Divorce Rich with Jacki Roessler, CDFA

Ready, Set, GO! Post-Divorce Gameplan: Divorce Rich SNACKS

• Season 1 • Episode 30

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Have you ever wondered how to navigate the maze of post-divorce financial tasks without losing your sanity? This episode promises to equip you with essential tools and strategies, transforming a challenging process into a manageable one. From mastering the art of organization with a downloadable worksheet to celebrating your progress with well-deserved rewards, Jacki ensures you're not just surviving but thriving after divorce.

This episode is packed with quick, practical advice designed to guide you through the first crucial year after a divorce. Learn the importance of updating your beneficiary designations, creating a new budget, and scheduling vital tasks to ease future burdens. Jackie also explores the benefits of holistic financial planning, offering insights into engaging a CPA and financial advisor for tailored guidance. Whether you're at the start of your post-divorce journey or several months in, this episode is your roadmap to financial clarity and independence.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK A FREE CONSULT WITH JACK TO DISCUSS FLAT-FEE POST-DIVORCE TRANSITION COACHING https://calendly.com/roessler-jacki/post-divorce-transition-coaching-consult?month=2025-02

Visit us at https://www.roesslerdivorce.com/ to learn more about Jacki's practice and to find valuable resources for your case.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Divorce Rich Podcast. I'm your host, jackie Ressler. I've been a certified divorce financial analyst for 28 years, helping clients and their attorneys navigate the often complex and confusing financial issues in divorce. If you're in the process of, or considering, divorce, now is the time for you to take a deep breath and give yourself permission to find clarity on the financial issues you're facing. Rich means many things to many people. I believe the best definition of being rich is someone who has access to many resources. Along with my guests on this podcast, I will be bringing you a wide variety of information so that you can make sound and informed financial decisions for your financial future.

Speaker 1:

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Divorce Rich Podcast. This is Jackie Ressler, and I am so excited that the episode you are about to listen to is part of our brand new series within a series called Divorce Rich Snacks. These are mini episodes that are going to be sprinkled throughout our regular lineup in 2025, and they offer practical advice and financial literacy information in a quick, digestible format. Most importantly, the topics that I'm going to be covering in these episodes are based on questions that I get from clients all the time, so I know that there are a lot of burning questions just like this amongst our listeners. Hi everyone, and welcome back to another Divorce Rich Snacks episode. These are short episodes with actionable items that will make it easy for you to sit down, take some notes and get some things done. Today's topic is one of my favorite topics to talk about.

Speaker 1:

We're going to be talking about your post-divorce game plan, and post-divorce, everybody would like to just take their divorce decree, shove it in a drawer and not look at it for a long, long time. But that is the worst thing to do, because once the divorce is final, there are things that you need to do within the first three months of the divorce being over, within the first six months and within the first year, and if you don't stand on top of those things, it can end up creating a much bigger headache for you. So I'm going to go over what I would call your post-divorce game plan things to do within the first year after the divorce and I'm also going to link to this episode a little worksheet that I have so that if you want to download it later on, you can download that and print it out. And from clients of mine, what I do is I will sit down with them and I have a customizable version of this game plan where we go through their judgment and we write down the specific things, the specific tasks that they need to do within the first three months, the first six years six months and the first year. The first six years is a long time. Sorry about that. So even when I'm not working with clients during the divorce, a lot of people will hire me post-divorce for just this post-divorce game plan coaching, and it's something that I would create my own. I create my own tracking spreadsheet for each client and then I make sure that they follow up on all of the things that need to get done. Let's face it if you've never been through divorce before, how are you supposed to know what the normal time frame is to get things done? Hopefully this episode will be a help for you.

Speaker 1:

Okay, step number one get organized. You want to get a hold of three certified copies of your final judgment of divorce or your settlement agreement. You also want to make sure that you have a copy of your most recent joint tax return that you filed with your spouse. I would also get a current credit statement for yourself or sign up for Credit Karma or another credit reporting app so you can take stock of where you're at financially. And then what you want to do. Grab a cup of coffee. For some people maybe a glass of wine For me it would be coffee. For other people that I know it would be tea or water.

