Interview With Best-Selling Author & Transformational Speaker Debra L. Morrison, CFP®

  

1.      What inspired you to write this book? Having been a practicing CERTIFED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and Asset Manager already for over 30 years I had heard the same questions again and again/repeatedly as I consulted with newly widowed women, so in 2011, I wrote New Widow Financial Lifeline; Practical Next Steps.  And especially after 9/11 I realized while I was indeed an empath and not afraid of death, I wanted to understand much more about grief recovery, so I enrolled in a 2-yr program and obtained my Grief Coach Certification. I then wrote My Husband Died, Now What? A Widow’s Guide to Grief Recovery & Smart Financial Decisions which interweaves hastened and effective Grief Recovery tools with Financial Tips as well as warnings of Financial TripWires to avoid. 

2.      What exactly is it about — and who is it written for? While this book was written for widows, a great number of my currently married friends and coaching clients purchased this book in order to “be prepared.”   I thought that was interesting in so much as it widens the audience of this book to women everywhere who, perhaps would prefer to be more prepared in advance, for what befalls them, should their husband predecease them.  To a woman, they advocated that ALL women read this book, as an effective guide map for how to proceed through the uncertain sea of grief recovery. 

3.      How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design?  I’ve always found water soothing and healing and the first edition of my book new widow financial lifeline bore a picture of floaters attached to a rope atop the water and the second and third iterations show a like preserver comprised of images of a $100 bill recognizing that the life preserver will help widows process their grief and lead them towards more swift recovery and that will invariably include smart financial decisions. 

4.      What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!?  Au contrare! Writing is very therapeutic and we each of us have innate wisdom that sometimes we feel everyone knows but I can assure you everyone doesn’t know what you know so please get out there and share it with the world. 

5.      What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?   Books are shorter now to coincide with the attention span of busy readers realizing that people can always tap the author for individual coaching to delve deeper into anything they wish to understand on a deeper level. Along that same rationale I look for books to actually be published paperback in smaller sizes; we’re more a society of minimalists, cramped spaces and/or life on the go, so small is both beautiful and apropos. Many more authors are interweaving stories, because they laser-resonate with readers. We’re far more a show-me-the-proof society now. 

6.      Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?   The instances in which I helped widowed clients process their grief and organize their finances to ensure them financial security are sprinkled throughout the book, yes. While my clients were very well prepared for the death of their partner, I inherited many widowed clients who had not benefited by that preparation. And yes, I unwound 3 unsuitable sales of MEGA-commission annuities, sold to widows, which gave these widows their monies back to invest as was necessary to ensure their security and monthly income streams.  Each of these ‘reversals’ took on average 12 months, with tapping the state’s Insurance Commissioners, etc. and I did so pro bono, as a way of ‘paying’ back to these widows the ‘wrongs’ they had suffered. And they DID suffer, as each case involved decades-long family ‘friends’ as their agents. 

7.      How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to?  Very common sense, very practical. Widows’ minds are swirling with emotions and bouts of overwhelm; it’s no time for financeze; rather widows need answers and they need them when the questions percolate to the top of their minds.  

8.      What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book?  It was difficult to discern just how much financial information to include in this book when I well understand that widows’ minds are in a moil processing their grief. Yet ultimately it’s important to alert widows of financial tripwires, which I do, in terms of the warning them NOT to do business with commissioned insurance salespeople, as well as sharing very sad stories of widows who were abused and then later were referred to me to help them somehow extricate themselves from the effect of unsuitable products they were sold.  

9.      If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? Grief recovery tools are helpful for every single reader regardless of whether you’ve been widowed or not; someone in your circle of family or friends has been widowed and will be widowed, so it’s incumbent upon us to be better equipped to understand the debilitating effects of attempting to grieve and learn about finances simultaneously. Best, instead, to learn about finances and uplevel our finance confidence NOW! If nothing else this book can serve as a preparedness guide, because when you’re in the throes of grief, laced with profound emotions around such significant loss, you will surely wish you had more tools in your toolbox with which to approach this new sea of uncertainty. And finally, you will never be one to utter some of the stupid *** things that people less familiar with grief recovery will inevitably utter—stay OFF of Chapter 3’s list!  

10.   What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?  First I hope every single reader will, at SOME level, BELIEVE my words of DEDICATION….healing lies ahead. 

About Debra L Morrison, CFP®, MS, AEP: Retired from 4+ decades of practice as a CFP® Practitioner (Master’s Degree in Retirement Planning) and Asset Manager, Debra now leverages that rich wisdom as a Financial and Leadership Coach to uplevel mature women’s financial confidence, and coach them to create intentional wealth to live the life of their dreams.She’s a Certified Grief Coach, an Accredited Estate Planner and the Best-Selling Author of My Husband Died Now What? A Widow’s Guide to Grief Recovery & Smart Financial Decisions, and Common Sense Money Guide For Women. A TEDx Speaker, Debra speaks on stages & podcasts emphasizing that our 2 most important assets are time and health, urging women not to waste either. Featured on CNN, ABC, Fox, CNNfn, LA Tribune and quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Business Week, Reader’s Digest, Nation’s Business, Kiplinger, Money, Journal of Financial Planning, Ladies Home Journal, and more.  Debra is listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who of American Women and Who’s Who in Finance and Industry. She was named one of New Jersey’s Best 50 Women in Business in 2008, 2011 Leading Woman Entrepreneur and Business Owner of New Jersey, 2012 Grief Coach of the Year,  2019 Marquis Who’s Who Women Of Influence Award, and Celebrate You’s 2021 Woman Of The Year. For more info, please see: https://www.wecandoitwomen.con

 

 

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This award-winning blog has generated over 4.4 million pageviews. With 5,300+ posts over the past 14 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs  by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2025.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully).

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

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