Latest / Talk Wealthy To Me / 21. Financial Freedom After Divorce: How to Rebuild, Plan & Thrive
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Let's know them. Welcome talk We Welcome we Talk Wealthy
- 0:03Speaker 1: to Me. I'm Michelle Taylor, founder of Women and well
- 0:06Speaker 1: and Wealth. From breaking money myths to building wealth and
- 0:10Speaker 1: achieving financial freedom. We're here to empower you to create
- 0:13Speaker 1: your own patha talk wealth. Now join the conversation and
- 0:18Speaker 1: let's change the way women think and feel about money.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Are you ready? Hi, everybody, Welcome to the Talk Wealthy
- 0:29Speaker 1: to Me podcast. I'm your host, Michelle Taylor, and I
- 0:33Speaker 1: am so excited that you're here and also really encouraged
- 0:38Speaker 1: to go over this topic with you guys. Quite a
- 0:41Speaker 1: few people have mentioned that this is either something that
- 0:44Speaker 1: they're faced with or a woman and their family is
- 0:48Speaker 1: faced with, and that is navigating what financial freedom and
- 0:54Speaker 1: wellness and planning looks like after a divorce. Now, I
- 1:00Speaker 1: thankfully have never been through this myself, but I know
- 1:02Speaker 1: a lot of people who have, and I've had first
- 1:06Speaker 1: hand experiences with clients that are really discouraging when it
- 1:12Speaker 1: comes to this topic. I've had clients tell me that
- 1:16Speaker 1: they didn't know how to pay their electric bill because
- 1:20Speaker 1: their husband left them. And it wasn't a lack of finances,
- 1:25Speaker 1: but it was just genuinely not knowing how to navigate
- 1:27Speaker 1: that situation. So, as always, my hope in this is
- 1:31Speaker 1: that anybody going through it or knows somebody that is,
- 1:34Speaker 1: will be able to take something tangible and turn what
- 1:39Speaker 1: can be scary into something that they feel empowered and
- 1:43Speaker 1: encouraged around and change the impact that something heavy will
- 1:48Speaker 1: have on the rest of their life. So one of
- 1:51Speaker 1: the important things to know about all of this is, obviously,
- 1:55Speaker 1: this is a big deal. It's a big life changing event,
- 2:00Speaker 1: and I think it's so important to acknowledge that and
- 2:04Speaker 1: find the support that you need from the people that
- 2:07Speaker 1: you care about in your life. And my goal in
- 2:10Speaker 1: this is to really just focus on the financials, but
- 2:12Speaker 1: I think that it would be really important for anybody
- 2:15Speaker 1: listening that has this experience to really identify the areas
- 2:20Speaker 1: they need help and the professionals that they need to
- 2:23Speaker 1: seek out to make sure that you come to the
- 2:25Speaker 1: other side of this feeling like yourself or a better
- 2:29Speaker 1: version of yourself. I think that the grief, the sadness
- 2:35Speaker 1: of this is actually something you're having to deal with,
- 2:39Speaker 1: is something that's going to be a hard pill to swallow.
- 2:41Speaker 1: But again, taking the emotion out of this which is
- 2:44Speaker 1: going to be really tricky, but taking the emotion out
- 2:48Speaker 1: of planning financially after divorce is going to be really important.
- 2:54Speaker 1: So one of the things that I would suggest is
- 2:58Speaker 1: building out that same board of advisors that we've talked
- 3:01Speaker 1: about in other episodes, finding the people that you need
- 3:05Speaker 1: to count on to understand what's in your best interest,
- 3:08Speaker 1: what you are entitled to, and figuring out how to
- 3:11Speaker 1: navigate this path moving forward. So what does that mean. Obviously,
- 3:17Speaker 1: I would probably advise none of you to go through
- 3:20Speaker 1: this without an attorney. Certainly I am not an attorney.
