On Your Own, 5th Edition: A Widow's Passage to Emotional and Financial Well-Being

On Your Own Does Not Mean All Alone.

In the completely updated and revised edition of this best-selling classic, the authors share the stories of four widows of different ages and circumstances whose road to recovery illustrates how to best achieve emotional and financial well-being. They provide practical tools and knowledge for widows to move forward and emerge stronger-from coping with grief and loss and organizing finances to understanding investments and developing a long-term plan.

This book shows how to:
- React to your loss
- Deal with grief and your emotional needs
- Develop psychological and financial support systems
- Control your financial future
- Protect your investments
- Emerge stronger to build a new life

The authors firmly believe that there is an essential connection between both financial and psychological well-being. The stories combined with the practical and easy-to-follow advice based on the author's years of experience working with widows, will guide readers step-by-step through this very difficult process.

Praise for Previous Editions of On Your Own:

"On Your Own can be a valuable guide book for the newly widowed. This book has much excellent information. A gift of this book could be the biggest favor you can do for a newly widowed friend." -Associated Press

"For all who have asked 'What do I do now?' or 'Who can help me...?' I recommend On Your Own...the authors lead the reader through important topics often thought to be too intimidating or too confusing for someone wrought with fear and sadness." -Edward Jay Beckwith, Estate Planning Attorney

"On Your Own is more than a financial planning guide. It is also a guide for surviving the emotional rite of passage that surviving spouses must endure. On Your Own is a sensitive and practical work about a necessary but painful period in the life of widow. Widowers should read it also." -Bureau of National Affairs

"On Your Own confronts the subject with intelligence and compassion. From facing your initial reactions through rebuilding your life, the authors deal with difficult issues clearly and realistically. This is a thoughtful and reliable book to help anyone through the shock and confusion of widowhood." -Modern Maturity

"But by changing the word 'husband' for 'spouse' and 'widow' to 'survivor, ' you can convert the book into a contingency planner for either husband or wife." -Nation's Business

"On Your Own is a wonderful book that manages to combine both the financial and emotional advice a widow needs in a helpful and supportive manner. If someone you care about is widowed, don't send flowers-send this book." -Terry Savage, best-selling author

"Their advice is sound and could stop you from irrevocable actions." -SmartMoney

"Help in coping. Here are some places to look for help in getting on with life...On Your Own...practical information on health insurance, estate planning and benefits programs." -U.S. News and World Report

"On Your Own aims to provide a financial and emotional guide to women rebuilding their lives alone. While the book is useful for widows, the lesson of understanding the financial situation is even more valuable to couples. Even simple things like understanding each other's filing system and knowing where financial records are kept can be a tremendous help." -Washington Post

"Yours is the only book that truly approaches it from the woman's viewpoint and clarifies what is a mass of strange and threatening terms and tasks. You have done an important thing in a beautiful way. Thank you from my heart and my checkbook!" -A widow, Annapolis, Maryland

Alexandra Armstrong, CFP(R) is a registered representative of Commonwealth Financial Network(R), Member FINRA/SIPC, and a Registered Investment Adviser. She serves as Chairman of Armstrong, Fleming & Moore, Inc., a financial planning firm based in Washington, D.C. which she started in 1983. Her clients include single women, dual income couples, retirees and those close to retirement.

Ms. Armstrong has served as president of the Financial Planning Association, president of the Boy Scouts National Capital Area Council, and president of the National Association of Women Business Owners. She serves as a board member for Reading Is Fundamental and for the Foundation for Financial Planning and is past president and a current member of the Women's Forum of Washington. She has been included in the Washingtonian Magazine's November 2010 list of experts and the "Washington Business Hall of Fame" and has received the Alumni of the Year Award from Stone Ridge and the Award of Excellence in Commerce from Boston College Alumni Association.

Ms. Armstrong has written a financial planning column for BetterInvesting Magazine since 1978. She has been quoted in virtually every major U.S. financial publication and has appeared on numerous national television programs including, CBS This Morning, Good Morning America, and Wall $treet Week.

Mary R. Donahue Ph.D. has a successful psychology practice in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Her practice is primarily focused on families in crisis and women dealing with a variety of issues including career development, relationships, and loss.

Her commitment to women's issues has led her to speak with regularity to both professional and lay audiences. This includes educating the judiciary and professional groups such as the American Bar Association, local County Bar Associations and the Association of Family and Conciliatory Courts. She has been a contributor to the Washingtonian Magazine and spoken on both radio and television shows with regard to these matters.

She is a member of the American Psychological Association and the Maryland Psychological Association. She is the co-author of a children's book entitled, What's My Job.