Today we are speaking with renowned author Tricia Peters of Divorce Financial Planners.
Tricia runs a financial planning company and is a Director of a collaborative law company based in Melbourne where they are renowned internationally for their pioneering work in peaceful separation and divorce. She served on the Board of the International Women?s Development Organisation for over 15 years and brings a wealth of knowledge.
Tricia?s passion is to enrich the lives of women financially and she notes that women often have very different financial experiences to men.
To begin with, women often have lower lifetime incomes, less superannuation, interrupted careers, higher healthcare costs and less personal savings. Therefore, if divorce or separation occurs it can hit women particularly hard.
?More often than not, our female clients have never been taught how money works, have never dealt with their own finances or made big financial decisions. The breakdown of their relationship not only brings emotional trauma but serious financial hurdles that require careful management? says Tricia.
?We have seen first-hand the real benefits women get from good financial advice. In the space of often just a few months, you can feel settled, have a plan that is meaningful and achievable and your confidence levels can have an enormous upswing as a result? says Tricia.
There is a massive need for women to seek financial advice and they are more likely to do so in an environment where they feel comfortable and are understood.
Tricia says this is why she, along with her co-Directors developed a comprehensive process that ensures all the areas are covered where women might be struggling – and to create a safe environment to work through this process.
Included below are some tips to help women make decisions for their financial happiness with divorce. These tips have been extracted from Tricia Peters? book ?Breaking up Without Breaking Down?.
10 TIPS ABOUT MONEY AND DIVORCE
- Don?t believe that fair equals 50:50
- Don?t keep the house if you can?t afford to
- Look at the whole financial picture, not one issue at a time
- Don?t forget life insurance – the lack of it could affect your family?s financial wellbeing
- Make decisions based on good information rather than what you think would be done in Court
- Work with a divorce financial planner
- Ensure that your assumptions about income, asset growth and budgets are realistic
- Don?t focus on a single option. There is a real place for creative thinking
- Don?t think of a financial settlement as a way of addressing emotional pain
- Make decisions that are sustainable and based on your realistic future needs
To find out more about Tricia Peters or to book an appointment (nationally):
www.melca.com.au
www.petersmckeown.com.au/the-process/