- 3:25Speaker 1: This is just my opinion, but I feel like there
- 3:28Speaker 1: are a lot of pieces to this that you may
- 3:31Speaker 1: not even realize you're dealing with. So find an attorney
- 3:35Speaker 1: that's good, that makes you feel comfortable, makes you feel
- 3:39Speaker 1: seen heard, and that they're an advocate of yours. The
- 3:43Speaker 1: next piece is finding somebody to probably navigate the family
- 3:50Speaker 1: emotional journey of this if you've got kiddos, but also
- 3:55Speaker 1: really recognizing and understand that once you get over this
- 4:00Speaker 1: hump and once you figure this out, you're getting a
- 4:03Speaker 1: fresh start, you're going to be able to plan for
- 4:05Speaker 1: yourself financially. And although it's something that's really sad. There
- 4:09Speaker 1: is something that is I think exciting if you think
- 4:13Speaker 1: about a fresh start and focusing on the financial goals
- 4:19Speaker 1: and plan that you have for yourself and not having
- 4:22Speaker 1: to consider anybody else and what they want. So hopefully
- 4:26Speaker 1: putting a positive spin on that and really focusing on
- 4:31Speaker 1: a fresh start and building something for yourself with the
- 4:34Speaker 1: right relationships in place to ensure that the next chapter
- 4:38Speaker 1: is one of your best chapters? How do we do that?
- 4:42Speaker 1: First things First, if you've ever worked with a financial
- 4:45Speaker 1: advisor and had a relationship with one that your spouse
- 4:49Speaker 1: had brought into your situation, I would say to really
- 4:54Speaker 1: dive into that and see if that's a relationship that
- 4:57Speaker 1: you want to keep. Now, obviously this is my world.
- 4:59Speaker 1: I know little bit about this. I've had several clients
- 5:03Speaker 1: divorce and some of them don't care if both parties
- 5:08Speaker 1: work with me. Other people think, you know what, the
- 5:12Speaker 1: relationship with Michelle was yours, I'm going to find somebody
- 5:17Speaker 1: else and that's okay too. So I think what really
- 5:20Speaker 1: matters is the connection that you feel with that professional.
- 5:24Speaker 1: So if you feel like you want to keep that
- 5:28Speaker 1: person in your life, I would have very clear expectations
- 5:32Speaker 1: around confidentiality, which of course is part of our role
- 5:36Speaker 1: is fiduciaries, but also just making sure that you have
- 5:39Speaker 1: somebody that can advocate and plan in a totally different
- 5:43Speaker 1: way with you without it being in direct conflict with
- 5:48Speaker 1: the other ex spouse. If you feel a little bit
- 5:52Speaker 1: uncertain about that, I would say, first, if you like
- 5:55Speaker 1: the firm, you can find another advisor within that firm
- 5:59Speaker 1: usual and that's a really easy transition and probably less
- 6:03Speaker 1: clunky for you going through enough as it is. Or
- 6:08Speaker 1: if you really felt like this was never your relationship,
- 6:12Speaker 1: that you were present in the meetings but didn't say much,
- 6:16Speaker 1: now is your chance to really figure out what this
- 6:20Speaker 1: relationship will look like for you. If you want to
- 6:24Speaker 1: know the questions to ask, I am happy to send
- 6:27Speaker 1: you a copy of that, drop me a DM. But
- 6:29Speaker 1: ultimately you want to go into this with a clear
- 6:32Speaker 1: mind and figuring out what's most important. How do you
- 6:35Speaker 1: want to work with that professional and source that person
- 6:39Speaker 1: and interview a few of them. Don't feel like there's
- 6:43Speaker 1: any fire to put out. We all have the same
- 6:46Speaker 1: tools in our toolbox. Truly, it's about finding the relationship
- 6:50Speaker 1: that's going to work for you. And your future as
- 6:52Speaker 1: you navigate this next chapter. The second piece of that
- 6:55Speaker 1: is really understanding your money landscape. And again I'm going
- 7:01Speaker 1: to assume that half of you have maybe led the
- 7:04Speaker 1: charge with financials and the other half didn't. So if
- 7:08Speaker 1: the ladder is the case and you were really leading
- 7:11Speaker 1: the charge, more than likely you're going to have a
- 7:14Speaker 1: good handle on what your monthly budget and what your
- 7:19Speaker 1: monthly spending plan is going to look like. It's really
- 7:22Speaker 1: important to understand the money that's coming in and going
- 7:24Speaker 1: out and what your expenses are going to be moving forward. Obviously,
- 7:29Speaker 1: assuming there's child support or any alimony, any of those
- 7:32Speaker 1: payments are something to consider, but you really just want
- 7:36Speaker 1: to identify the non negotiables, the things that have to
- 7:39Speaker 1: get paid, and make sure as a single income household,
- 7:43Speaker 1: you have the most important things covered so that your
- 7:47Speaker 1: kids and yourself aren't having to navigate a change in
- 7:51Speaker 1: life but also now a change in circumstance where things
- 7:55Speaker 1: are feeling tighter and more insecure for you or your kids.
