Post-Divorce Investing Strategy for 2026 with Angela Palacios, CFP®, AIF®

Markets keep shouting; our plan gets quieter. We bring on Angela Palacios, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at the Center for Financial Planning, to translate noisy headlines into steady, real-world steps for anyone rebuilding finances after a divorce. From interest rates and mortgages to taxes and risk, we focus on choices that protect your present and grow your future.

We start by grounding the investment outlook in fundamentals. After a volatile stretch, both stocks and bonds showed surprising resilience, reminding us that corporate earnings, consumer strength, and employment drive long-term returns more than breaking news. We unpack how potential rate cuts may filter into mortgage costs and why timing a home decision is less important than building a runway of six to twenty-four months of cash. That buffer buys peace of mind and avoids panic selling.

Next, we get practical with portfolio building blocks. Bonds offer scheduled income and lower volatility for mid-term needs, while stocks fuel long-term growth and protect purchasing power. We explain how to match money to time—now, soon, and later—so market dips don’t derail essential spending. We tackle common post-divorce questions: Should you liquidate investments to pay off the mortgage? What’s the tax impact of rebalancing after a strong year? How do you reset risk tolerance when your income and responsibilities change?

If you’re ready to feel in control of your money, follow the show, share this episode with a friend who needs it, and leave a quick review telling us your top financial question post-divorce. Your feedback shapes future conversations and helps more people find the guidance they need.

• RSVP by February 18 2026: To hear Angela speak on February 25, 2026 about the 2026 Economic and  Investment Outlook in person at the Great Lakes Culinary Institute in Southfield, CLICK HERE to register https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/xt2germ/lp/bd4e0ed9-1f5c-4a7a-9d2c-0830d4f7d69a

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Transcript

Welcome & Mission Of The Show

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Welcome to the Divorce Rich Podcast. I'm your host, Jackie Ressler. I've been a certified divorce financial analyst for 28 years, helping clients and their attorneys navigate the often complex and confusing financial issues in divorce. If you're in the process of or considering divorce, now it's time for you to take a deep breath and give yourself permission to find clarity on the financial issues you're facing. Rich means many things to many people. I believe the best definition of being rich is someone who has access to many resources. Along with my guests on this podcast, I will be bringing you a wide variety of information so that you can make sound and informed financial decisions for your financial future. Hey, if you're recently divorced or still in the middle of it, you already know life can feel like it's been turned upside down. And let's be honest, the financial part is overwhelming, confusing, and often the last thing that you want to deal with. That's why I want to tell you about the independent wealth management team at the Center for Financial Planning. Their team of certified financial planners that specializes in helping people just like you navigate life changes with confidence. Whether it's assessing your new financial circumstances, creating or updating your retirement plan, or helping you adapt to the new normal, they'll work with you to get a clear, customized plan, to feel in control, and move forward with confidence. So if you're interested in working with a financial planner, you can try to have your best interest in mind. And you're ready to take the next step. Visit centerfinplan.com at centerfinplan.com. And simple conversation. Center for Financial Planning.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Live your plan. Disclosure. Security is offered through Raymond Jane's Financial Services Inc., member FEMBRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Center for Financial Planning Inc. Center for Financial Planning Inc. is not a registered broker dealer and is independent of Raymond Jane's Financial Services. Center for Financial Planning was a sponsor of the Divorce Ridge Podcast. The Center for Financial Planning and Raymond James are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Divorce Ridge Podcast.

Market Review And Current Outlook

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Hi everyone. Today our guest is Angela Palacios. She's here to walk us through the investment outlook, what matters, what doesn't, and where to turn out the noise. Angela is a partner and the chief investment officer at the Center for Financial Planning in Southfield. And this is a crucial topic for anyone who's going through or recently experienced divorce. Divorce changes your financial picture. And the current investment environment can have a big impact on short-term and long-term decisions. I often hear clients say they're not good with money. But what really I think they're saying is that they're uncomfortable with the language of investing. Angela is here today to help us move past that. So welcome, Angela. I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. So let's get right into it. Let's start talking about what is the current investment outlook.

