Introduction to Her Divorce Source with Leah Podcast

By Leah Jones on December 16, 2021

Her Divorce Source with Leah:

In general, people make bad financial decisions based on emotions. Divorce is one of the most emotionally taxing experiences someone can go through, and often, your finances may suffer at the hands of your emotions.

Welcome to Her Divorce Source with Leah Jones, CDFA®!

In this episode, get to know host Leah Jones, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst®. She shares details about why chooses to help divorcing women manage their finances and investments, and how education plays a big role in the work she does.

Leah discusses:

• How she got into her role working with divorcing women
• Who she works with (her ideal client) and why she chooses to work with them
• What she does for her clients
• Why education is big component of the work she does
• And more

[00:00:00] Has divorce become a reality? And you’re asking yourself now what? If you have questions about your new life you’re in the right place? Her divorce source with Leah Jones is the go-to podcast for women before, during and after a divorce. Join me, Leah Jones, a certified divorce financial analyst at Hightower Bethesda.
[00:00:25] As I help you envision and create a new life that’s full of possibilities, empowerment, and freedom. I’ll tackle your concerns about lifestyle and money. Giving you practical guidance you can use right away. Now let’s get started.
[00:00:43] Welcome to her divorce source with Leah Jones. In this episode, we’re going to learn a little bit more about Leah. I’m Patrice Sikora. Now the best place to start is probably the beginning, Leah. So how did you get into the business? Thanks Patrice. I [00:01:00] had a fascination about money from a very young age. I started businesses as early as elementary school, and I was generally obsessed with the idea of investments and making more money.
[00:01:13] I elected to read investment books in high school. And then the first chance I had to choose to specialize in a subject was college and I chose business and a finance degree. And I started my career almost 20 years ago in the financial industry. I have held different roles within the financial industry, but ultimately I gravitated toward a financial advisor role, both because of, again, that interest in investments and working directly with clients.
[00:01:42] All right. And you’ve kind of specialized though. Who do you work with now and why? I work with affluent divorcing women, and affluent is defined as post the divorce. The divorcing woman would have at least 1 million in investable assets. [00:02:00] Now this is a very specific definition because that’s who I can really help the most.
[00:02:05] If someone listening is not in that situation they can still reach out and I will always leverage my network to find them an appropriate resource. Generally, I work in two different types of situations as it relates to divorcing couples. So one is there’s still trust in the relationship related to financial integrity and they want.
[00:02:28] With a tenured financial professional, who has the experience of working through the various financial aspects of divorce. It’s more collaborative in nature because I’m often talking to both parties many times. In fact, I’m engaged by the husband in this situation because they know post divorce, their wife will need assistance in managing the investments on their own.
[00:02:52] Really that’s interesting that the husband would. Obviously, this is a more amicable situation, right? And I think in this, in this [00:03:00] case, the husband recognizes that there are significant assets there and knows that it’s going to be overwhelming to the wife to deal with that on their own. And so they want to set them off on the right.
[00:03:11] The second need arises for a more specific kind of financial planner on the divorce team that can help answer questions related to projections, financial settlement options. And like their long-term consequences based on different scenarios. So in this case, I’m generally representing the divorcing woman on a team with her family law attorney.
[00:03:38] So those tend to be the two scenarios I work with people going through divorce. Why did you choose this population? I heard about the certified divorce, financial analyst designation, otherwise abbreviated as CFA about 15 years ago. And I had always thought it was a great way to apply my knowledge in investments to someone [00:04:00] going through a tough time.
[00:04:00] So it had always appealed to me. In general, people make bad financial decisions based off emotions. Divorce is one of the most emotionally taxing experiences someone can go through. So it gives me the ability to make a huge, positive, financial impact with someone. The reason I work with divorcing women. A million or more post-divorce is I can then be their financial advisor post-divorce and be in their lives for many years to come.
[00:04:32] So watching these women start new lives and achieve future goals is always very rewarding for me. That’s great. That’s great. So what do you do for your clients? I work with divorcing women extensively to give them confidence in their financial decisions they’re making related to their divorce and beyond.
[00:04:53] So most of my divorcing women, clients deferred to their partner. So there’s a learning gap that [00:05:00] exists about their finances and investments. So it’s, it’s my job to help them bridge that gap and help them make informed, smart decisions. My clients either pay a flat consulting fee or they agree to work with me as their financial advisor post divorce.