- 8:01Speaker 1: Understanding the difference between needs and wants is really important,
- 8:06Speaker 1: and then just having a plan for every dollar coming in.
- 8:08Speaker 1: Once you understand the money that you're working with I
- 8:12Speaker 1: encourage everybody to figure out how to live in an
- 8:15Speaker 1: and mentality. So more than likely there's been a lot
- 8:19Speaker 1: of financial fallout from this, right, So we want to
- 8:25Speaker 1: make sure that you are doing all of the same
- 8:28Speaker 1: things you are doing with a partner, but now as
- 8:32Speaker 1: an individual. So what does that mean. I want to
- 8:35Speaker 1: make sure that you guys are paying off any debt
- 8:38Speaker 1: that you have, and saving and making sure you have
- 8:42Speaker 1: enough liquid and investing. Make sure that you're not neglecting
- 8:47Speaker 1: any of those things. It's really important once you sit down,
- 8:52Speaker 1: you know what this household now looks like based on
- 8:55Speaker 1: just your income. We now have an opportunity to reverse
- 9:00Speaker 1: engineer what the future looks like and what we need
- 9:03Speaker 1: to do to get you there. It's going to be
- 9:05Speaker 1: really important that you sit down and have all of
- 9:09Speaker 1: the pieces of your puzzle in front of you and
- 9:10Speaker 1: understand were you counting on retirement coming from your spouse.
- 9:16Speaker 1: If that's the case, we need to focus on how
- 9:19Speaker 1: do we fill that retirement bucket. Maybe you need to
- 9:22Speaker 1: start your own IRA on the side, or start contributing
- 9:27Speaker 1: to a four toh one K if you have the opportunity.
- 9:30Speaker 1: But we want to make sure that we've got those
- 9:31Speaker 1: long term dollars planned for midterm dollars. Is really just
- 9:36Speaker 1: understanding those goals, vacations for your family, education expenses, things
- 9:42Speaker 1: that you can anticipate but are still six months to
- 9:46Speaker 1: two years down the road. Maybe there's a project at
- 9:49Speaker 1: the house that are renovation, and we need to put
- 9:52Speaker 1: that money aside and make sure that you're planning for
- 9:55Speaker 1: that effectively, so that you're not going into debt to
- 9:58Speaker 1: do something that you've already committed to doing. And then
- 10:01Speaker 1: obviously we want to make sure short term that may
- 10:04Speaker 1: look a lot different now as well, if during the
- 10:07Speaker 1: divorce the assets split there's more or less debt. We
- 10:12Speaker 1: want to just make sure that what you have is
- 10:17Speaker 1: covered by an emergency account. You don't want to have
- 10:20Speaker 1: too much in cash, and that's an exercise that unfortunately
- 10:23Speaker 1: I can't personalize in this episode for you, but I
- 10:27Speaker 1: would always challenge you if you work in a W
- 10:30Speaker 1: two setting, you want to have three months at least
- 10:35Speaker 1: if of your expenses, and that isn't food and fun,
- 10:39Speaker 1: That is truly keeping your lights on and making sure
- 10:42Speaker 1: that you are paying your obligations. If you're a self
- 10:48Speaker 1: employed individual or somebody that works in a highly commissioned role,
- 10:52Speaker 1: you probably want to have closer to six months just
- 10:55Speaker 1: to make sure that there's the ebbs and flows of
- 10:58Speaker 1: what that can feel like impact you, especially if you
- 11:01Speaker 1: had another income to fall back on, and ultimately understanding
- 11:06Speaker 1: where those dollars are going. So of those monies, we
- 11:10Speaker 1: want to make sure that we're doing remember the and mentality,
- 11:13Speaker 1: So make sure that you are putting money into a
