today I meet with the Vanguard CFP

[FLA]

I finally earned enough interest to get into the Voyager Select program at Vanguard. I get a free session with a CFP. I am very nervous about the advice I will get. I have a hard time seeing how I will live if I have to give almost 100k towards college per my divorce decree when I'm making 22k a year and have to make my IRAs last the rest of my life. I am very scared he's going to tell me the numbers do not add up.

I just had to type that out, thanks for listening

[Nutria]

I have to give almost 100k towards college per my divorce decree when I'm making 22k a year

Whew...

[disneysteve]

Good luck, FLA. I sure hope you are able to get that decree adjusted to reflect your financial situation. I doubt that Vanguard can do anything to help you with that. I think that'll be up to your attorney, as we've discussed previously.

I haven't taken advantage of any of Vanguard's services. I'm pretty sure we qualify for CFP meetings also. I might have to look into that.

[FLA]

it's not that great- you reach half a million and you get one free session period. Their active asset management is relatively cheap but would cost me 1400k a year and I've done ok on my own so far, I'm going to keep trying.

once I know the financial aid packages for DS and DD, my lawyer will file a stipulation. It's so hard, the not knowing.

[disneysteve]

once I know the financial aid packages for DS and DD, my lawyer will file a stipulation. It's so hard, the not knowing.

Uncertainty is always the hardest part.

[GoodSteward]

I missed this conversation, but why was it determined that your kids need 100k for college just from you? Is your ex giving 100k also? Who came up with these numbers to start with?

[FLA]

my ex is 15 yrs older than me, he will be of retirement age when the kids go to college so it was put in the divorce decree that we would each pay half the value of a State U for four yrs per child so he couldn't say,"I'm retired, I'm paying nothing". It should be slightly less than 100k because DS is going to community college for 2 yrs and living at home. In order to protect my future self, I ended up screwing myself. Ironic. As he sits with an income of 100k and just got a huge inheritance from an aunt that was married to a game show host. I feel like I'm on a game show and losing, lol.

the session went well, he thinks by eyeballing it I should be ok if expenses stay low. I'll get a detailed plan and have a video conference with him in 2 weeks. I'm still going to court to see if that order can be changed.

if you have Vanguard, I really think this service is helpful. My first analyst came up with a plan that served me well for 6 yrs. I think the hardest part is we are going to make my portfolio a little more conservative. That makes me nervous because I only think I got to 518k was by being highly risk tolerant but understand now may not be the time to play it fast and loose. I'm 90% in stocks.

[GoodSteward]

Surely the court will be willing to adjust this if he has had a large increase on his side.

How many years do you have left before retirement? If you have 10 years or more I would think you might can swing one more downturn, maybe. I believe we are due for one. I am told (and by looking at charts) there is about a 7-10 year rotation in the market.

[FLA]

I'm disabled and it's looking more and more like I won't be going back to work so technically retirement has begun financially speaking