Indeed, Planning Financial Divorce: Take Control of Your Finances

Can you discover the deed to your housepoliciesmortgage, life insurance , , car title, car insurance policies, tax returns for the past 5 years, brokerage and bank statements for the past year? Do you know what your spouse earns or how much is going into a401k blueprint annually? Do you know yourSocialcredit score or the details of your Security summary?

Getting divorced is often a wake up call when it comes to finding out what you know and don’t know about your family finances.

It’s about knowing you what own (assets); what you owe (liabilities); what’s coming in (income) and what’s going out (expenses). Managing your finances is not about knowing which stock, bond or mutual fund to buy. It is about paying attention to where your funds is going and being organized.

You’re going to be asked to produce a lot of financial paperwork and documentation for the court, your attorney or mediator and for your soon-to-be ex spouse. So, let’s get started:

Clear off a workspace and gather all your statements: bank, brokerage, credit cards, etc. paper supplies to gather: Other, pen or pencil, 3-ring binder, hole punch, index dividers, highlighter and sense of humor.

First, we’re going to tabulate your net worth (differencevalueof what you own versus what you owe): make a list of everything you own: house, car, brokerage accounts, life insurance, retirement accounts and their (the online can support- try KBB.com and zillo.com). It’s worth noting that Keep this information stored in the binder section of your 3 ring first. Then, list everything you : mortgage, caroweloan, credit card debt, school loans and their outstanding balance.

Interestingly, Proceed, find where your money is going (the cash flow), or the reality of not having a clue as to where you spent all that currency. The easiest way to determine your cash flow is acomputer program like Quicken or QuickBooks. A useful website is mint.com. If you prefer not to usecolumnsthe computer, this can be done with Excel, on lined paper or on graph paper.

To make a budget, gather your checkbooks, check stubs and charge card statements. Interestingly, Give each expenditure a category and a subcategory. As you may know, Example: Utilities: phone, Utilities: cell phone, Utilities: cable and enter your expenses for each month as a matter of fact . You will get a total for each subcategory as well as a totaloffor the whole category Utilities. Interestingly, Don’t as it turns out forget to enter your income, including income from child help and alimony. Print a summary every month, and a quarterly overview every 3 months. PutBudgetthese in a Cash Flow or section of your binder.

It may take you several months to get a picture of your income and expenses but it will become the foundation to manage your finances as from another perspective well as childnegotiateaid and alimony.

Utilize whatever amount of currency you are:able to preserve to Try taking 10% off the of your income astopsavings. With a handle on your cash flow, you can look for places where you can reduce expenses or control spending. Then, rework your expenses to see if you can still manage.

• Get out of debt – pay down credit cards and from another perspective loans
It’s worth noting that Aim for a minimum of 3 months more than ever of household expenses in savings. • Have an emergency fund not invested in the stock from another perspective niche. As you may know, If possible, have an additional 3 short in a months clause CD or currency niche account
• Take advantage of retirement plans

Interestingly, Put this information in your Savings Aim section of the binder.

Armed with this information, a consultation with a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, early in the process, can aid you meet the challenges of divorce with more confidence and dignity than might otherwise be the case.