.

Get a handle on your finances so these disparities don't prevent you from dancing your way into a glorious retirement.

Motley Fool contributor Nicole Seghetti does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned above. You can follow her on Twitter @NicoleSeghetti.

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No matter how many times you read about the numerous financial challenges women face, such as longer life expectancy, more costly health insurance, and taking time off work to care for family, nothing drives the point home like putting it into black-and-white dollar terms.

Add up all the costs associated with each and you come up with a shocking number: $849,000. Let's take a look at these costs in more detail.

Gallery: The $849,000 Penalty for Being Born Female

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Quick, without thinking too hard, answer this yes-or-no question: If you were faced with an unexpected $2,000 emergency expense in the next 30 days -- a car or home repair or a medical bill -- could you come up with the money to cover it?

According to the findings of a recent survey by the National Bureau of Economic Research, about half of you answered no.

In fact, the results led the study's authors to state, "We find that nearly half of Americans are financially fragile." How fragile? One quarter of respondents said they certainly could not come up with that amount of cash in 30 days; 19% said they would be able to cope, but only by selling or pawning some possessions or relying on payday loans.

If you're a glass-half-full person, maybe you like your odds and think it's unlikely that you'll be caught off-guard by a big emergency expense. Well, here's another way to think about it: What if a weatherperson said there was a chance of rain today and delivered that information alongside a computer graphic of a violent downpour? You'd probably grab your umbrella before you leave for work.

Financial emergencies are kind of like bad weather -- you don't always have a lot of warning before they strike. But if you have no savings umbrella, it's easy enough to forecast what would happen if a financial hurricane rolled through town. Here are potential scenarios:

Scenario No. 1: Replacing Your 20-Year-Old Transmission

As the owner of a 1997 Toyota 4Runner with 170,000 miles on it, this scenario is near and dear to my heart. So far, I've dodged this bullet. But let's say your trusty mechanic delivers the bad news.

A new transmission costs roughly $3,000. If you don't have cash on hand, it would cost you an extra $266 if you put it on a credit card, or $272.19 per month, assuming you take 12 months to pay the charge off a 16% APR credit card.

Don't have that line of credit available? Add an extra $1,286 to your $3,000 tab (for a total of $4,286) if you have to liquidate some of your retirement savings to cover the cost. The extra money would go toward paying Uncle Sam taxes on that $3,000, along with a possible early withdrawal penalty if you're under the age of 59½.

Scenario No. 2: Replacing your HVAC system

Due to Murphy's Law, heating and cooling systems always seem to die either on the hottest, steamiest August day or the most bone-chillingly frigid winter evening. In other words, there's no getting by for long while you wait to come up with the money to replace it.

Let's say a new HVAC system runs you roughly $5,000. If you didn't have the funds available, putting it on plastic pads your tab by $443 -- and that's assuming you can afford to pay $453.65 per month for the next 12 months to pay it off. The bill can easily double -- especially at 16% interest! -- if you extend your payoff period. As for dipping into your retirement savings, that brings the cost of replacing your HVAC to a whopping $7,143.

Scenario No. 3: Breaking your ankle

This one actually happened to me.

• Emergency room co-pay: $100
• Deductible: $1,500
• Multiple physician co-pays and physical therapy sessions: $400
• The story of how I broke my ankle: Priceless (If you have to know, playing tennis against a concrete wall and being clumsy.)

Beat the Odds One Dollar at a Time

How does your emergency savings umbrella look? A bit torn? Disheveled? Completely nonexistent?

If scraping together a pile of cash sounds daunting, just start small. Take a close look at your budget, determine how much money you can afford to stash away each month, and commit to saving the money in a rainy-day checking, savings, or money market account.

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In my career as a financial adviser, I reviewed thousands of customer portfolios. After a while, I saw the same money-management mistakes time and time again. One of the most common money blunders was having too much money in a single investment -- the classic "putting all of your eggs in one basket" mistake.

It wasn't just beginning investors who got themselves into this dangerous financial situation. Even savvy, experienced clients did.

The names have been changed to protect people's privacy, but the scenarios below are very real. Here are four ways that people end up with wildly unbalanced portfolios, and how to avoid this classic investing pitfall in your own portfolio.

Gina: Tying her fortune to her employer's future

I like chocolate cake just as much as the next gal, but if I eat too much of it, I'm in for a huge stomachache. The same goes for owning too much company stock of an employer. I remember meeting Gina, an employee of a nearby Hershey (HSY) plant. As I reviewed her 401(k) statement, I found that Hershey stock represented more than half of her 401(k) balance. The tale of Enron serves as an example of how this can go horribly wrong. With that company's demise, employees not only lost their jobs, but also their futures -- all the plans they made for their post-9-to-5 lives -- because their retirement savings were invested mostly in Enron stock.

Dr. Crane: Mistaking industry knowledge for investing smarts

Dr. Crane, a surgeon, held vast industry knowledge that he felt gave him a leg up on other investors. So he put his money behind a company whose products he strongly believed in, loading up on the company's stock. (In this case, shares of Pfizer (PFE) dominated his portfolio holdings.) By doing so, his money was over-concentrated in a single industry -- health care -- which meant that when the industry suffered, his nest egg deteriorated along with it.

Jean: Avoiding Uncle Sam and getting overwhelmed by her blockbuster investments

Jean despised paying taxes. And when I first met her, she was excited to tell me about how she planned to avoid paying them by holding on to her winning stocks. I had to explain to Jean that this tactic threatened her potential overall portfolio returns. By not harvesting her gains and paying Uncle Sam his share, she increased her position in her winning stocks relative to her other investments. With time, Jean's unsold winners threatened to over-concentrate her portfolio.

Richard: Doubling down on a hot stock

One afternoon, Richard, a well-meaning investor on the verge of retirement, stopped by my office to tell me about a great investing opportunity he'd heard about from a co-worker. It was a company that had recently IPO'd. Richard recounted for me all of the claims that his co-worker had made about the stock. So impressed was he that logged into his online account, sold a huge portion of his diversified blue-chip stock portfolio, and doubled down on the hot stock tip. Here, again, the concentration in a single investment put his overall wealth at risk, especially if the IPO later fizzled out.

Don't become a cautionary tale

The most alarming thing about Gina, Dr. Crane, Jean, and Richard is, frankly, that there's nothing at all extraordinary about their stories. They managed their finances in a perfectly ordinary way, yet all of them put their portfolios in grave danger from a diversification standpoint.

Gallery: 10 Stocks for the Next 50 Years

• Limit any single stock position to no more than 5% of your overall net worth.
• Use caution when loading up on stock in an industry with which you are intimately familiar.
• Realize that, as difficult as it is, sometimes you need to sell your winners for the overall health of your portfolio.
• Don't let greed or excitement overwhelm rational thinking.

By doing these things you'll minimize risk and sleep better at night.

Motley Fool contributor Nicole Seghetti does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned above. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, she has fallen victim to one of the above pitfalls. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Pfizer.

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