Emotional Versus Financial Decisions When Divorcing

Strong emotions often accompany divorce, yet maintaining financial discipline can help preserve your future stability. Studio Romantic/ShutterstockDivorce can trigger grief, fear, and anger. These emotions can cloud judgment, causing individuals to make irrational financial decisions. Psychology Today states that divorce is 95 percent emotional and only five percent legal.But amid all this emotion, how do you make the right financial decisions to protect yourself and be fair to your ex-spouse and children?Emotional Landscape of DivorceCompartmentalizing financial decisions as simple mathematical calculations is usually easier said than done during a divorce. Unexamined emotions, however, can create financial chaos. According to the Financial Planning Association (FPA), if you take better financial actions, you’ll receive better results—but emotion is usually the trigger for the actions taken.