5 Tips to Managing Money During Divorce- Money is the biggest worry and cause of stress for divorced parents- here are 5 tips to help you get through

I was featured in the Irish Independent Newspaper today, where I gave some top tips on how to manage finances during Divorce. It's subscription only, however you can find the link here. 

I was also featured in German, Swiss and Austrian publications that are also global (see attachment Download here) and I was interviewed by French radio shows. In two weeks I will be doing a road-trip to visit clients and speak at various events across the USA in New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and LA. I am also back to Dubai and Switzerland later this year. Mel Murphy International has truly gone global!  If you, or anyone you know, would like to meet up with me find out more about my dates in the USA further below and reach out with 'Let's Chat!' in the heading to mel@melmurphyinternational.com

 The top 3 issues that my clients come to me with are overwhelm and navigating the divorce process, managing Finances during divorce, and managing Co-Parenting and communication issues with a difficult Ex. 

Let's cover Finances and Money, the topic of my article in the Irish Independent. I know you're busy so below are some simple, top 5 tips that have helped my clients:

1. Start with knowing your Net Worth: Total value of all assets less total value of all debts. If you were to sell everything of value- house, cars, investments, priceless paintings, crown jewels etc. and paid off all debts- mortgage, car loan, holiday loan etc... and started from scratch, how much would you be left with? This is known as your Net Worth, and gives you an idea of where you stand financially.

2. Create two pretend budgets- one for you and one for your to-be-Ex: Imagine you did have to households, how much would each of you need? Look up rents or costs of buying a property in the areas you would both ideally like to live. Add in all estimated fixed budget items such as food, electricity, gas, insurances, phone, internet, TV etc.. depending on the amount of time children will spend in each home. Add children costs such as childcare, afterschool care, after school activities, schooling and others depending on who's budget this might go in. Add in a family holiday to each budget. Add in your own personal costs- clothes, gym/sports, personal care etc... This is a draft and pretend budget that you can continue to play around with. Once you have all the costs for each budget, look at all income coming in from both parties. Total all the incomes together as if they were one. Total all the costs together as if they were one. Minus the costs from the income to see what is left- if it is a minus amount, this is the gap you need to fill by either earning more, or reducing costs. Play around with the budgets and income. Think outside the box and be creative. The biggest costs to check are accommodation, Childcare, Food and Transport. How can you reduced these? How can you increase income- promotion, new job, education etc...If this all sounds too complicated to you, You can reach out to me here to get a free budget calculator and book a call with me to help you get your finances back on track.

3. Get advice from your solicitor on how to effectively fill out a Statement of Means, which is required by the courts as part of your divorce process. Make sure you review your to-be-Ex's Statement of Means and ensure your solicitor pushes back if you feel there is something missing or incorrect in what they are putting forward. Seek help from a Forensic Accountant if needed. If you want top tips in how to compete your Statement of Means, book a call with me here.

4. See a Financial Planner- I always recommend that my clients see a Financial Planner. They use special software to help project what income you will need over your lifetime, including pension needs, based on your expected expenses throughout your life. By filling out a simple form, they can help you understand what you need as part of maintenance agreements to live the life you are accustomed to. They can also plot into their projections various maintenance amounts put forward by the other party to help you understand where there may be red flags and come up with solutions on how to bridge these gaps. You can then use this as part of your court process. For a list of Financial Planners that I have worked with reach out to me at Mel@melmurphyinternational.com with the title- Financial Planner. 

5. Seek help from your local Citizens Advice Bureau, Welfare Office and charities such as One Parent. There are many supports out there for divorced and single-parenting families that you may not be aware of. Every little bit helps and it is worth informing yourself of supports out there that you may not have known about, from childcare support, back to school expense support, part-time work top-up to enable you to work part time and avoid child care costs and more.

Know anyone in the USA who could benefit from getting some separation and divorce support or wants me to do a presentation? I'll be in the following cities meeting clients and presenting on these dates:

New York- March 15-18

Las Vegas- March 20-21

San Francisco- March 23-25

LA- March 30-31

With Warmth and Support,

X Mel.