Speaker 1:

Sit down with your beverage of choice, your divorce decree and a notepad and then make notes of any important dates that you need to add to your electronic calendar. So, for example, if child support is going to be decreasing when your first child reaches the age of majority, put that date in your calendar so that you know to expect a modification in child support at that time. If you don't put it in now, you might forget later. Better to have that. Just go ahead and put that in your electronic calendar. For a lot of people they're waiting. Every year they're going to get a portion of their former spouse's bonus income.

Speaker 1:

So you want to check your settlement agreement. What's the date that you would be expecting that and how should you be following up on that? Again, put that into your future calendar. It's a gift to your future self and you will thank your future self that you've gone ahead and done that for you so that it's just one less thing that you have to carry around in your mind. And believe me when I tell you that you are going to forget half of the things that are in your judgment of divorce you that you are going to forget half of the things that are in your judgment of divorce. So you want to keep that decree handy and whatever you can do now while it's all fresh in your mind, to take good notes, put action items into your calendar for the future. You're going to thank yourself for that Within the first one to three months.

Speaker 1:

You also want to make sure that if you need to have a quadro or a qualified domestic relations order to transfer any qualified plan into your name, you want to get the paperwork to get that going. I have another snack episode that I taped that I'm going to link here as well on the quadro process, which can be confusing, so I highly recommend that you listen to that. It's about 15 minutes. It will really help you get a handle on what the quadro process is and how long it takes and what to anticipate in each stage, because there are many stages that the quadros go through.

Speaker 1:

Any account transfers that need to happen, whether it's a post-tax account like a brokerage account, or a bank account or an IRA account, any account that needs to be transferred from my clients. I will sit down with them and I have my own internal tracking spreadsheet that I use to track all of the accounts where they're at, and I make sure that I take really detailed notes on that. For the last touch point and I'm going to refer to that continually as I'm working with a client post-divorce to make sure that they get all of those transfers taken care of this part seems like it should be really simple and easy, but if you are confused, you're not alone. It's not simple and it's not easy to transfer IRA accounts. Even to transfer a brokerage account can be complicated the paperwork that you need to fill out. So part of the battle is knowing that there is a battle ahead of you and it's not going to be something really simple. Once you're prepared for that, then you can dive into getting whatever paperwork you need.

Speaker 1:

You might need to have your attorney still involved in the case at this point and I know it's easy for me to say it's not my money, but it's money worth spent to have that already to have your attorney on call to help you get these transfers through. Believe me when I say that transferring all of the accounts is a big pain in the neck and anything that your attorney can do to help that any part of that process get through. You know, obviously you want to try and take whatever steps you can without the attorney, but when it comes down to it, I have a case right now. I'm working with a client post-divorce and we are, I've got a tracking spreadsheet and I'm helping her. But at the end of the day, for a couple of the accounts that are being transferred, I know that we might need to say to her okay, I've done everything I can, you've done everything that you can. We need to get your attorney back involved in the case. And again, that's the benefit of working with a divorce financial advisor after the divorce is done, because I have a sense of when things have gotten to the point where we need to get an attorney involved because of my experience.

Speaker 1:

But a lot of people going through a divorce, they don't know when to bring somebody in. So that is something that is going to be really important. You get on those account transfers right away, as soon as you can. That should be at the very top of your list. Because the minute that the judgment of divorce is final, the minute that you walk out of the courthouse, regardless of what your judgment of divorce says, as far as who's getting what asset, it really doesn't matter, because your judgment of divorce is only it's only applicable to you and your spouse. It's only enforceable between you and your spouse. It's not enforceable with a third party. So if part of your divorce decree says that you get half of a vanguard brokerage account and then you wait six months to get the paperwork completed, by the time you get the paperwork in, the money's been transferred out and you tell vanguard look, you weren't supposed to. They're gonna say sorry and you know we didn't have a copy of your judgment of divorce. And even if we did, it's not binding on us. If your husband or your wife is the owner on that account and they move the money out, you're going to be stuck and that's a real big problem to have Again, especially when we're talking about five, six months down the line. Now you're definitely going to have to have an attorney back involved and figure out how to put the toothpaste back in the tube. From experience I will tell you it is much easier to be on top of all these things than once money has been transferred out of an account, it becomes really difficult to get it included back into the marital estate and for you to get your share. So those are things that you need to get working on right away.

