No better time to think through your finances than before the holiday season. In this episode, Lesa welcomes certified financial planner James Alexander, who shares his expertise on creating a financial plan after a divorce. They discuss how to manage changes in income, expenses, and updating financial accounts. James also outlines the importance of addressing emotional well-being before tackling financial challenges and offers practical advice on finding a trustworthy financial advisor. Furthermore, he shares insights into how he successfully grew his financial planning business in just five years. Listeners will gain valuable tips on overcoming financial fears and the steps to take to ensure financial security post-divorce.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction

01:10 James Alexander's Background and Career Path

05:17 Creating a Financial Plan Post-Divorce

11:30 Finding a Trustworthy Financial Advisor

17:54 Growing a Financial Planning Business

21:07 Conclusion and Contact Information

Welcome listeners.

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I'm really excited for today because

I think I'm going to learn a lot.

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And I know you are too.

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I have James Alexander with me and

he is a certified financial planner.

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James Alexander: Tell me again.

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Lesa Koski: Yeah.

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Ed's edge.

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James Alexander: It's called Ed's edge.

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Lesa Koski: I don't want to.

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I'm not good at that.

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But, so I know that you kind of share

financial information to help like

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the regular guy figure things out.

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And today we're going to talk about,

creating a financial plan after divorce,

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how things change and how do you know

who to go to and who to trust for help

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when you're coming up with that plan.

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And then I kind of warned James just

because, you know, I'm always wanting

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to learn how to grow my business.

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I want to talk to him a little bit

about, You know how he built his

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practice in five years so quickly.

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So, I think that'll be interesting for

listeners too, you know, because a lot

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of people when you're going through a

divorce, maybe starting something new, I

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know a lot of women start something new.

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And so I think that's why

that's an important piece.

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But before we jump into all of that,

James, I want to get to know you better.

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And I want the listeners to, can

you just share with us your story

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as to what brought you into this

line of work and here today?

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Okay.

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James Alexander: Most definitely.

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And thank you so much for having me, Lisa.

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I absolutely love what you're

doing with this podcast series.

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A little bit of background on myself,

going way back to when I was a teenager,

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I was actually a child of divorce.

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my parents were divorced when I was

13 years old and looking back, some of

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it had to do with money and finances.

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And so, you know, as I, I was

ignorant at the time, right?

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I'm a teenager, but as I've learned,

a lot along the way, my goal is

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always to, for the clients that I

work with to provide them certainly

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some peace of mind around money, but

allow them to thrive financially.

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And so how did I get to that?

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That goal is, I'm a big, big numbers guy.

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I majored in math and finance.

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I originally wanted to be a math

professor because I love helping people.

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and I quickly realized

there's a mentor I talked to.

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I went to Loyola university

in downtown Chicago.

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I quickly realized if I didn't

enjoy that, there wasn't enough

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fallback options for myself.

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And so I started in the finance, business

and just absolutely fell in love with it.

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Lisa, what I also learned within

all these numbers and statistics

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and probability is with finance,

it's personal, it humanizes us.

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And, that's one of my passions is to

allow people to really see money as fuel,

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not necessarily put their self worth

towards it and other potential issues.

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So long story short, I graduated Loyola.

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I was fortunate enough

to receive an internship.

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Now this was in 2008.

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I think most of us know what happened

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And so I saw a lot of mistakes

people made very early on

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when I was learning the ropes.

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I worked for a company called

Scott trade, and some people know

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about them from those helicopter

commercials way back when to 7 trades.

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And we used to trade for people.

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And then I, they were

acquired by TD Ameritrade.

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I learned a lot along the way and

decided I wanted to, partner up

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with another gentleman here who

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go independent and really roll up my

sleeves and help people financially.

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Lesa Koski: Awesome.

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Well, I'm glad to hear it.

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And I liked the idea that you thought

about being a professor, because

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I think so much of this is making

things simple for some people.