Headlines Vs Economic Fundamentals

Rates, Mortgages, And Housing Decisions

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Well, I you start with the the easiest question first, maybe. Investment outlooks are incredibly hard to predict. I'm I'm being you know facetious. Um looking at you know where we're going, you really need to understand maybe where we just came from. Um we saw very resilient markets coming out of 2025. There was great performance from almost all areas of portfolios, and really for the last several years, not just 2025. Um, bonds, US stocks, international stocks, even tangible things like gold, precious are those precious metals, silver, and we've had really great performance in all of those areas. Um, and this is quite a turnaround because at one point of the year in 2025, the US market was actually nearing bear market territory. So the S P 500, for example, was down almost 20% at one point of the year. Um, and that was really when sheriffs were making headlines. I know it was it was a very scary time because we had a new president, they were talking about you know some really big changes in the economy. Um, so markets were retreating a bit at that time. Um, but really what won at the end of the day is the health of corporations, the consumer, and the economy outweighed all of these scary headlines. And that's what resulted in a very strong year last year. Um, so now we look ahead to this year, uh, and I see that resilience continuing. The market has already been tested with some pretty interesting headlines this year, um, like you know, the president of Venezuela and his wife being um taken into custody and removed from power, um, Department of Justice probe into the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, and that called into question just the independence of the Federal Reserve from the administrative branch. Uh, our president, you know, trying to gain control of Greenland. I feel like it's something every weekend. You know, we come in on Monday morning and we never know what it's gonna be. Um, so some pretty serious headlines that could be impacting markets. But we also have some items on the positive side of our list. There's not all cons, there's some pros. We've got some tax stimulus from the one big beautiful bill that passed last year that will put some tax dollars back in consumer pockets, meaning consumers should still be spending money. And that's that's just it's a big deal because we're the largest part of the health of this economy here in the U.S. We have many um foreign corporations also that we'll start to see following through on investments here in the U.S. That was a big part of what President Trump was trying to negotiate last year with the tariffs was really bringing some manufacturing back on our shores, having companies invest in the U.S. and not just all overseas. So that should provide like a tailwind of job growth, maybe investments in many areas of the country that that should help the economy this year. Um, we'll have a new chairman of the Federal Reserve named shortly. Jerome Powell's tenure kind of ends in May. Um, he'll still be on the board for a couple of more years, but he won't be the chairman any longer. I don't anticipate this will shift their policy on interest rates very much from where they stand right now, but certainly something that we'll be making headlines this year. Um as of now, we're anticipating one more interest rate cut, um, maybe two, but really holding steady and it's kind of all data dependent. They look at things like inflation levels. So, how much more are we paying for things like gas at the pump and groceries at the grocery store? You know, that's a big um item that they pay attention to when they decide what to do with interest rates.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

A lot of people that I work with, they're very concerned about interest rates and feel like um, you know, a lot of them have a house that they refinanced a few years ago when interest rates were insanely low and they're waiting for interest rates to go back down until they figure out what to do with their house and divorce. Do you see that if if we're anticipating an interest rate rate decrease, does that flow through to consumers in the form of mortgage rates going down?

SPEAKER_03 8:30

Yeah, it that's a really good question. It generally does. It might take a month or two to reflect, but we have seen um the Federal Reserve cut the last quarter of last year. So we had three different cuts in the year, and we've started to see those interest rates from really over the 7% range fall back down more closer to 6%. So they are getting a little more palatable. Um you should see that if we have another cut or two this year, you should see it drifting down a little bit more. Um, yeah. So that's that's good to know. That's good news. Yeah, many of us feel stuck in our homes because you can't sell a home and and buy a new home and have the same payment, even if it's the same value of home.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

I know it's really problematic with people getting divorced because it's difficult to, unless you want to assume the mortgage, you have to factor that in that your payment's probably gonna go up because interest rates are up. And you know, that's a separate consideration even from whether or not you qualify on your own. But that is something that I know people that are divorcing that is a topic of of heavy interest that we hear.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

Yes, I can imagine. Yeah, so I would look for those to come down a little bit more this year. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

One of the things that you are talking about, you mentioned the the stock market and different things that happen in the political environment, in government, in the news. How much do people that are getting divorced pay attention to that and really worry about those things? And when you look at historical data, when there is a reaction in the market to something happening politically, is that long lasting? Is that something that they should be afraid and keep their money under their pillow instead of risking it in the market?

What Drives Markets Short Term And Long Term

SPEAKER_03 10:28

It is, it's it's tricky. You know, it comes down to thinking about things in the short term. You know, headlines generally drive markets in the very short term. In the long term, more important things take over to drive the market, like the health of the economy, what are taxes doing, what are interest rates doing, um, you know, the health of the consumer. Those are much more impactful over the long term uh than short-term headlines, political noise, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

Okay. That's a good a good reminder. And I think a good lesson for someone who's just learning about investing, it does sound like there's a lot of scary things happening. And I know I hear from clients that they're worried that they're not going to be able to weather those kinds of storms if they haven't been the one in charge of making the financial decisions.

