Today is the first day of the rest of my life as...
...a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. Yep, that's a thing and I passed the certification exam just this week! For 2026 I need to solve the puzzle of how I meld my coaching superpowers with my new smarts as a CDFA, while being fully self employed. In February 2025, just one year post-divorce, I left my part-time job at a tax accounting firm to go solo and help more women figure out their finances in divorce. I had already acquired a divorce coaching certification and been dabbling as a financial coach since 2019. I do this work mostly virtually from a cozy small-town seaport in Washington State. I'm craving clarity on whether I continue to geographically niche as an expert for women divorcing in my home state (which is one of only 9 "community property states" in the U.S., so there's a slightly larger niche), or if I open up my practice to anyone divorcing in any U.S. state. My demographic niche is midlife, middle-class women splitting a house and retirement accounts (and often parenting time, so child and spousal support might be an issue), and trying to use mediation or kitchen table negotiation to come to amicable agreements. If this sounds like it might be draining, I actually find it energizing, at least at the scale I'm currently at. To feel grounded, I have mantras I speak aloud daily, one set in the morning and one set at night. When I was in the middle of my divorce, I leaned on EM Forster''s "We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." I'd love to connect with other recently divorced women here (or those in the messy middle) and hear about the lives you've been curating for yourselves.