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And I think what I've learned

through my life, I used to

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be so terrified of finances.

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And I have a lot of clients, whether

it's the woman or the man, there's

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generally one person who takes care

of the finances during a marriage.

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And it's so scary if you're

not the person who took care of

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them and now you're going out.

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And what I try to share with

people is in my own journey,

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I have learned it's not scary.

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It's actually pretty simple.

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And if you can just tell

yourself, I am a person learning.

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You know, how to be great

with finances and enjoying it.

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And if you can believe that you're

going to just set the stage to a better

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relationship, because it is so emotional.

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We all carry baggage, regarding finances.

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James Alexander: Oh, I

completely echo that sentiment.

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it is scary.

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And I would add on my belief as

to why it's scary to most people.

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they don't teach it.

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We learn about a lot, but we don't

learn about this financial world.

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And there's also a sense of guilt.

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You know, especially post a divorce of if

I wasn't the one handling the finances.

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I feel bad about that.

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What if I talk to somebody or ask

a neighbor, even seek an advisor,

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they're going to judge me and

you're a hundred percent right.

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First off, do not feel

bad about this stuff.

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But secondly, it can be very

simple, much simpler than you

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think with the right education.

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Lesa Koski: Okay, so if you're working

with somebody and they've just gone

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through a divorce, how do you help them?

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James Alexander: You bet.

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I've been blessed to be able to

serve a lot of those folks and, step

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number one, this is probably one of

the few non financial parts of my

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job is I really want to make sure

that they're in a good headspace.

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if we're not, we want to talk about

that a little bit more, as I just

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mentioned, some of the financial emotions

involved and what have you, because,

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we need to start attacking some things

in a great way to help ourselves.

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And if we're not in a motivational mind

to do that, it doesn't have to be massive,

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but if we're not in a good headspace, it's

going to be overwhelming, even the basics.

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So that's really step number

one in creating a financial

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plan is be ready to do that.

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Lesa Koski: I have to ask, how

do you help someone get ready?

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James Alexander: Yes.

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So we talk a lot about goals and that's

a buzzword in our world, but I want to

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talk about goals in a non financial way.

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So instead of, I want to retire by 65 and

live on this amount of money, or I want to

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be able to put my kids through college and

it's going to cost this, I want to talk

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about what's going on in your world today.

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What's frustrating.

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What's exciting.

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Let's balance the two and let's

live in the present for a minute

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before we talk about the future.

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So we'll talk about the future and I

really want to not just hear their words,

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but hear how they interpret things.

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What I mean by that is.

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I can tell very quickly if someone

gets excited about a certain topic,

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that's what we're going to start with.

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Because financial planning

is a snowball effect.

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The minute we start

accomplishing one thing, we get

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motivated and we get excited.

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Okay, what's next?

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It's just getting going.

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That's the hard part.

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So if you picture a snowball

down the hill, that's so

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true with financial planning.

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and it's talking about those non

financial pieces first, before we.

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I want to lay out all the cards is

what, how I say it, what do you have,

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what's left after this dust has settled

and, I don't want to talk about it

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in the first meeting for clients, but

it's important to understand what you

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have, how it's titled, is it an IRA?

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Is it a taxable account?

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Do you have the home?

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What's the value of the home?

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What any debt payments, any

income streams that changed

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all these pieces to the puzzle.

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Let's just talk about them.

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We're not going to address them quite yet

because again, the overwhelming piece,

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if we just have added, that said step

number three in the creating a financial

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plan, post divorce is some easy wins.

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That you can accomplish.

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for example, odds are you'll need

to update some beneficiaries,

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that those are going to change

insurance needs probably change.

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It can be as simple as I don't need that

term life insurance, or I do need term

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life insurance or, you know, other factors

there, just some quick updates, to feel

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like, again, you're making progress.

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And then we start with the meat and

potatoes of it all of, I do my homework

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on the, the laying the cards out.

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Those that don't want to work with an

advisor, there are so much, there's

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so much information now to help you.

