Some women who divorce later in life lose their sense of identity and wonder what their retirement will look like.StefaNikolic/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Sandra Mews, a senior financial advisor in Sudbury, Ont., has noticed more of her older female clients are getting divorced.
While divorce has financial repercussions, she says spouses often re-evaluate their lives when their adult kids leave home and they realize they no longer have much in common.
“Time is more precious as you get older, and one or both of the spouses may want to go in a different direction,” says Ms. Mews of Sandra Mews and Associates Inc.
Globe Advisor spoke with Ms. Mews, who also has experience as a family mediator, about how divorce affects women and a new program she started to help women navigate this new chapter of their lives.
How have your female clients been most affected by divorce?
Divorce is a major pivot point and changes the trajectory of the rest of their lives. It’s not just a financial shock. I have found that affected women want to know, ‘Will I be okay on my own?’ In some cases, they’ve lost their sense of identity, so they’re also wondering, ‘Who am I now? What is retirement going to look like now?’
Sandra Mews, senior financial advisor with Sandra Mews and Associates Inc., started a program last year designed to empower divorced women.Supplied
How can advisors improve how they help female clients facing divorce?
Empathy is a big one. As advisors, we take them through the planning process and get them through the other side. But women who never took the lead on finances may need more of a steady hand. Sometimes they need the basic, no-jargon information that’s less technical, and more tools to help them build their confidence.
It’s a big transition.
I personally went through a divorce and I remember that disoriented feeling. They need to make key decisions, and if they’re overwhelmed, emotional, feeling alone and have a not-so-great money mindset, they will likely make not-great decisions.
They may have let the spouse take the lead on finances, and so sometimes they may not feel that they know enough. An overwhelmed feeling sometimes prevents them from even starting to create their future. They need a guided path from chaos to clarity. Empowered women make completely different, informed decisions.
You started a program for women who are divorced or widowed. Tell us about it.
Plan Her Future is my passion project dedicated specifically to empowering women. I launched it in December and it’s not just for clients – it’s open to the public.
PHF is not one-on-one financial planning with Sandra. It’s designed in a cooking format so they can start to be educated using cooking analogies. We start with a free master cooking class, which gives them hands-on experience of making something.
From there, it becomes a private online community in which women can get support and guidance. There’s financial coaching, joy-based activities, and a private safe space where they can have conversations with each other.
The idea is to set the stage with finances as a foundation, but it’s not to be fully about finances. We will have challenges and guest speakers. They just need to know they don’t have to walk this next chapter alone, because loneliness can be a big part of divorce.
It’s about how to guide them for confidence, to make decisions and to go toward goal-setting and joyful, intentional living. They get a sense of community and a fun night out with a cooking-class format.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article used the wrong name for the program Sandra Mews started, which is called Plan Her Future.