[00:05:17] In which case I don’t charge them anything additional, either one of these fee arrangements alleviates concerns about running. Hourly costs. So oftentimes that’s what people are really worried about because if they’re working with a family law attorney, there’s an hourly cost associated with every interaction that they have with that attorney.
[00:05:40] And so in this case, working with me, there’s no rush in terms of. Um, their ability to ask questions and to take their time and to make sure they’re gathering all the information that they need and that I’m presenting the information that they need back to them so that they can gain the confidence they need to move [00:06:00] forward in their divorce, financial separation agreements.
[00:06:02] Because of course, once that’s done, it’s done. It’s very hard to change anything after the fact. And sometimes that’s very overwhelming to divorcing women. Now you mentioned a few qualities already, but who is your ideal client? Ideal client is uninfluenced divorcing women that is moving forward in the decision to divorce.
[00:06:23] Oftentimes this woman deferred to their partner regarding their investments and knows they need someone to help them with the financial piece, post divorce. Is there a lot of education you have to do? It sounds like you are teaching a lot. So what kind of client education do you do? I think with education, listening is key, understanding the information that woman needs in order to move forward and feel confident in their decision making process is key.
[00:06:53] So that’s really what I’m doing as I’m listening to what they need. And then I’m providing [00:07:00] the education or customized solutions. So I can give you an example. I was working with a divorcing woman recently and you know, her concern, and this is very similar to many divorcing women’s concern is how am I going to live afterwards?
[00:07:14] How am I going to live off of the income, right from these assets. And am I going to live comfortably? Is this going to jeopardize my lifestyle? What I did is I put together a very customized solution for her, which was a summary of all her assets, the income we could expect to generate from those assets so that she could really get a realistic sense of her future income generation potential.
[00:07:40] And then we could start to talk about how do we live within those guidelines. Once you do that, how does your client seem to feel, are they much more relieved do you think? Oh, yeah, for sure. And that’s why I said listening is key because for some people they want to see the numbers for other people. Maybe we have to dig a little deeper [00:08:00] to address some type of emotional block, and then there’ll be ready to take a look at the numbers.
[00:08:05] That’s why it’s really important. And it absolutely provides them with a sense of relief that they’re going to be okay. After this is done. Sure. Uh, do you have a team who’s on the team that works with you? We have a team of 14 professionals at high tower Bethesda. I have operational staff that help with day-to-day logistics of accounts that are all fantastic tenured.
[00:08:31] We have also an investment committee that meets weekly and we ensure we have proper and adjusting to the environment, investment strategy in place for all of our clients. I do the majority of analysis as it relates to divorcing cases and I have planning resources on my team to assist me as well. Okay. You mentioned one designation earlier.
[00:08:54] Tell me about that. The CDFA. And do you have any. The first one I had mentioned as a certified divorce financial [00:09:00] analyst designation. Of course, that’s very specific to working with people going through divorce. I got that 15 years ago. In addition to that, I have the charter financial analyst designation or CFA.
[00:09:13] That’s really considered the gold standard within the investment industry. It’s a very grueling test for anyone that knows about it. It’s three different levels. It took me many, many years. To, um, pass it, but I stuck with it. It was really tough. I have that as well. And then I also have the CFP, so certified financial planner that goes into just more broad-based financial planning concepts.
[00:09:39] And then in addition to that, I have the accredited estate planner, which really gives me a focus on estate planning concepts. And then of course, as I had mentioned, I was a finance major. So it sounds like you really can cover all the bases. That’s the goal. Now we’ve been talking about work here when you’re not [00:10:00] working.
[00:10:00] What do you do for fun? Fun for me is definitely lots of family time. I have a 17 month old girl who was born right in the thick of COVID and, uh, she’s doing great. And then she has a five-year-old brother. And so those are my two. Uh, I call them both my babies. My, my son will always be my baby. I informed him that even though he just turned five, I tell him he has to stop growing.
[00:10:31] Because they’re just so much fun, full of so much life and they just remind you really what’s important. I spend a lot of time with my family. We have fortunately, a lot of family around us in the area here in Maryland, aside from that, try to get active and, um, walk I’ve recently picked up Peloton, definitely looking forward to traveling more in the future, as I’m sure many of our listeners are.
[00:10:56] No, that would be a wonderful thing. Wouldn’t it be to get a little bit in the airplane? [00:11:00] Yes. Yeah. What is your idea of success? You’ve got, sounds like you’ve got two great kids, a great practice, but what is your idea of success? I think success is living your best life, whatever that means to anyone for me.
[00:11:16] Entails helping people, life experiences. We just talked about travel, having kids, but all those precious moments that are forever ingrained in your mind, um, and make you smile when you’re feeling down. And then most importantly, since I am a mother raising good, tiny humans, that’s going to be what I leave behind.
