5 Divorce Financial Tips from a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst: Kristina Heckel, CDFA®
Show Notes
On this episode of 5 Fresh Tips, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst Kristina Heckel shares five practical tips for organizing your finances and protecting your financial future through divorce. It's for anyone considering divorce, in the middle of the process, or rebuilding afterward.
About our guest
Kristina Heckel, CDFA®, CFEI®, is a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and the principal and founder of Bloom Divorce Advisory Services, based in Arizona. She helps clients understand the financial side of divorce through financial education and settlement scenario modeling. Kristina is a Fresh Starts expert, and you can find her on her Fresh Starts Registry expert profile, on Instagram, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook.
Kristina's five tips
- Take yourself on a money date. Set aside time each month to review your income, spending, and any subscriptions you've forgotten. Paper statements or a budgeting app both work.
- Grace with a plan. When decision fatigue sets in, pause and sort what is time-sensitive from what can wait. Track deadlines in a calendar system that works for you.
- Build your paper trail before anyone asks for it. Gather records of what you own, what you owe, and how money moves between accounts. Organized records can reduce what you spend on attorney hours.
- Not every dollar is the same. Liquid cash, after-tax dollars, and tax-deferred retirement dollars carry different value depending on your income and needs. If you're awarded part of a 401(k), a separate domestic relations order is needed to divide it.
- The paperwork after the paperwork. After the decree, update beneficiaries, transfer deeds, move utilities into your name, retitle assets, and meet refinancing deadlines. Some deadlines are strict and vary by jurisdiction.
Resources mentioned
- The Vault Kit and the Bloom Forward community from Bloom Divorce Advisory Services
- Fresh Starts Registry offers free consults, a vetted expert network, and free guides.
Where to listen and subscribe
Listen to the full episode on Spotify. You can also follow Fresh Starts Podcasts on Instagram and subscribe to the Fresh Starts newsletter.
Thank you to Kristina for sharing her expertise, and thank you for listening.
This episode is for general information and isn't financial, tax, or legal advice. Rules for retirement accounts and transferring assets vary by account type and by state.