- 11:16Speaker 1: retirement account for long term dollars or planning for what
- 11:21Speaker 1: it looks like if you are selling a business ten
- 11:24Speaker 1: years down the road. Want to make sure that you're
- 11:26Speaker 1: paying down your debt, and we want to make sure
- 11:29Speaker 1: you're investing now. For anybody that is not familiar with
- 11:32Speaker 1: how to invest, that's where we need to really break
- 11:37Speaker 1: this down and understand what the priority is. If the
- 11:41Speaker 1: priority is to just put money to work for you
- 11:44Speaker 1: so that you have it working for you while you sleep,
- 11:47Speaker 1: the easiest way to do that is to work with
- 11:49Speaker 1: that trusted advisor that you either have identified or already
- 11:53Speaker 1: have a relationship with, or just start something on your own.
- 11:56Speaker 1: You can go to any of the big broker dealers
- 12:00Speaker 1: like a Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, anything like that really
- 12:03Speaker 1: robinhood even and just start an account and start investing,
- 12:07Speaker 1: even if it's twenty five dollars, one hundred dollars, whatever
- 12:10Speaker 1: it is that you can afford to make sure that
- 12:14Speaker 1: the retirement you once thought was covered with two incomes.
- 12:17Speaker 1: Now we're identifying how do we get there with only
- 12:20Speaker 1: one income. The good news is you only have to
- 12:23Speaker 1: pay for yourself in this retirement and don't have to
- 12:26Speaker 1: worry about providing for two, so it should be relatively
- 12:30Speaker 1: easy to make the adjustment. But again, you don't want
- 12:32Speaker 1: to forget that any of these pieces are on the
- 12:35Speaker 1: table and need to be addressed. Speaking of investing, it's
- 12:39Speaker 1: really important and this is why you, guys, I brought
- 12:42Speaker 1: up the point about having the trusted relationship that you
- 12:45Speaker 1: can fight for your best interest at the table. So
- 12:49Speaker 1: a lot of people will think that they're negotiating something
- 12:52Speaker 1: that's going to be really good for them and their
- 12:54Speaker 1: family and keeping attorneys out of the picture. But there's
- 12:57Speaker 1: a lot of things to consider. For example, if you
- 13:00Speaker 1: are a stay at home spouse and you have been
- 13:05Speaker 1: focusing on the family while the other spouse is out
- 13:09Speaker 1: earning the income and contributing to a retirement account. You've
- 13:15Speaker 1: missed a lot of time to contribute to your own
- 13:18Speaker 1: retirement because you thought you had a partner doing that
- 13:21Speaker 1: for you. So there's something called a quadro and that
- 13:24Speaker 1: is basically where anything that a spouse is put into
- 13:28Speaker 1: a retirement account while you all were married, you're entitled
- 13:31Speaker 1: to half of that. Now, when you typically take money
- 13:35Speaker 1: out of a retirement account prematurely or before your retirement age,
- 13:39Speaker 1: there's a penalty. What's really lovely about this is in
- 13:43Speaker 1: a divorce, if it's navigated with professionals, you are able
- 13:48Speaker 1: to take half of that account and you will not
- 13:51Speaker 1: pay a penalty for moving it over to you and
- 13:56Speaker 1: being able to utilize that money for your own own
- 14:00Speaker 1: retirement planning. So that's really important. We want to make
- 14:03Speaker 1: sure that you have all of the access to the
- 14:07Speaker 1: accounts that you need to plan for your future and
- 14:12Speaker 1: aren't missing anything. I will hopefully put your mind at
