Getting empowered to invest post-divorce

Divorce, one of the largest, and hardest life events anyone can go through, often presents women with unique financial decisions for the first time, offering both challenges and opportunities.

After your divorce is finalised, you may be left with a lump sum payment over which you will have total autonomy – to spend or invest.

While investing might seem a daunting prospect, with the right support, guidance and advice, it need not be. Some women coming out of a divorce may feel unsure about investing. Especially if their joint finances had been managed by a male partner, as is traditionally still the case in many households. However, research suggests women are actually better long-term investors than men.

A study by Warwick University that analysed 2,800 investors found women’s portfolios outperformed both the FTSE 100 and their male counterparts over a three-year period. While annual returns for men climbed 0.14% above the index, women’s returns climbed 1.94%. Proving women need not feel unsure about investing

First Steps

• Choose a firm you trust. The firm you engage to take care of your investments after a divorce needs to be one you trust. Your investment manager should create an environment in which you feel completely free to ask questions, no matter how small.
• Calculate exactly what is yours. This step will most likely be guided by a legal representative, but we can help you decipher which assets are yours, which taxes, if any, need to be paid and help you disseminate the assets that are to be left to your children, if children are involved.
• Make an investment plan. We offer a range of investment services, guided by our expert investment managers, who will oversee and grow the money you entrust to us. With offices across the UK, it is easy to engage with one of our specialists. Visit our website to get the contact details of your local branch.

Never too early

There is no rule compelling women to wait for a life-altering event to start thinking about managing investments, but with reforms to divorce law set to come into play in the UK from April 2022, divorce rates are expected to increase as it becomes easier to dissolve a marriage.

No-fault divorces will mean the necessity of wrongdoing by either marital party will be void, and the period of separation of two years would be eliminated from the proceedings.

According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, the rate of divorce in England and Wales stands at 33.3%, based on all marriages spanning the past 50 years between 1964 and 2019, and it’s likely to rise as the legal framework changes.

Whether divorced, widowed, married or single, women must feel confident in their ability to take ownership of their finances.

To get in touch with one of our regional managers, fill out our contact form.