Divorced parents, more than anyone, can feel extremely vulnerable during disasters, especially if you are counting on investments to help you shore up the financial hardship that always comes when you have to support two households instead of just one. The last thing you need when a crisis occurs is to feel like the whole world is crashing in, including your emergency funds. Fortunately, with a little forethought and preparedness, you can have confidence that your assets are covered, even in uncertain times.
There are three critical aspects to protecting your assets for any emergency -- preparing before disaster strikes, surviving the catastrophe and recovering. Below are seven important ways to protect your nest egg at all times and to be in the best position to profit (while others are still scrambling to recover). As one of the few people who tripled my stock investments in 2001 -- without shorting -- during a time when most investors lost more than half of their nest egg, I feel a bit qualified to talk about protecting your assets against war and terrorism. And as a single mom, I can tell you that using these strategies helped me to focus my energy on my family during that emotional time for our nation, rather than worrying about the stock market -- an invaluable benefit.
Preparing Yourself Before Disaster Strikes
Natalie's Three Takeaway Tips
1. Disasters in the stock market are opportunities to buy into companies that you've loved for a while, but thought were out of your price range. So keep that shopping list of favorite stocks handy.
2. There's a big difference between buying into your favorite companies--that you prescreen before disaster strikes--and being seduced by the promise of hot tips, like anthrax vaccines.
3. The average return for the stock market over the last thirty years was 11 percent. That time period includes many financial disasters, including 9/11, the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the U.S. debt crisis of 1992 and Black Monday 1987 and the Great Recession, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped to a low of 6547.
About Natalie Pace:
Natalie Pace is the author of You Vs. Wall Street. She is a repeat guest on Fox News, CNBC, ABC-TV and a contributor to HuffingtonPost.com, Forbes.com, Sohu.com and BestEverYou.com. As a philanthropist, she has helped to raise more than two million for Los Angeles public schools and financial literacy. Follow her on http://www.facebook.com/NWPace, and on YouTube.com/NataliePaceDOTCOM. For more information please visit, http://www.nataliepace.com.
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They’ll need expert advice & guidance from a financial advisor (that understands all the financial & tax implications of divorce) with: Budgeting, Retirement planning, Investments, Asset protection, Insurance, Estate planning, etc.
Of course, how to accomplish this depends on their specific circumstances including the amount and type of assets they have, income (including alimony), liabilities, age & family longevity, health, work history, age of children, time horizons, risk tolerance, etc.
In any event, job number one should be figuring out their post-divorce budget.
Many women that have been out of the workforce for a long time or whose income is substantially less than the expenses needed to maintain a post-divorce lifestyle somewhat comparable to their marital lifestyle, will need to start liquidating assets day one after their divorce!
Without knowing what their budget & "burn-rate" is, there is no way to figure out how long those assets will last & what lifestyle & other adjustments should be made.
Although Natalie has some excellent advice, her advice should only come into play after you have conducted a thorough analysis of your current & projected financial situation & you have a much better understanding of your risk tolerance & what rates of returns you will need on your various assets & investments.