Ep1: Silver Divorce — Learn how a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst operates with CFP® professional Marguerita Cheng
October 1, 2023: A Note from Actuary and Author Peter Neuwirth, FSA, FCA — I invite you to tune in for this month’s episode of my podcast and video show, Silver Divorce, where for 30 minutes, we unpack ways you can simplify the painful process of getting divorced in your senior years.
Meet our guest: Marguerita Cheng, CFP® Pro
This month’s topic: An Essential Conversation with a CFP Pro about Silver Divorce
Pete and Marguerita discuss:
- You are a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, CFP® professional. Discuss these roles and how you help your clients when they are going through the painful process of getting a divorce.
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Presumably, all divorces will eventually require a lawyer to get involved. How soon should attorneys become involved?
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It seems that among older couples contemplating divorce, real estate, taxes, and retirement income are the biggest financial issues. Do you agree?
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All three of these issues are related and potentially complex. In your experience, how do most couples address those complexities, especially when one or both spouses might have brought real estate or retirement benefits to the marriage?
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I often think of a CFP as the “general contractor”, who is hired to build a solid financial house for a married couple to live in for the rest of their lives. Silver Divorce seems like a demo/renovation project where you must take apart the couple’s financial life and then rebuild what is left into two smaller financial homes for each spouse to live in separately. First, do you agree with that analogy, and second, which “subcontractors” would you suggest looking to — both for the demo and the reconstruction?
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Perhaps to strain the analogy further, if you do need to take apart a couple’s financial life, what are some tips you might have for how to do that while preserving enough of the building materials to construct two viable and sustainable lifestyles?
About our guest: Marguerita is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Ocean Global Wealth. She has also been a spokesperson for the AARP Financial Freedom Campaign and a regular columnist for Investopedia & Kiplinger. Previously, she was a Financial Advisor at Ameriprise Financial and an analyst and editor at Towa Securities in Tokyo, Japan. Her certifications include being a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, CFP® professional, Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM, and Retirement Income Certified Professional®. As a Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards (CFP Board) Ambassador, Marguerita helps educate the public, policymakers, and media about the benefits of competent, ethical financial planning. She serves as a Women’s Initiative (WIN) Advocate and subject matter expert for the CFP Board, contributing to developing examination questions for the CFP® Certification Examination. Rita volunteers for several organizations, including the CFP Board Disciplinary and Ethics Commission (DEC) hearings; she has also served on the Financial Planning Association (FPA) National Board of Directors from 2013-2015 and is a past president of the Financial Planning Association of the National Capital Area (FPA NCA). Her awards include the Ameriprise Financial Presidential Award for Quality of Advice and the prestigious Japanese Monbukagakusho Scholarship. In 2017, she was named the #3 Most Influential Financial Advisor in the Investopedia Top 100, a Woman to Watch by InvestmentNews, and a Top 100 Minority Business Enterprise (MBE®) by the Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council (CRMSDC). Click here to learn more: MargueritaCheng.com.
Click here to learn more about actuary and author Peter Neuwirth: www.PeterNeuwirth.com • Listen to our podcasts on PeterNeuwirthRadio.com • Watch all of our episodes: www.PeterNeuwirth.tv