#121: Claudia Mott (Teaching women about money after your own shocking financial discovery)

Getting control of your finances gives you a sense of “independence" and “self-reliance” says Claudia Mott, CFP, CDFA (Certified Financial Planner and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst). She should know. After spending 13 years as a sell-side analyst on Wall Street with copious travel, she burned out and decided to stay home to raise her three kids. Her husband, who also worked in finance, did the taxes and like many women, she says she "simply signed off”.  While driving her daughter to preschool, she heard a radio add for financial planning and decided to go back to school.  One day she looked deeper into her family’s finances and discovered her husband had a secret bank account supporting a girlfriend. For that reason, Mott says she can understand the “shame” very successful women feel who have not grabbed hold of their financial wellbeing. “If I had a dollar for every time women say ‘I’ve been stupid’” she says, she’d be rich.  But Mott believes everyone can benefit from taking hold of their financial security. “The first step is acknowledging , ‘Am I going to be all right?’” she says.  “Lots of divorcing women are fearful of the first year and how to manage the financial picture….But you can learn to be on your own and you’re managing.”