How to Keep More of Your Money
As soon as you start thinking about divorce, you have a sickening, panic-inducing thought that you will lose half of your net worth. You wonder if it’s even worth it to consider leaving if you’re just going to end up broke and starving.
There are ways to make sure that your financial future is not doomed. First and foremost, be sure you have a financial advisor who specializes in divorce on your team. You’ll want to be fully informed of all the creative settlement possibilities that may be open to you.
One of my colleagues was referred to a couple for help with their divorce. They had been married 24 years and were entirely amicable, even seeing an attorney together. The attorney explained that he could do only document preparation since he was ethically bound to represent only one party. That was fine with them, but they asked how they would determine their property division. He replied, “This is a community property state, so we’ll just divide each asset and each debt exactly 50/50.”
The couple wondered if that was the smartest thing to do and were referred to my colleague, a CDFA®, (Certified Divorce Financial Analyst) to explore options.
After gathering all of their financial documents and completing the analysis, the CDFA® put together two reports for the clients.
- The first reflected an exact 50/50 split as the attorney had suggested.
- The second was a creative settlement solution that also resulted in a net 50/50 split but took into consideration tax planning and tax consequences as well as the needs of each of them as they planned for the next phases of their lives.
This couple had a little less than $800k in total net worth and the creative settlement solution resulted in an additional $20,000 EACH to their bottom lines simply because some financial intelligence was used to determine their settlement. That’s real money!
Needless to say, the couple was thrilled knowing that they saved $40,000! Don’t go into this blind. There are many ways to ensure that both of you get to keep more of your own money. Get the right experts on your team. We’d love to help you! Call us today.
About the author:
Bev Banfield is a CPA, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst®, and founder of Banfield Divorce Financial Advisors. Banfield established the Denver-based company to help divorcing couples more easily and equitably separate their finances. Banfield has more than 30 years of experience in financial analysis, budgeting, and auditing. Contact us for more information at (303) 482-1726 or Bev@bbdfa.com. Connect with Bev on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbanfield/