Bette: I don’t see spending much time in casinos on our weekends.

Peggy: No, but there might be a show or a good meal you’d take in at those places. Remember you’ll want to relax and indulge on your weekends. There will be plenty of fresh mountain air there too, something you don’t get in the city.

Bette: You make a good point. Tina and I are looking for a local financial advisor. At first I hesitated to ask you for advice or a recommendation as our financial picture is vastly different than yours. We are planning for Angelica’s future, about to have a lump sum of cash from the sale of our home and we both currently have good incomes. We just want to make sure we make good decisions now.

Peggy: How do you think you’ve done with your money so far?

Bette: Well, we bought smart with our home and are reaping the benefits of that. When we split, and I left and came to New York I pretty much left things in place. I assumed we were over and that the attorneys would begin the process of splitting things. I really didn’t have the energy to start over and didn’t want the attorney accusing me of doing anything shady before we split things up. Those investments have done just fine even without me tinkering with them this past year. After I moved to New York and before we made an effort to reconcile I continued to make deposits into the joint account. Since I knew Tina was working I put in my half of the mortgage and some extra money toward raising Angelica. I also set up accounts here, a personal checking account for me and a savings account for Angelica. I contribute the maximum to my 401k plan. I was just about to look at some investment accounts when we reconciled and now I have some cash to invest. Tina never spent the money I put in the joint account. In fact she’d stopped using it as her checks per being deposited in her personal account. It was her attorney who brought it to her attention. She has designated that as my money. We’ve spent a bit on things for the apartment and the baby since we’ve moved.