- 14:16Speaker 1: ease if this is a situation where the it's not
- 14:22Speaker 1: warm and fuzzy. There are very few ways that somebody
- 14:26Speaker 1: can really hide money and not give you what you're
- 14:30Speaker 1: entitled for. But that requires having the relationship there that's
- 14:33Speaker 1: going to walk you through this and make sure that
- 14:35Speaker 1: you're asking the right questions. I once had a client
- 14:38Speaker 1: that her husband just said, oh, I cleared everything out
- 14:41Speaker 1: of my retirement account because I'm doing this other thing. Well,
- 14:45Speaker 1: then she's surprised that she's getting divorced. And thankfully, because
- 14:50Speaker 1: of forensic accounting, we were able not we I didn't
- 14:55Speaker 1: do that, but she was able with those relationships to
- 14:59Speaker 1: under stand this is where the money went, and she
- 15:02Speaker 1: was still entitled to half of it. And hopefully that's
- 15:04Speaker 1: not going to be a situation that any of you
- 15:07Speaker 1: find yourselves in. But I just cannot emphasize enough it's
- 15:11Speaker 1: really important to not leave what you are rightfully entitled
- 15:17Speaker 1: to on the table, because you've got to be your
- 15:21Speaker 1: number one advocate. So understand the retirement accounts, the assets
- 15:27Speaker 1: that you have, the debt you have. Don't leave any
- 15:30Speaker 1: of that up to chance. We want to make sure
- 15:33Speaker 1: that all of your bases are covered and in that
- 15:38Speaker 1: your risk tolerance, the time horizon, all of the pieces
- 15:42Speaker 1: that will kind of navigate what the rest of your
- 15:44Speaker 1: life look like. May have changed. Maybe you were married
- 15:47Speaker 1: to somebody that didn't like risk at all, or maybe
- 15:51Speaker 1: on the other side they were much more aggressive than you.
- 15:54Speaker 1: Felt comfortable being all of these things you're going to
- 15:58Speaker 1: have to navigate in order to understand how to move forward.
- 16:02Speaker 1: If you want to be more conservative, make sure that
- 16:06Speaker 1: the advisor that you're using or the advisor that you
- 16:09Speaker 1: were using with your spouse understands that there's been a shift,
- 16:12Speaker 1: and really make sure that you're putting your money into
- 16:17Speaker 1: investments that are in alignment with what your risk tolerance
- 16:20Speaker 1: is and time horizon. Depending on your age, it will
- 16:24Speaker 1: impact when you can access these things. Retirement ages fifty
- 16:28Speaker 1: nine and a half, so you want to make sure
- 16:31Speaker 1: that when you're putting money away, and if retirement accounts
- 16:34Speaker 1: are something new for you that you're cognizant of that
- 16:38Speaker 1: you can't touch these accounts without a penalty before that age.
- 16:43Speaker 1: So make sure that we've got those midterm and short
- 16:45Speaker 1: term buckets addressed before you put money into a retirement account. Also,
- 16:50Speaker 1: as far as timeline goes, if you've got big projects
- 16:54Speaker 1: that are going on, or just you feel a little
- 16:56Speaker 1: bit more comfortable having access to that money, we want
- 16:59Speaker 1: to make sure that you're putting the dollars into just
- 17:01Speaker 1: your typical individual account or a brokerage account. This is
- 17:07Speaker 1: going to give you access to money, growing and not
- 17:12Speaker 1: being out of the market, putting your money to work
- 17:14Speaker 1: for you, but without those same restrictions. The other thing
- 17:18Speaker 1: you want to look at is benefits. If your spouse
- 17:22Speaker 1: was providing health benefits, there's some navigating there, but also insurances.