Speaker 1:

Another item that you have to put really high on your to-do list when the divorce is done is if you are going to continue your health care coverage through COBRA. Most health care plans require the former spouse to make an affirmative election within 60 days of receiving notice that they're eligible for COBRA, within 60 days of receiving notice that they're eligible for COBRA. So not 60 days within the date of divorce, not 60 days within the day that you settled your case, but 60 days within receiving notice that you're eligible for COBRA. So you want to confirm that your former spouse if they are the employee that has coverage that they have informed the plan of your divorce and provided them with contact information for you. This again needs to go really high up on your list of priorities. You never want to have one day of uninsured health care coverage. You never know what is going to happen to you. I had an accident recently over the winter break, where I slid down half a staircase a carpeted staircase on my back I broke some ribs, completely unexpected. I was very grateful for my health insurance. Usually I'm grousing about the payments for my health insurance premium, but in this case I was so glad that I had it. And you just you never know when you might need it and you don't want to have any day of uninsured coverage Next up.

Speaker 1:

This does not have to be within the first three months after the divorce, but once we're between three and six months post-divorce. I hate to say it, but it's time for you to look at your budget. Nobody likes the word budget. I have a podcast episode that I'm also going to link on why a budget is so important. A budget itself is kind of a nasty word. Nobody likes to hear the word budget. It sounds like restriction From a financial planning perspective. To me, a budget gives you freedom to prioritize what you want to spend your money on in your life, and three months after the divorce between three and six months is a good time for you to sit down and revisit your budget. If you never created a budget during the divorce, it's not too late to start now. I'm also going to link my budget worksheet for you in the show notes of this episode.

Speaker 1:

You want to make sure that you include things that only occur once a year. Let's say you want things like you know. Some people pay their insurance premiums on their homeowner's insurance once or twice a year because you get a discount. If you do it that way Holiday gifts, birthday gifts, travel you want to include all of the things in your budget that you spend money on and three to six months of the divorce under your belt, you should have a good idea of what money you have coming in and what money is going out and where you might want to stop and consider making some changes. And that includes being realistic for yourself about your current expenses and if they're affordable or if you need to reduce expenses in some areas, whether it's things like discretionary items, like dining out, ordering food in takeout so many of my clients are shocked at how much they spend on takeout food. It just it adds up really fast and with groceries costing so much right now I'm taping this in February of 2025. And even the price of eggs everything is so expensive. So we're spending a lot more money on food than a lot of us budget for, and it's important to have a really good grasp on exactly what's been going out of your bank account. So now is a good time to do that.

Speaker 1:

Also would be a good time three to six months after the divorce to make sure that any beneficiary designation changes that you were supposed to make that you've done so again, your divorce decree is only binding on you and your ex-spouse. It's not binding on third parties. So if your divorce decree says that after the divorce is done, you are allowed to take your spouse off as beneficiary of a life insurance policy, let's see what happens if you don't do that. So let's say you don't, you forget about it, you don't do it. You didn't have my handy dandy checklist in front of you or any checklist, and you just forgot. So if something happens to you and you died unexpectedly and you didn't change the beneficiary designation on your insurance policy, guess where that money goes? It goes to your ex-spouse, whether you're remarried, goes. It goes to your ex-spouse, whether you're remarried or not. Goes to your ex-spouse because it doesn't matter what the judgment says. Beneficiary designations on retirement accounts, life insurance contracts they always outweigh whatever your divorce decree says. So you have to be proactive in making sure that all of those beneficiary designations are changed. That being said, check your judgment of divorce again I know that you have a handy copy somewhere and see if you are allowed to change the beneficiary designation on retirement accounts. Usually, while quadros are pending or IRA transfers are pending, you're not allowed to change the beneficiary until those transfers are complete. So you don't want to do anything that's against your judgment of divorce and that might get you potentially into trouble. But once those quadros and transfers are all complete, you want to make sure you circle back and that you do change the beneficiary designation on your account so that your money goes where you want it to go when the divorce is done.

Speaker 1:

Another thing that I always recommend to clients three to six months after the divorce treat yourself Something small. It could be a little trip. It could be just going for walks outside, getting yourself some new shoes, a massage, a new hairstyle, play golf, whatever feels good to you. Give yourself some small treat to give yourself a nice big pat on the back for making it through the divorce process and your three to six months past. You've been through some stuff with paperwork and it's overwhelming. Take some time to give yourself a small financial treat or something that you consider to be a treat. It's so important. I even have this on my post-divorce game plan checklist of things that you need to do.

