Tag Archives: financial planning

Corporate Social Responsibility, Health & Safety, Insurance Industry

Rebuilding Life After Violence: Why Financial Security Matters

By Loretta Worters, Vice President – Media Relations, Triple-I

When most people think about domestic violence, insurance isn’t usually top of mind. Yet, financial security and access to resources can determine whether someone in an abusive relationship can safely leave. Insurance—an essential part of financial planning—can play a critical role in helping survivors rebuild and move forward.

Each year, 10 million people are physically abused by an intimate partner, and nearly85 percent of women return to their abusers due to economic dependence, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV).  One of the least-discussed forms of abuse within intimate partner relationships is financial abuse. It can take many forms, limiting access to assets, concealing information, ruining credit, or sabotaging employment. These tactics are designed to control, intimidate, and entrap survivors.

Research shows that financial abuse occurs in 99 percent of domestic violence cases, and access to financial resources is the top reasons survivors remain with or return to an abuser.

The Role of Insurance in Financial Recovery

Insurance can help survivors establish independence and long-term security. From home and renters coverage to auto and life policies, insurance protects survivors and their families from financial shocks that might force them back into unsafe situations.

Triple-I encourages survivors to:

  • Secure financial records and know where they stand financially.
  • Build a financial safety net.
  • Review and, if needed, change insurance policies to ensure they are protected.
  • Maintain good credit to support long-term stability.

The Allstate Foundation’s Commitment

Since 2005, The Allstate Foundation has been a leader in addressing the financial dimensions of domestic violence. Its programs focus on financial empowerment, helping survivors gain the knowledge, tools, and confidence needed to achieve independence.

  • Moving Ahead Workbook: A five-module program guiding survivors from short-term safety to long-term security, covering financial abuse awareness, credit basics, financial foundations, and long-term planning.
  • Resources for Employers: Launched in 2025 at the Forbes Power Women Summit, Allstate’s Survivor Empowerment Network equips employers with tools to support employees experiencing abuse, recognizing that the workplace can be a critical point of intervention.

“Employers have a powerful opportunity to create a place of safety and support for survivors of domestic violence,” said Sharisse Kimbro, relationship abuse program officer at The Allstate Foundation, who spoke about the financial impact of domestic violence at the 2025 Forbes Power Women Summit stage. She noted that 8 million workdays are lost to domestic violence each year. 

Digital abuse is another growing threat. Abusers may monitor emails, texts, and social media, install spyware, or steal passwords, all of which can compound financial instability. As these risks evolve, financial literacy and insurance protections remain essential lifelines for survivors.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Triple-I and The Allstate Foundation spotlighted the critical role of financial empowerment and financial literacy in helping survivors build safer, more secure futures. Survivors deserve not only safety, but also the economic tools and confidence to rebuild their lives and secure a future free from abuse.

Check out these resources to learn more about the support available for survivors of domestic violence:

Health & Safety, Insurance Industry

Insurers Help Victims Find Freedom from Domestic Violence Through Financial Empowerment

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COVID-19 Could Further Impact Intimate Partner Violence Survivors

By Loretta Worters, Vice President – Media Relations, Triple-I

Financial security and access to resources can make all the difference to domestic violence victims when deciding to leave an abusive relationship. And insurance is an important component of financial planning that can help survivors move forward.

Financial abuse is a common tactic used by abusers to gain power and control in a relationship. The forms of financial abuse may be subtle or explicit, but in in general, include tactics to conceal information, limit the victim’s access to assets, or reduce accessibility to the family finances. Financial abuse – along with emotional, physical, and sexual abuse – includes behaviors to intentionally manipulate, intimidate, and threaten the victim in order to entrap that person in the relationship. In some cases, financial abuse is present throughout the relationship and in other cases financial abuse becomes present when the survivor is attempting to leave or has left the relationship.

Repercussions from the pandemic – layoffs, loss of income, living with abusers due to stay-at-home orders, restricted travel and closures of key community resources – are likely to dramatically increase the incidence of domestic violence, which may further hamper a victim from leaving an abusive situation. 

Survivors struggling to get back on their feet may also be forced to return to their abuser.  That’s why it’s so important survivors understand how insurance works and what a critical role it can play in gaining financial freedom and economic self-sufficiency.

In support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the I.I.I. offers financial strategies to protect victims before and after leaving an abusive relationship. They include securing financial records, knowing where the victim stands financially, building a financial safety net, making necessary changes to their insurance policies and maintaining good credit. 

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) reports that 10 million people are physically abused by an intimate partner each year, and 20,000 calls are placed to domestic violence hotlines each day. In addition, 85 percent of women who leave an abusive relationship return because of their economic dependence on their abusers. Furthermore, the degree of women’s economic dependence on an abuser is associated with the severity of the abuse they suffer.

“Home is often times a dangerous place for survivors of domestic violence, and COVID-19 exacerbates the circumstances, due to the abusers’ ability to further control,” said Ruth Glenn, president and CEO of the NCADV. “Tactics abusers use include ruining the credit of their victim as well as financial and digital abuse, such as stimulus funds being co-opted by abusers to an increase in domestic online harassment,” she said. 

Experts agree that domestic online harassment can come in many forms, from impersonating a victim by email in order to sabotage her work, to controlling the influx of information about the pandemic to make her more fearful and reliant on the abuser.

The Allstate Foundation’s domestic violence initiative has been committed to ending domestic violence through financial empowerment, providing survivors with the education and resources needed to achieve their potential again and equip young people with the information and confidence they need to help prevent unhealthy relationships before they start.  This year the Foundation contributed $500,000 to help the National Network to End Domestic Violence support more than 100 local domestic violence organizations. The Foundation also provided funding for the National Domestic Violence Hotline to enable remote-working technology and has worked with these organizations who are urging Congress to pass a COVID-19 relief package that addresses the housing, economic, physical and mental health needs of survivors of domestic and sexual violence and the advocates on the frontlines that need additional resources to ensure the safety of survivors and their staff.

“One of the most powerful methods of keeping a survivor trapped in an abusive relationship is not being able to support themselves financially,” Glenn explained. “That’s why insurance and financial education are so important,” she said.  “Education can save a life.”