I am a CFP® – Certified Financial Planner®. A CFP helps you anticipate your good life ahead. You lay out the life that you hope to live with the resources you expect to have. Each year you visit your plan to see how your savings, investments match your spending for your anticipated needs. The task is to see if you are on track, ahead or behind to go the distance.
I am also a CeFT® – Certified Financial Transitionist®. Financial Transitionists know that life often takes you into left field, uncharted territory. You have new, difficult emotions, little to no knowledge or experience, few skills, no tools in this unfamiliar environment yet you are asked to make new decisions that will likely affect the rest of your life. Financial Transitionists provide structure, needed information, tools to help you build a base to make the needed decisions going forward. They become your thinking partner in understanding the new context, options and consequences.
My special application for the Financial Transitions skillset is with widows. Widowhood is the #1 stressor on the Holmes- Rahe Stress Richter Scale. Women lose their vision of their future. They need time to bring their past to conclusion amidst grief. They reaffirm their roles and relationships. They need to assume more responsibilities, build new skills. They benefit from an objective third party thinking partner to help them organize, develop and use their financial resources for their changed life ahead.
Let us not forget or overlook widowers.
Our client work includes other transitions: retirement, long life planning, changed health, windfalls.
Visit SuddenMoney.com for transition discussion for the public. Visit FinancialTransitionist Institute.com to see the overview of training for financial professionals.
Kathy Roth, CFP, CeFT, RLP Waterstone Financial Services Rochester, NY / Salt Lake City, UT