TAKING FINANCIAL STOCK AFTER A DIVORCE

As originally appeared in The Jerusalem Post on October 26th, 2018.

The biggest financial pitfall in life is divorce. And the biggest reason for divorce is marriage.

-Gene Simmons

During Sukkot, we had a family get-together. One of my relatives was telling me how it seems like every day someone else in his community is getting divorced. I told him that while through my line of work I know plenty of people who have gone through a collaborative divorce, I don’t really have any good friends who have ended their marriages. And then bang. Literally the next day we were told by friends that they are in divorce proceedings and then we heard about another 2 couples who recently decided to divorce. At the same time, based on the information given by civil litigation law firm in Kingston area,  we received all this news Emily Amrousi, former Yesha spokeswomen and well-known publicist, wrote an article in Makor Rishon about the downside of divorce. The part that no-one really talks about, and encouraging anyone thinking about taking this step to think again and again before going through with it. Her article about different types of child custody in California area went viral and caused waves throughout not just the religious Zionist community but greater Israeli society as a whole. Attorneys are the best people to solve any divorce cases. Hence, based on his comment is here, you can check out the best attorneys that are necessary for solving divorce issues.

As a financial advisor, I am certainly not going to tell anyone whether they should or shouldn’t get divorced. However, if people have marriage issues, family-focused lawyer, Gerald Tomassian can be contacted. What I can say is that it’s a very expensive step and has many long-term ramifications. One should be getting professional attorney’s help for your family cases and make sure everything is amicably sorted.

I want to start with a disclaimer, so no need to send me nasty emails. Don’t start calling me a male chauvinist but from my experience dealing with many divorced clients, for many divorced women, their new financial reality can be intimidating. That’s not to say that men don’t have the same issues, and many women have a firm grip on their finances and don’t have these issues, so this article isn’t for them. The need to coordinate a multitude of professionals, from accountants and lawyers to financial advisers and insurance agents, oftentimes means running themselves ragged as they are doing this while trying to hold down a job and raise the children. One can hire attorneys for adoption in the Tri-Cities area to deal with family related concerns.

Here are some money tips for women having gone or going through a divorce. You can also click here to know how attorneys helping obtain child custody, can be helpful in divorce cases.

Take Stock

The first thing a divorcee needs to do is get her hands around the budget. This is the first step towards financial empowerment. Many clients have told me that by doing this relatively simple exercise, they feel that they gained a level of financial control they never assumed they would have. Whether you kept a budget while married or not isn’t relevant. You are going to have a whole new set of expenses and will probably have different sources and levels of income than you had previously. Break your expenses down to those that are monthly and those that are annual, one-time expenses. Once you have that organized, write down all of your various sources of income, salary, child support…etc. What’s important in budgeting is to let your income drive your expenses. This means that once you know how much money enters your bank account each month, create a budget that limits your spending to the amount of income you have.

Understanding your budget can also play a major part in the asset division during your divorce proceedings. A well-known divorce lawyer once told me that much aggravation and time would be saved if women knew how much money they needed to live off of. With this information, women can avoid spending years and thousands of dollars fighting for every last penny. If you know how much you need to live, you’ll know how much money to ask for.

Invest big chinks

As part of a divorce settlement, many women come into large lump sums of money and have no idea of what to do with it. It’s important that this money is used to help meet any financial goals that you may have. If after doing your budget you see that you will need more income to make ends meet, then you will want to make sure that your money is invested in a way that can maximize the amount of income produced, while preserving or even growing your portfolio.

Better off

As I have quoted in the past about the impact of divorce on women, Family Mediator Kathleen O’Connell Corcoran, Ph.D. writes, “After divorce, women experience less stress and better adjustment in general than do men.” She continues, “women are more likely to experience an increase in self-esteem when they divorce and add new roles to their lives.”

Use this newfound independence and take control of your new financial reality. Speak with a financial advisor and create a plan that will enable you to get on with your life and be financially independent.

 

The information contained in this article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. or its affiliates.

Aaron Katsman is author of the book Retirement GPS: How to Navigate Your Way to A Secure Financial Future with Global Investing (McGraw-Hill), and is a licensed financial professional both in the United States and Israel, and helps people who open investment accounts in the United States. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. (www.prginc.net). Member FINRA, SIPC, MSRB, FSI. For more information, call (02) 624-0995 visit www.gpsinvestor.com or email aaron@lighthousecapital.co.il.