A divorce is always going to be a stressful period of your life, but if you have always deferred financial planning to your partner, you will also have a lot of learning to do.
Divorce often comes with various financial nuts to crack, so to speak, which may mean that you are having to learn to live with less or have to split some assets for a fair deal. A good family lawyer will be able to help you with this but you will also need to decide what to prioritize in the immediate future.
Though divorce is often a painful process, especially if it is not what you wanted, if you see this as an opportunity, there are lots of ways that you can develop and grow in yourself too.
Make a List of Your Goals
One of the most stressful things is knowing that you want a lot but not knowing how to get there. The simplest route to success is to make a list of your financial goals and so that you can prioritize what you want and start working towards each goal more practically. It’s all very well saying that you want to save for a deposit on a house, but if you don’t have a saving strategy, it just won’t happen.
However, when you set goals, you should also be realistic about what you can afford. It may not be possible for you to return to the lifestyle you had before so look to the future when you make plans instead of to the past. This is about what you want, not anybody else.
Live Within Your Means
To make the most of your money, you need to know how much is coming in and how much is going out. This should be basic math, but money can get a bit more complex after a divorce if alimony is required. Write down all your incomes in one column and all your usual outgoings in another including things like rent, bills, groceries, entertainment etc.
With this list, you will be able to see where you might need to make cutbacks so that you don’t exceed your income, or where you might be able to put a little more in savings. It is very important that you start rebuilding your savings as soon as possible after a divorce, so be smart with your money as things settle down.
Invest in Yourself
Just because you got divorced, it doesn’t mean that life is over. In fact, a healthy way of looking at the situation is as a new opportunity. This might be hard to begin with, but as you rediscover the joys of being single, you will gradually realise that this is a great time to invest in yourself.
Take the art class you always wanted to do or go traveling to that place you saw on a documentary – give yourself the lifestyle that you wanted and enjoy working to progress your career or even pick a new one! This is a time to be selfish for once, so grab it with both hands and you never know what might happen next.