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Start with those basics, run a retirement

calculator based on what you have,

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knowing how much I put in, et cetera.

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that's what I do is as I look at

everything and what most people, probably

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the final thought on these step by

step pieces is before we talk about

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the future, most of us want to make

sure today is covered, you know, what

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income sources have changed for me.

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What expenses have changed?

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And here's the silver lining

immediate, post immediate divorces.

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It's from a financial standpoint, it's

you and the kids, if you have the kids.

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And so those numbers are going to change

in a good way for you, most likely.

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just being aware of that and

what that means for you is key.

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Lesa Koski: And when you say those

numbers are going to change for you

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in a good way, I think people really

want to hold on to that because I

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don't think most people feel that way.

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So what do you mean by that?

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James Alexander: Yes.

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So most likely, again, everyone's

different here, but most likely

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your costs, your expenses are less

because there's no longer two of you.

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Right.

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There's one individual.

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Right.

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some people who had divorces,

their priorities were different.

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Now you can just have what you value,

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Lesa Koski: right?

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James Alexander: Maybe you

want to take those vacations

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instead of buying the extra car.

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you can really be selfish and

selfish has such a negative

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connotation attached to it.

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Lisa, I feel, certainly there's levels

of selfishness that are bad, but when

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it comes to financial selfishness.

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I have seen over and over again, the

minute you become financially selfish for

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you, as long as you have a good heart and

want to help your family, you need to be

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in a good spot before you can help others,

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Lesa Koski: right?

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James Alexander: And those that are just.

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they have regret later.

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So I'd encourage everyone here to really

dig deep and think about yourself and

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what you want for you and your new family.

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Lesa Koski: Well, I think you

talked about in the beginning,

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you look at what they value.

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And I think if they can, like you said,

now they can put the finances into what

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they're valuing so that they can be.

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better for their kids.

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And so it is an opportunity.

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I think it is an opportunity for people.

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So I love how you do that.

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And I said we were going to talk

about what changes, and I think

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that was kind of thrown in there.

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Income changes, expenses

change, insurance.

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Beneficiaries.

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Is there anything I'm missing?

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I just want to make sure anything else

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James Alexander: you bet it ties to the

beneficiaries, but odds are, if you had

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a will or a trust, you'll need to update

those as well, making sure that what

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you want to have happen, God forbid,

something occurs to you, not just death.

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But an incapacitation where I'm

unable to make mental decisions for

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myself, that I have the right people

in place to help those that I love.

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that's probably the

last key initial change.

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yeah, I think everything else you covered.

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Lesa Koski: All right.

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Wonderful.

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Okay.

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So now I have to ask you, because this

has been something that my husband

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and I kind of have had trouble.

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I mean, I think we just now have

a financial advisor we're going to

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use and we're probably getting close

to retirement and it's, it's scary.

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And I think, especially for my husband,

because he feels like, and he has a big

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job, he has the big job in our house.

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but it's been hard for him to

find someone that he can trust.

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And I know there are

different financial advisors.

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There are some who kind of

take all your money and.

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get a percentage, right?

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So this is really elementary.

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I know, James, I'm not like

going deep here, but how do you,

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it is hard to trust someone.

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if someone is lost and needing

someone, what's the best way for

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them to find help that they can

count on and feel good about it?

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James Alexander: Great question.

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I am in the trust business.

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Most all financial advisors

are in the trust business.

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This is important stuff.

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This is our financial

life we're talking about.

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I'm going to take a quick step

back before I answer that.

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forgive me for those that are inquiring

about, do I need an advisor or not?

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Not everybody does.

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some very practical questions you can ask

yourself to determine if you need one.

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One is, do I have the time to do this?

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if you don't have the time,

it's going to be tough.

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If you do, more power to you.

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That's wonderful.

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Do I have the desire?

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I'm not talking about this excites you

every single morning, but if you feel

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motivated enough to start tackling it.

