J. Rosemarie Francis (00:00) Hello, Solo Mom. Welcome or welcome back to Solo Mom's Talk. I'm J. Rosemarie Francis, your host and mentor. This week, we're switching gears. The last two episodes featured Solo Moms sharing their stories of trauma and recovery, of healing. In this episode, Modern Wealth founder, Jennifer Lee, shares her financial strategies for women in transition. Also, keep listening to learn what it means to squeeze the juice.

My guest today is Jennifer Lee. Welcome Jennifer. Thank you for coming and speaking to us on Solo Mom's Talk.

Jennifer Lee (01:00) So glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

J. Rosemarie Francis (01:02) Absolutely. Before we get into what you do, could you tell us who is Jennifer Lee?

Jennifer Lee (01:07) Gosh, you know, I met some young ladies the other night. I've got a 40-year-old advisor who's joined my practice and I met her daughters and I said, your mom doesn't know this about me, but I'm really Aunt Jen first. More than an advisor. So I would say, you know, I'm Aunt Jen. I've got nine nieces and nephews and I love to spoil them, travel with them, do stuff, make jewelry, and then send them home.

J. Rosemarie Francis (01:36) Cool, thank you. And spoiler alert, I'm Aunt Jen as well because my first name is Jennifer. Wonderful. Yeah, I probably have a hundred nieces and nephews.

Jennifer Lee (01:44) Beautiful!

J. Rosemarie Francis (01:52) Yes. All right. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. And we're going to talk about solo moms and the challenges they face, especially maybe before, during, and after divorce. Yeah. Okay. All right. So what would a solo mom have to do to prepare themselves?

Jennifer Lee (02:11) Yeah.

J. Rosemarie Francis (02:22) It's after the fact—they probably were married, they're divorced, but they're looking at relationships again, maybe engaged or something like that. What could they do to prepare without appearing that they're planning for a divorce? That's the fine line, right? To prepare themselves, especially financially, in case of a divorce.

Jennifer Lee (02:48) So you're speaking to a couple that's married and has kids and the mom is thinking, I need to exit this relationship?

J. Rosemarie Francis (02:57) No, not yet. We're actually talking after the fact. I'm a solo mom, I'm a divorced mom or I'm just a mom, but I'm thinking about marriage. Maybe I have the opportunity. I'm engaged. I mean, we're not thinking about that. We're thinking about love and the wedding and blah blah. So what could we have done differently at this point?

Jennifer Lee (03:22) You know, truly, I'm not sure it's exclusive to divorcees. It really applies to everybody, particularly every woman, right? You want to have some control of your destiny. Hopefully you're not weighing everything on this other relationship from a financial perspective. Our practice, we tend to advise, counsel, and support women in financial transition. So through all those changes, we try to get you clear about your own money, your own ability to figure out what your cash flow is, save for yourself and for your kids and your future.

Now you add in a relationship—let’s hope that person has a similar mindset around money and future. And so I like to think that probably some of the most important conversations are around your values. So what are your personal memories and values around money? And what is your soon-to-be partner’s values and experience around money? That's going to tell you a lot. Whether they're going to spend every nickel they make, whether they're going to go on big extravagant vacations, whether you can afford it or not, or whether they're going to penny pinch everything, or some variation in between. That can be a big difference in a relationship. So it's important to have those money story conversations.