Worrying About Your Financial Future

Will I have enough to support my kids and myself???

It's common for parents going through a divorce to worry about their financial future.

It's like a "Cloud o' Fear" looms over you, reminding you to worry night & day about your future finances.

Here's how you dispel the "Cloud o' Fear": ⚡️NUMBERS⚡️

I work through the following exercise with almost every client, and customize it to their goals. If your future ability to cover your costs has you worried, give it a try! 

**[BEFORE YOU CONTINUE READING - the exercise below is not meant to be a comprehensive accounting for use in divorce negotiations. It's only meant to help you ground yourself in a range of possibilities to help reduce anxiety and be able to approach a full financial analysis with more ease and confidence.]**

1. Write down what your post-divorce expenses.

When your brain says, "I have no idea; there's no way I can even guess!" don't let it get away with saying that. ;-)

Instead, take the monthly expenses that will be your responsibility and estimate them one at a time:

 - Food

 - Rent/Mortgage

 - Insurance

 - Car Payment

 - Regular personal expenses

 - etc.

 Example: If you estimate your monthly expenses for food to be $800 and rent to be $2,000, you'll start to see a clearer picture.

 Separately, make a list of kid expenses by month as well:

 - School fees

 - Childcare

 - Camps

 - Extracurricular activities

 - Clothing

 - etc.

 Example: Maybe your child's school fees are $300 a month, extracurricular activities cost on average $100 and camps are $1,200 annually which averages to $100 per month. 

 Then tally 3 numbers:

  A) Your Expenses + 100% of kid expenses

  B) Your Expenses + 50% of kid expenses

  C) Your Expenses + 25% of kid expenses

 This is a great range to start to give you an idea of what you'll need as income going forward.

2. Start brainstorming scenarios to generate those levels of income.

 What are 5 different ways you could reach that income level for each A, B, and C?

 Each scenario could include a combination of:

 - Personal income from job(s) or businesses

 - Spousal support

 - Child support

 - Use of savings

 - Rental income

 - Investment income

 - etc.

 Example: If you need $7,000 a month, one scenario could be that you earn $5,000 from a job, receive $1000 in child support, and earn $1,000 from rental income.

3. Reflect on these scenarios.

 - Which ones feel the easiest?

 - Which ones feel the most possible?

 - Which ones require a change in your lifestyle?

 - Which ones feel like they provide the most stability?

 - Which scenarios feel workable for the short term and which ones feel like good fits long-term?

Use these reflection questions to help adjust your scenarios and see the creativity possible around reaching your financial goal. 

When you understand your financial situation clearly, you gain a sense of control. This clarity helps reduce the overwhelming feeling of uncertainty.

Want help working through this exercise, predicting your expenses, or coming up with potential income scenarios? I'd be glad to help!

Start by scheduling a Complimentary Coaching Consult to ask your questions about coaching or dive right in by booking an Initial 90-minute Coaching Session.

P.S. Notice how we can do all this work around money even before we know who's getting the house, how retirement will be divided, how much child support will be… Yes, those are all important decisions & numbers, but before you get those, you can still find peace by training your brain to think about many possible scenarios. 

Peace can come during your divorce process… you don't have to wait until it's all finalized.