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if this is something that is like, you'd

rather be going to the dentist than

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looking at your financial statements,

you probably don't have the desire.

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And then do you have the expertise?

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Now I'll use some color there.

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You don't need to be the expert

or have credentials, but do

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I know enough about this?

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And if I don't, am I

willing to educate myself?

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And then do I have the.

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Discipline to stay the path.

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Let's be honest with

news and all this, noise.

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coming our way in our world.

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Can I stay the course

and not get distracted?

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And so if the answer is yes to all

those, you don't need one, but you

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just have to be honest with yourself.

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if any of those answers are no or

certainly more than one, it will be more

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difficult and that's when you explore.

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And so find the right person?

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How do I, how do I find someone that gets

me and that I can trust is, you know, in

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today's world, what's so nice is there's

a lot of information about advisors.

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you can certainly do a Google search.

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You can read about them, see

what their values are internally.

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Part of the reason why we did the

podcast is we wanted to show who we are.

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We're not for everybody.

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but who's this human being?

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you can certainly talk to people that

think along the same financial lens

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as yourself and see who they work

with and ask them what's working.

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Also ask them what's not working for you.

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Highly, highly encourage those

to work with someone who's

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held to the fiduciary standard.

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That is defined by someone who is, and

this sounds too obvious, Lisa, but who is

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obligated to act in the best interest of

the client above their own at all times.

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And if they're not, there's

repercussions that you can

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take because they sign an oath.

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And so that's important to, to work with

a fiduciary, but it's more than that.

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You know, how do they charge?

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Some people charge, a flat fee,

a fixed dollar amount every

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single year to work with them.

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Some people charge, like you

mentioned, a percent of assets.

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you know, the ones where you feel like

that there's really, you don't see many

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charges, No one works for free, but

that's when I would start asking some

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more questions, to an advisor about

where, how are you actually getting paid?

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Because I've been blessed to work with

a lot of people where they think it's

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free and then they realize, Oh, he's

getting a commission by recommending.

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Right.

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Was he actually recommending

that for him or for me?

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understanding how they're paid, if

I can summarize everything and how

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do I find the right person to trust?

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Understanding how they're paid.

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Talking to others that work,

that key caveat that think along

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the same financial lens as you.

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If you talk to your neighbor who has

significantly more or less assets at

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you with very, very different goals,

they might have different needs and that

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advisor solves their needs, but it doesn't

solve your needs, areas of expertise.

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And so talking to people with like

that and finding out some feedback,

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and then online, there is a lot

more information about advisors.

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I would highly encourage people, we

love to buy, we hate to be sold, and

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that's typically why we don't want to

pick up the phone and proactively call.

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Talk to two or three and preface

right away, look, I'm not making a

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decision for at least a month or two.

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I'm just gathering information and

then you can get a feel on how they

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work, how they don't, and if you

ever feel like you don't have a good

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vibe at the end, when you leave the

meeting, probably means it's not a fit.

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Lesa Koski: So

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James Alexander: hopefully that helps.

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Lesa Koski: Yep.

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That's extremely helpful.

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And, everything you're saying makes sense.

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I love those questions

about meeting an advisor.

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And I think that's where we kind of

missed the boat where we thought we

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can figure this out, we can do this.

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And we just kind of kept blowing

it off and not really doing it.

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so important if you're

younger than me, jump on this.

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but I'm really excited because I do

feel pretty good about who I have.

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And I'm just going to ask you.

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Do you work in, what state do you work in?

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James Alexander: I am, I'm

in the state of Illinois.

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So we, our office is in

the suburb of Chicago.

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That said, I am licensed in all states.

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We are what's called federally,

federally registered.

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So certainly can work remotely.

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Lesa Koski: That's what I was wondering.

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So anyone listening to this.

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I'm going to have your information and the

show notes can go and find you and work

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with you if they like what they're hearing

and think that it would be a good fit.

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You know, I think it would be a great idea

for listeners to listen to your podcast.