- 17:27Speaker 1: A lot of times when there's a divorce, and if
- 17:29Speaker 1: there's life insurance and there's children involved or alimony, those
- 17:35Speaker 1: are things that you want to address. You want to
- 17:37Speaker 1: make sure that God forbid, if something were happening to
- 17:40Speaker 1: a spouse and they are paying you alimony and child support,
- 17:43Speaker 1: that there's a death benefit there that would still get
- 17:46Speaker 1: you to the point that you need to be at
- 17:50Speaker 1: and taking care of your kids, that the child support
- 17:52Speaker 1: and all of that is protected and addressed with the
- 17:56Speaker 1: life insurance, and most divorce attorneys will navigate through all
- 18:01Speaker 1: of these pieces with you, but again, make sure that
- 18:04Speaker 1: you're understanding what you're entitled to and not leaving anything
- 18:08Speaker 1: up to chance. As we wrap this up, guys, one
- 18:12Speaker 1: of the most important things and reasons that I'm doing
- 18:15Speaker 1: this not only women in wealth, but talk wealthy to
- 18:18Speaker 1: me is because I want you, guys, to be empowered
- 18:20Speaker 1: around money. I want you to understand the decisions that
- 18:24Speaker 1: you have to make that you're entitled to make, and
- 18:28Speaker 1: I want you to feel like you're in charge of
- 18:30Speaker 1: your money story. Going through this is going to be
- 18:34Speaker 1: a huge emotional toll, but the reality is one out
- 18:37Speaker 1: of every two marriages is going to end in divorce.
- 18:41Speaker 1: So I want to make sure that you all take
- 18:43Speaker 1: away from this that one you're allowed to be upset
- 18:48Speaker 1: and grieve this transition in your life. But then I
- 18:51Speaker 1: want you as quickly as you can to pivot and
- 18:54Speaker 1: really focus on writing your own money story. Try not
- 18:57Speaker 1: to bring the baggage that comes with a failed marriage
- 19:00Speaker 1: and maybe differing approaches and beliefs around money with you.
- 19:05Speaker 1: Look at this as a fresh start, a way to
- 19:08Speaker 1: make sure that you are doing everything that you can
- 19:10Speaker 1: to set yourself up for success and a retirement that
- 19:14Speaker 1: feels really good to you, or a next chapter that
- 19:17Speaker 1: feels good to you, building something out with your goals
- 19:21Speaker 1: in mind, with your risk tolerance in mind, and making
- 19:26Speaker 1: as few waves as possible within your home so that
- 19:30Speaker 1: if there are kiddos, they don't feel a change in lifestyle.
- 19:33Speaker 1: And I know all of this is easier said than done,
- 19:37Speaker 1: but that's where I'm here to be a resource in
- 19:40Speaker 1: any way that I can. If there's anything that you
- 19:43Speaker 1: need to make this transition easier, please send me a
- 19:46Speaker 1: message or a DM and the team will get you
- 19:51Speaker 1: anything that you need. Ask the right questions of any
- 19:55Speaker 1: advisor or other professional that you're bringing to the table,
- 19:59Speaker 1: and make sure that you know what you are allowed
- 20:03Speaker 1: to fight for. Make sure that you are living in
- 20:06Speaker 1: an and universe, that you are reevaluating how much cash
- 20:10Speaker 1: you need to have on hand and making sure that
- 20:13Speaker 1: you do, and that you're investing, even if it's a
- 20:17Speaker 1: small amount, and that you're paying down any debt that
- 20:21Speaker 1: you have, whether it's yours or part of the marriage,
- 20:26Speaker 1: but ultimately doing all three of those things to move
- 20:29Speaker 1: forward and put the best version of yourself in your
- 20:33Speaker 1: future in your windshield instead of your rear view mirror.
- 20:38Speaker 1: As always, please continue to like, share, subscribe, and if
- 20:44Speaker 1: there's anybody going through this that you think would benefit
- 20:48Speaker 1: from hearing the episode, please share. And again, let's change
- 20:53Speaker 1: the way women think and feel about money together,