Maureen
Recently Divorced
AGE: 65
PROFESSION: Retired
PRIMARY GOAL: Understand the dynamics of the family finances before the divorce. Educated herself on the investments that she now has. Learn what financial responsibilities she will have from this point on.
Maureen was married for over 30 years and had left most of the financial decisions and paying off bills with her ex.
THE CHALLENGE
Maureen had started her social security benefit but relied upon her ex’s salary to cover most of the monthly bills. Without an alimony agreement in place, she needs to figure out how to pay her bills asap.
She now needs to understand what bills are outstanding and when they need to get paid.
She needs to educate herself on investments and understand taxes.
She has plenty of questions:
Where should my money be invested?
Where do I take money from to pay my monthly bills?
How do I make sure I won’t run out of money?
THE APPROACH
When we first sat down with Maureen, we let her know that Grey Divorce is very common and that we’ve helped several divorcees through this process.
We explained that our main objective was to educate her on her options and to ask questions to uncover items that she may not have thought of.
We then collected her documents and went to work. After our analysis, we methodically went through each statement with Maureen to make sure she knew what she had and how each account worked. And finally, we formulated a plan to help Maureen feel confident that she could manage her finances going forward.
THE RESULT
With her new plan in place, Maureen was able to:
Tell us what the difference was between a qualified account (IRA) and a non-qualified account and how they are taxed.
Complete a monthly budget and within 3 months understand when each bill would be coming in and when they needed to be paid.
Have enough money each month generated from her SS and scheduled monthly distributions from her assets.
Start to live her “new normal” feeling confident that her finances were in order.
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