Speaker 1:

Another important thing to do within the first really the first year post-divorce is make sure that you have a CPA If you haven't been working with a CPA, that you get a new accountant. Audit your W-4 and make sure that you have the correct withholding status for your new tax status. Find out is this a good year for a Roth IRA conversion Another great question for a CPA. It also to me, and I've seen clients that work with a financial advisor after the divorce and I've seen clients that don't. The ones that do are so grateful that they have a post-divorce financial advisor working on helping them set up their new cash flow. Making sure that beneficiary designations have been changed, getting help with account transfers, developing a new financial plan, figuring out what you can afford in a mortgage or where you might need to cut back in your budget All of those tasks are really best handled with a financial advisor, and certainly if you need help with investment management, sometimes you don't want to stay with the financial advisor you had prior to the divorce. Sometimes you want a new start.

Speaker 1:

I always recommend that there are a few questions that you want to ask when you're interviewing financial advisors after the divorce. Question number one what percentage of your practice is working with people that are like me? What percentage of your practice is working with people that are like me? So, single post-divorce, add in whatever you want to add in that makes your situation unique and find out if that's their sweet spot. For a lot of financial advisors, they work with really young newly married couples or they work with older couples that are in retirement. You do want to make sure that you work with someone that is familiar with what a divorced person goes through. That's one question.

Speaker 1:

Another important question would be how do you get paid? So financial advisors get paid, generally speaking, in one of two ways. Either one they get paid a fee to manage investments and when the portfolio goes up, their fee goes up. When your portfolio goes down, the fee goes down, and that way you're both kind of on the same side of the table. You're both rooting for the portfolio to go up. In other words, so there's a built-in incentive for a fee-based financial planner that when your investment portfolio goes up, their fee goes up. So they have a built-in incentive for your investment portfolio goes up, their fee goes up. So they have a built-in incentive for your portfolio to go up. That's one way they can get paid. Another way is through commissions, and the way that commissions work is that annuities and certain other financial products, the vendor pays the financial advisor a commission to sell that product.

Speaker 1:

Now again, I'm biased, I will say up front towards fee-based financial planning. That's the way that I was kind of quote-unquote raised as a financial advisor is that it's better to have somebody fee-based because you're on the same side of the table, whereas when you're working with someone who's commission-based they are human nature being what it is they are incentivized to sell you the product that they make the highest commission on. Now, I'm not saying that every commission-based advisor does that. There are plenty of good commission-based advisors out there, but that's just the way that that system is set up and you always want to ask how do you get paid? A third really important and my last tip in terms of interviewing a financial advisor is is there any fee for me to get out of your investment management If I'm not happy with it? It shouldn't be a lifetime commitment. You should be able to get out of the investments at any point in time if you're unhappy with the way that it's working.

Speaker 1:

And I guess I'm going to add in this fourth piece For those clients that are going through a divorce done with a divorce, the best kind of financial advisor that you can find is an investment advisor that is also doing holistic financial planning, where they're looking at your entire financial situation and advising on your insurance and your tax planning and your investments, of course, but also cash flow management.

Speaker 1:

All of those things together would make a financial planner what I would refer to as a holistic financial planner, and for most divorcing clients that's what you need.

Speaker 1:

If you want to take a look again and I'm going to link in the show notes my post-divorce game plan worksheet and it's got a few other things on here that we didn't discuss If you are interested in hiring me to work on your case post-divorce to see if that's a good fit for you, I do charge a flat fee for that and I will help clients go through their settlement agreement.

Speaker 1:

We'll make a detailed checklist of what needs to happen in the first three months, six months and a year and I will work with the client and continue to make sure that those things are actually effectuated. So if you're interested, I'm going to also link in the show notes here a link for you to click on to set up a complimentary consultation to see if that's something that might work out for your situation. Thank you for joining in today and I appreciate the time that you've given to this podcast and I hope that you got some really good, beneficial tips for your post-divorce game plan. I hope that you got some really good beneficial tips for your post-divorce game plan. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to listen to Divorce Rich Podcast. If you like this podcast, please follow us on Apple or anywhere that you download podcasts and share this link with any friends or family that you think might benefit from this information.

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Jacki Roessler, CDFA

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