Divorce is a dreadful event emotionally for everyone involved, but it also has a huge financial impact on Australians due to our family law arrangements.
When it comes to splitting assets, everything can be considered part of the matrimonial asset pool: the home, investments, savings, and even your superannuation.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) indicates that around half of all marriages end in divorce with 47,000 divorces granted in Australia each year. When you consider this figure doesn’t include defacto couple break-ups it’s easy to see how many people are impacted by the financial ramifications of relationship breakdowns.
Financial Advice for Divorce
Rebuilding your life financially and emotionally after divorce and relationship breakdown is a difficult task. In addition to the emotional impact, your divorce and separation also has financial ramifications. Whether you were the main income earner in the household, or a stay at home mum, your financial status has changed as a result of the separation and you need to ensure that your assumptions are realistic going forward. To start rebuilding your life you need to start with a budget to ensure that you have an accurate idea about your new cost of living. Many people find that an experienced financial planner can assist them in this rebuilding phase to:
assess your income and expenses and develop a budget moving forward
help you to identify your financial goals – it is likely that these will have changed now that you are divorced
formulate a financial plan to help you secure your financial future through appropriate investing and life insurance. This may incorporate any funds received from your financial settlement.
Many people who divorce find that the financial impact can set them back years. This is particularly evident where divorce occurs later in your working life – you have less time to rebuild your finances before retirement. By getting the advice of a financial planner experienced in divorce and separation, you can make the most of a difficult situation and start getting your financial life back on track.
For more information about how to rebuild your finances after divorce, download our free ebook Divorce and Separation. In it you’ll find some great information to help you.
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