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James Alexander: We love giving back

amongst everything that I've talked about.

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Lisa says we love educating people.

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So yes, would welcome those conversations.

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Lesa Koski: I love it.

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I love that you're educating

and I love that I get to learn.

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So thank you for that.

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But I do have to, I

have to pick your brain.

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I said this in the beginning about that

subject of how did you grow your business?

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I mean, in five years, it's

hard to grow a business.

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I'm a, you know, solo and, it's hard to

grow your business in five years, even

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like to make a, I mean, you make a profit,

but to make, you made a big profit.

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James Alexander: I did.

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I was blessed.

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So I've been in this industry

a little over 15 years now.

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the last five years is when I decided

to go out on my own and become that.

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fiduciary advisor, independent

registered investment advisor.

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And so, how did I get there?

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The first 10 years of my career, when I

was with Scott trade and TD Ameritrade,

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I worked my way up the corporate ladder.

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I was in five different branch

offices in the Illinois area.

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They were bouncing me around

for certain needs and all that.

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what I learned along the way is

I talked to thousands of people.

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Over those 10 years, my role at the time

was more of a consultant and then I'd

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be end up becoming a branch manager.

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And so what I learned along the first

10 years is, You know, helping people

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solve money problems is one thing, but

understanding their emotions around

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money and what motivates them, what makes

them tick is really where the bread and

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butter is at as an advisor and really

leaning into getting them excited.

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I bring this up as to how I was able to

grow my practice because I kept in touch

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with those people that thought the same

way I did, that liked talking to me.

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This is a relationship business, a

trust business, like I mentioned.

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So I kept in touch and, you know,

I had non competes and everything.

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When I left, when those are up,

I reached out to those folks and

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just said, Hey, how's it going?

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And so that expedited some things

for me with growing my clientele.

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And, once I had that, I'm focusing

on solving every need they have

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and motivating them along the way.

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And I've been very fortunate to receive

probably, you know, 40 referrals in

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the five years, because if people

like talking about people that they

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enjoy working with, it's human nature.

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Hey, you have to talk to this person.

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They're going to take care of you.

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They're going to make sure you're good.

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it looks good for them

as long as you deliver.

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And so referrals is a big one.

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that's how I was able to

really expedite things.

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Lesa Koski: So, and I love that.

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And your business is different than

a lot because it is about building

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relationships where, in divorce, sometimes

you'll get someone coming back, when

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they're fighting down the line, but

it is a little different that way.

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It's a little bit different, but

I think kind of what you're saying

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is to serve people well, and

you're going to feel good about it.

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And your business is going to

grow because the word of mouth

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is going to Get out there.

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James Alexander: Exactly right.

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I, there are stories I've heard that

the spouse hasn't, has not been told

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yet and they will share it with me.

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And you know, it's very, I feel

very fulfilled in my career by

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being able to, take this scary

topic of money and simplify it and

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allow people to thrive financially.

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and that's my focus.

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And you know, everything else

should take care of itself.

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Lesa Koski: Well, I love that because

I want to make everything less scary.

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So James, I appreciate you being here.

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Let's just end it with, let me know

how again, people can reach you and

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I'll have it in the show notes, but

just tell them if they're listening

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and want to check you out quick.

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James Alexander: Of course.

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Yes.

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So how you can reach me,

our website is, edge F a.

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com.

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That's E D G E.

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F as in Frank, a as an apple.

408

com.

409

my information is on there

along with our podcast.

410

And there's a contact us button right

there where you can shoot a quick email.

411

Or my direct line is on that website also.

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Lesa Koski: Listeners, if you're

needing some financial help and you've

413

answered the questions about needing a

financial advisor, give James a call.

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You seem like a great guy and I'm

so thankful that you took the time

415

to be on doing divorce different.

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Thanks, James.

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James Alexander: Thanks so

much for having me, Lisa.

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Lesa Koski: Take good care.