Bermuda Parent Bermuda Parent Spring 2016 | Page 46

family finances
BY CARLA SEELY, VP PENSION AND INVESTMENTS,
FREISENBRUCH-MEYER GROUP
When there is no
‘Happily Ever After’
Managing Money and a Family after Divorce.
Sometimes life just isn’t fair.
You’ve worked hard, you’ve
saved hard and you’ve tried to
raise your children with good
values but your marriage has
suffered one way or another.
No matter how hard you have
tried, you and your spouse
have decided call it quits.
There will be a lot of changes in
your life once you make the decision
to get divorced. Whether you like it or
not, there is a need to accept all these
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changes, especially if they are going to
turn your world upside down.
So what happens now when you are
still juggling much of the same life you
had before, but now it is just you?
Some of the major aspects in your
life that will change are your finances
and how you deal with your children’s
expectations after divorce. Newly single
individuals are typically concerned
about their finances and want to make
sure they have enough for their immedi-
ate needs, and that they’ll have enough
for the other things down the road, such
as education and retirement.
The first step is creating your own
financial independence: a new bank
account, updating beneficiaries on life
insurance policies and your pension
plan and equally important, creating a
new “Just Me” monthly budget.
The shock of looking at your
newly formed single named
bank account and noticing
the bank balance is not ris-
ing as steadily as it once
did may leave you
feeling bewildered
or even panicky.
Furthermore,
noticing
that your expenses are not that much
different than they were before is really
frustrating.
For most people there is not much
you can do to increase the income com-
ing into the account on a monthly basis
at the start but there are definitely a few
things you can do to trim down what is
heading out of the account each month.
Budgeting is the foundation for getting
things on track again and the first step is
to list your current income and expens-
es. Keep in mind that while many of
your expenses may be lower than when
you were married, they won’t necessarily
be cut in half – after all, it takes the same
energy to run lights whether one person
or two. Think about ways to trim down
your expenses. Can you bring your
lunch to work instead of buying it? Can
you give up yoga classes right now until
can clearly track your spending pat-
terns? Be honest about what is necessary
and what can be reduced or postponed.
Updating your documents to
reflect a new beneficiary on your pen-
sion plan, and life insurance policy is
essential. It’s important to remember if
the beneficiary is a minor you will need
to list a guardian who will be in charge
of those assets until the minor becomes
of legal age.
Another task at hand is to head
back to the lawyers but this time you
need to find a lawyer who specializes in
Wills and Estates because it is time to
write/re-write your Will. It’s important
to think long and hard about where
you want your assets to go in the
event of your early demise,