5 questions for divorce planning expert Pam Friedman

In a new episode of the Financial Planning Podcast, financial advisor Pam Friedman explains why women are facing more stress than ever during the coronavirus pandemic and how planners can help.

Robertson Stephens.

Friedman is an Austin, Texas-based principal with Robertson Stephens, an RIA with more than $2 billion in assets under management, and her practice manages $100 million on behalf of its clients. In addition to being a CFP and a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst, she’s a founding member of The Center for Integrated Divorce, a network of mediators and other professionals specializing in divorce-related consulting services. She’s also the author of “I Now Pronounce You Financially Fit,” a book about marriage, divorce and maintaining financial balance.

In the podcast, FP Chief Correspondent Tobias Salinger asks Friedman five questions about recent trends in weddings and divorces, including how the dynamics are changing amid the coronavirus.

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1. You have told me in the past about the trend of so-called gray divorces among partners who are older. How have you seen this trend reflected in your practice, either in the past year amid the coronavirus or over the past several years?
2. People often talk about hiring a lawyer when they’re getting divorced. Why should they think about hiring a financial advisor?
3. How much of your client base is women, and what are some of the most common challenges relating to women when it comes to financial matters around divorce?
4. During the coronavirus, women have been contributing, in some cases, even more unpaid labor than the estimated trillions of dollars worth of it they were already contributing each year. I’m talking about tasks like tutoring children, caring for elders, housecleaning and cooking. How do you see that dynamic of unpaid labor reflected in divorce planning?
5. Divorces and marriages declined during the pandemic, and the rates of divorces and marriages have been falling for years, according to statistics cited earlier this year by Bloomberg News. How similar or different is that to the anecdotal data from your practice, and where do you expect those rates to go in future years?

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