Build the new baseline
What do you actually own now? What's the income? What does the budget look like as one household? Most plans start with answers to questions like these.
Financial planning for divorced women rebuilding independence post-divorce. Coaching, accountability, and a real plan for the next chapter, from a fiduciary CFP.
What do you actually own now? What's the income? What does the budget look like as one household? Most plans start with answers to questions like these.
The big decision usually involves the house. Keep it, sell it, refinance it. The choice has ripple effects on retirement that need modeling.
Pre-divorce projections assumed two incomes and shared expenses. The new numbers can be sobering, but they're workable when you start now.
Decisions that felt easy as a couple feel hard alone. Part of the work is the regular conversation, not just the spreadsheet.
We meet on a real cadence, usually quarterly. The plan flexes as your life and the tax code change. Most relationships span decades.
Offices in Boca Raton and Plantation, plus licensed in all 50 states. Existing clients keep us when they move.
Most divorced women come to us with a settlement in hand, a list of newly-titled accounts, and a vague sense that they need to make decisions but no clear sense of the order. The work starts with stabilizing the picture: what you have, what your income looks like, what the next 6 to 12 months actually cost.
From there the longer-term work begins. Retirement projections that used to assume two incomes need to be rebuilt. Beneficiary designations that listed your ex need updating. The estate plan you had as a married couple needs a real rewrite.
Composite scenarios drawn from real client work, anonymized.
Cash flow stabilized, beneficiaries audited, a draft plan in hand. Most clients feel oriented by month three.
Tax positioning implemented, investment policy in place, the first quarterly reviews done. Decisions start compounding.
The plan has flexed to handle real-life shifts (a new job, a sale, a loss). The pattern is steady decisions, not reactive ones.
If your settlement is still being negotiated, we're happy to consult before it's final. Sometimes a small change in the asset mix or the alimony structure (where it still applies post-2017 tax law) makes a real difference to the long-term plan.
Most divorced-women engagements touch several of these areas:
The complete rebuild. New cash flow plan, new retirement projection, new asset allocation.
See full financial planning →The behavioral coaching part. The accountability cadence that makes the plan actually happen.
See financial coaching →Beneficiaries, account titling, will and trust updates. The ex-spouse cleanup that most divorces leave undone.
See estate plan update →Many divorced women also fit one of these:
"After my divorce I needed someone who would help me build a real plan, not just sell me something. Beth treated me like a partner. She explained everything and never pushed."
"The retirement projections were ugly when we first ran them. Three years later we're on track. The coaching is what kept me on the savings plan."
"I had a settlement in hand and no idea where to start. Beth got me organized in two meetings. The estate plan rewrite happened a few months later, once I was ready."
Posts our wealth advisors have put together on this topic.
Ideally during the negotiation phase, not after. Small choices in the settlement (which assets go to whom, how the retirement accounts are split, whether the house is kept) can have outsized long-term effects. If the settlement is already final, the work shifts to making the best of what you have.
A Qualified Domestic Relations Order is the legal document that allows a retirement account (like a 401(k)) to be split between divorcing spouses without triggering tax. It has to be drafted properly and approved by the plan administrator. If your settlement involves splitting a 401(k) or pension, the QDRO is essential.
Often the most important decision and the most emotional one. The financial answer depends on the equity, the cost to maintain, the mortgage situation, and what the alternatives look like for your retirement plan. We run the numbers honestly. Some clients should keep it. Others should not.
Filing status changes from married-filing-jointly to single (or head-of-household if you've qualifying children). The bracket structure shifts. Capital gains exclusions on a primary home shrink from $500K to $250K. Alimony tax treatment changed in 2017 for divorces finalized after that year. We coordinate with your CPA.
Each plan has its own form. IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, and life insurance policies all need to be updated separately. The will doesn't control these designations. We do a full beneficiary audit as part of the engagement.
The first meeting is a conversation, not a sales pitch. We'll talk about where you are, what you're working through, and whether Intercoastal is the right fit. In person in Boca Raton or Plantation, or by video from anywhere.