When people hear the word “divorce”, they often only think of the emotional impact that they will be experiencing, and forget about the financial implications of starting over. It is still common in many relationships, where only one spouse is in charge of money matters while the other spouse has minimal participation. Either way, a divorce or any lifestyle change requires each person to confront their own finances. Even under the best circumstances, it is a very hard thing to do. This is where an Investment Advisor steps in to help ease the financial burden.
As advisors, our job is to assist clients in getting better organized, developing strategies to build their net worth and providing overall wealth management. In the case of divorcing couples, some of the financial areas that people often overlook are: changes in expected lifestyle, reduced income, child related expenses and support payments, spousal support, splitting retirement & pension savings, re-writing wills, and so forth. All of these factors have a significant effect on people starting over.
It is strongly suggested when people are going through a divorce to take into account the following: what is owned, sources of income, what is owed, short & long-term goals, tax minimization, estate planning and overall wealth management. Once all this information has been discussed, advisors can prepare a sound financial plan for starting over and for the future. It is our goal to strive and achieve satisfied clients who now have healthy finances leading to financial security. As an offer to Gelman & Associates clients, I would be happy to sit down and provide a complementary financial plan. The added value of making good financial planning decisions can amount to the equivalent of “an extra 1.8% return on your portfolio every year.” (Morningstar Retirement Income Research, 2012).
Samuel Gorenstein is an Investment Advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc. and can be reached via his website at www.samuelgorenstein.ca.
