Financial Advisor for Women in Transition (Career Change, Divorce, Loss of Spouse, Sudden Inheritance)
Are you experiencing a change in your life circumstances?
Have you gotten (re)married or divorced?
Have you received a sudden inheritance or windfall?
Are you making a career change?
Each new chapter brings its own unique challenges and opportunities.
If you take advantage of the bright spots and plan for the future, you can set yourself up to thrive during this next phase of your life!
Divorce and remarriage.
One of the most challenging aspects of divorce (and later remarriage) is properly understanding your currently joint assets, income, and expenses, and developing an equitable plan for division. While mediators and attorneys are invaluable professionals, they are not always the most appropriate resources when it comes to understanding the longer-term consequences of dividing the households. I highly recommend consulting with a financial planner before arriving at the end-decision to part ways. This can be difficult, because not many people feel comfortable discussing this prior to making a decision. However, there is a lot to know about the process, and the more educated you can be going in, can hopefully spare some heart-aches or hard feelings during and after the process.
And second marriages, while exciting, can also be an especially important time to review, revise, update and possibly even completely overhaul both parties’ estate and financial plans. Who is responsible for what expense? Are we treating combined families fairly? Should we have a pre-nup?
Loss of a spouse.
Oh boy. It hurts to even think about the loss of a spouse. As I’m writing what feel like crass ‘bullet-points with a timeline after loss’ – I realize that this process would be much easier if women could grasp the importance of planning BEFORE undesired outcomes, while I hope with all my heart you never have to experience it (or at least not suddenly).
· First of all, do you know where all of your accounts, assets, liabilities, etc are?
· Do you have a financial organizer? You should have one – either on paper, or electronic, which is my preferred method, and something I offer my clients.
· Have you executed an estate plan, including Will, Power of Attorney, Living Will, Health Care Proxy, and possibly Trusts. Hint – if not, run, do not walk, to your nearest estate planning attorney!
Beyond thoughtful planning ahead, there is a recommended timeline of activities for surviving spouses. Having a checklist of activities, and enlisting a partner to help, can provide a sense of accomplishment during an otherwise very jarring and emotional phase of your life.
Career change.
Career changes, or moving from one work environment to another can be stressful. One of the most challenging parts of this transition is knowing what to do with the benefits, retirement accounts, etc at the old employer, and how to best incorporate all of those new offerings available at your current employer. Many HR departments and portals are insufficient in explaining your options, which often leaves questions unanswered and benefits not enrolled in.
Further, if you’ve decided to leave the corporate world and strike out in the world of entrepreneurship (welcome!), there are often MANY financial puzzle pieces that get left on the table and many more that need finding and put back together in your new gig!
Sudden inheritance.
If you are the beneficiary of a sudden inheritance, you may feel frightened, happy, ashamed, confused, you name it. Money is emotional – even more so when it did not come as result of our own labor, but rather from the loss of someone dear to us. However, regardless of the source, if we plan appropriately, we can turn those feelings into ones of gratitude, grace, and excitement for the possibilities it can afford us.
We can help.
At Green Bee Advisory, we work closely with each client, and their particular puzzle pieces of the beehive (I call them the individual honeycombs). We may jettison some pieces, reposition others, and incorporate new additions to your hive. In this phase, we are helping you gain clarity as to how your current financial beehive is functioning.
Once we clarify your financial beehive, then we work towards having it work for you – really work for you. YOU are the Queen Bee of your hive. I am there to support and guide you, but you are the Queen.
Together, we’ll help get your financial hive producing honey, preserving your assets (little bees), and launching other projects, dreams, and goals that you may have for your professional and personal lives.
We can do this. Let’s grow your beehive together.