[00:11:38] It’s really important to me. And I would say. Success is defined by all those things. All right. And is there something you recommend most to clients or families or friends? I’d say it’s really important to remove the distractors. There are so many out there focus time on things that matter and dedicate your life to [00:12:00] those things.
[00:12:00] Um, and try not to get kind of sucked into other things, because at the end of the day, you’re the one that controls your time and your energy, and you want to focus it on the things that matter. Do you find that hard to. I don’t know. I don’t, because I’m, I’m such a believer of it that I justify. If I see myself getting sucked into something, I literally stop.
[00:12:24] And I, I truly believe that’s part of why I’m successful in my life is I’m able to compartmentalize things and move on. Keep it moving. That’s great. All right, then here’s a big question for you name one thing most people don’t know about you. It shouldn’t be a surprise, but I am a huge advocate for financial literacy.
[00:12:47] What that means to me is I recently discovered after five years of reading children’s books to my son, that none of them talk about even just basic money concepts. So true. [00:13:00] Yes, they don’t. I mean, Items just come out of thin air. They’re kind of always just doing things, but never talking about how they are able to do things.
[00:13:11] And so I think we can teach our kids. Basic money concepts from a very young age. I mean, their, their brains are like these huge sponges and they’re capable of absorbing so much more. And I don’t know why we say to ourself. No, we’ll educate our kids about money when they’re in college. Well, that’s too late as we are all aware.
[00:13:32] I really. I saw that there was a gap in this market and I, I decided to write a children’s book. So it’s being illustrated right now, but I have had so much fun doing it. It’s been a creative outlet. I used my son as my muse. It’s called Chi makes money. That’s my son’s name. And he’s so excited about it and can’t wait to show it to everyone.
[00:13:55] And I’m so excited about it. And I, I want everybody. [00:14:00] Kids to be able to be smart about money and be educated about them at a young age, not just mine, because I’m a financial advisor and I’ve been weirdly in tune to money and investments my whole life. I want to really bring that to, to everyone or anyone that’s looking for it so that they can share that with their kids as well, because I think it’s so important ultimately for those kids to go on, to be successful human beings that.
[00:14:29] Arm them with these concepts so that they can make smart financial decisions in their lives as well. That’s fantastic. What are some of the concepts that you have in the. It’s so basic, but it’s the premise of the book is that Kai wants a train. Okay. You know what? Little boy or girl can’t relate to that concept.
[00:14:50] They want something. Kids want something all the time. Okay. Talk to anyone. Who’s a mom. They’ll tell you that their child has asked him for 10 things today. In this case, the mom says, well, [00:15:00] you can have it, but you’ve got to earn money to buy it. And then Kai says, well, how do I do that? Then, then the mom starts to walk him through while you can do chores and you can start a business and starts counting the money with him.
[00:15:14] And. That’s ultimately how he goes on to pay for this train all by himself. And now he’s empowered and won and can’t wait for his next purchase. That’s awesome. It’s Kai makes money. That’s right. Kai makes money. I can’t wait to see that. I can’t wait for that now. Oh, and I’m sorry, one other thing I want to mention.
[00:15:37] The book is called Kai makes money. I’ve actually created a website it’s called good money, kids.com. So good money, kids.com. My goal is to just keep adding content like that. So I, I have a daughter. I mentioned that in the beginning, so I will have to do a second book because obviously I cannot just do [00:16:00] one.
[00:16:00] For my son, what type of message would I be sending to my daughter? We all know we need to arm our, our women with the same capabilities as our men or our girls and our boys. I’m gonna definitely be doing at least two, but on this website, good money, kids.com. I also post blogs about little things that I do with my kids.
[00:16:23] Um, little idea. Little games. You can play with them, et cetera, to just start introducing money concepts. So make sure to check that out as well. Good money, kids.com. That’s fantastic. Can people reach you on that website or how can people reach you? What other ways can they be? The best way to reach me is through my company, Hightower, bethesda.com.
[00:16:45] We have a website. My direct email address is Leah L E A H .Jones@hightoweradvisorswithans.com. So I would say those are definitely the [00:17:00] best way. Feel free to look me up on LinkedIn, Leah Jones, Hightower Bethesda. If you put in that combination, you’ll find me. I’m very active on LinkedIn. This was fantastic.
[00:17:11] Leah, thanks so much. And I look forward to learning so much more. Follow this podcast, her divorce source with Leah Jones to get all the latest shows and Hey, you can impress your friends and family. If you share I’m Patrice Sikora, and let’s talk again later. Thank you for listening to her divorce source with Leah Jones from Hightower, Bethesda.
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Hightower Advisors, LLC is an SEC registered investment adviser. Securities are offered through Hightower Securities, LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC.