parting ways from your lifelong partner does not come easy separation not only leads to mental stress but can also make women financially handicapped especially when they are not working moreover if women insist on keeping children with them one needs to be financially strong to take care of their educational and other important needs thus amidst all the emotional turmoil around divorce one still needs to think about practical issues first and foremost it is important to get a grip on your priorities financial goals need to be restructured the important concerns here are retirement child support if you have custody and financial independence the secondary concerns would normally be maintenance of your personal and emotional aspirations therefore to secure ones life financially it is important for women to have a plan every good plan begins with a list and here is ours be practicalfirst get immediate finances in order close all joint accounts settle your credit card dues and get hold of your tax returns and other legal papers do not get into a default situation and create a bad credit history one of the biggest causes of legal disputes with a top home finance company is because of warring couples which has led to defaults focus whatever it was that you wanted to do earlier you will now have to define your primary focus areas which would include child support if you have custody financial independence and saving for retirement after this has been addressed you can focus on maintaining your personal and economic aspirations stop splurgingfor many retail therapy is a way of coping with stress but this can no longer be a solution splurging on movies dinner vacations and shopping should be at best avoided financial planners advise a contingency reserve to take care of at least three months of expenses a part of the alimony could be used towards this reserve get coveredif you were dependent on your spouses corporate group mediclaim cover you need to go out and buy health insurance for yourself life insurance is necessary in case of single women with custody of children the amount of insurance cover depends upon the future needs of dependents one must opt for term insurance plan without any returns says financial planner gaurav mashruwala this keeps the overall premium cost low while providing financial shelter to dependents get independentin case a lumpsum alimony is received it could be used for the down payment for buying a house and the equated monthly instalment emi could be paid by monthly salary added mr mashruwala if the alimony is not received in lumpsum then systematic investment plan sip should be opted to build a corpus for buying an asset at a later date find a guardiananother important aspect is prior identification of a suitable guardian though an untimely death of the single parent is an emotional calamity for the child it goes a long way in providing stability to the child in the long run the mother