Building A Now Soon Later Plan

Bonds 101 And Role In Portfolios

SPEAKER_03 11:22

Yes. Yeah, it's it's it can be overwhelming, I would imagine. It, you know, thinking about markets and things we can control and things we can't, I would think your people want to control as much as they can. That's a very natural tendency. But if you're looking at things in the short term, it's just incredibly hard to predict what's going to happen. We don't know what headline is gonna come out next week, tomorrow, in two minutes. You know, we just don't know. So having a plan to kind of untangle that that financial picture from your ex-spouse and think about things like in priority levels. So controlling what we can control, thinking about what you need over the next maybe six months to two years is really important. Keeping that budget in something that's very secure, like a money market account or a savings and checking account, or you know, something that you know you can readily spend from. You're gonna get a little bit of interest, you're gonna know what interest you're probably gonna get. You don't have a lot of volatility in that money. That really helps you sustain those that short-term markets when you know you have six months or a year or two years of money kind of sitting on the sidelines, not subjected to that. Right. Gives you a lot more freedom to lose a little bit of control of control or give up a little bit control of control of what's gonna happen with the rest of those dollars. That's really good advice. Thinking about, you know, spending over the next maybe two to five years, you could take a little bit more risk with that money. You maybe invest in the bond market. It's gonna not have as much volatility usually from equity markets, but it's gonna give you a little bit higher interest rate than maybe your money market or your savings account, might give you a little potential for price appreciation on top of that.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Um Angie, if um there are people that we have that are listening that might not know anything about what is a stock, what is a how can you can you give us a good definition of what a bond is and how the bond market is different than the stock market?

SPEAKER_03 13:49

Yeah. So a bond is simply somebody borrowing money from somebody else. So a company may need to borrow money to build a new plant, to to build uh cars, for example. And you know, they have choices of where they can get that money from. They could go to the bank, they could go to bond investors, they could even go to the stock market and issue more stock. Um, so bonds are simply debt that they want to take on. They're gonna sell that debt to individuals, and in return, they're gonna pay them an interest rate based on the credit worthiness of that company. So, kind of like the credit scores that we get when we're borrowing money, you know, companies get graded as well. So they have to pay an interest rate based on the the grade that they get. Um, and you know what's nice about bonds is you generally know what you're going to get, when you're going to get it, because that income stream pays on a very regular schedule. Maybe it pays out twice a year or four times a year, it pays you interest. And then it's going to mature at some point in the future, meaning the principal that you let them borrow, you're going to get that money back on a certain date. So there's nice to know. It is. It's not guaranteed, but there is a little bit of risk depending on the grade that that company gets. But usually default rates on those types of bonds, you know, if they're considered investment grade bonds, very, very low default rates. So you can generally count on those.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Okay, so there's less risk with the bond market, but maybe less potential return than if you invested your money in the stock market. Exactly. Yeah.

Stocks For Long-Term Growth

SPEAKER_03 15:53

Most of us don't have enough money set aside to be able to live on interest the rest of our lives, you know, just from our money market or our CDs. We have to take on some risk to have a successful retirement 10, 20 years down the road. And that's what the stock market engine really is for. It's to protect that long-term buying power of your dollar, give you some growth towards those longer-term goals. And it allows you to, you know, if you know you have the other things taken care of, the now expenses, the maybe the soon expenses, it lets you take on that risk. And you don't have to worry about, well, the market's down today, but I don't need to sell that today. I don't need to think about selling that for another 10 or 15 years. You can just let it ride.

Investor Behavior And Staying The Course

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Right. And a lot of my clients are women who have not been in the um in the position of managing their finances. Obviously, not all women are in that position, but a lot of the ones that I work with are. And I think that once women start to educate themselves about financial concepts, that they're actually really good at not letting their emotions get in the way of their investments. I have found that maybe this is a stereotype, but a lot of the women that I work with, they have an investment advisor that they've been working with and they have stuck to their plan. And they're not affected by those short-term dips because they can count on the fact that they're working with someone they can trust and they know that if they don't need that money right now, they can afford to let it go and they don't pull it out at the wrong time, which often is the reason why a lot of people miss out, right, on getting a good return in their money.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

Yeah, you're there is science and data backing up your opinion, Jackie. So it's not a stereotype. There are whole uh degrees now that you can earn on what we call behavioral finance. And that's a topic that you know women have shown to be very have very good investor behavior. You know, they tend to defer to experts or, you know, just stay calm, maybe not worry or no, not enough not to open your statement during a down month. If you just ignore it this month, you know, that can sometimes be the best answer.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

So what would you recommend to people who are just starting to learn to invest? People that are getting divorced a little bit later in life and have a significant portfolio, they're not the same as investors who are starting off with nothing in their 20s. Um, they're coming into money that they need to be aware of. How would you suggest that they start educating themselves?

Home Equity, Liquidity, And Asset Types

SPEAKER_03 18:36

Well, I think it's kind of knowing the right questions to ask. Um, and much like, you know, hiring you to help them with their divorce, hiring someone who is more of an expert to help them with their investments, that can give a lot of peace of mind because your entire financial picture is shifting at this point in life. Um, knowing that there's somebody there in your corner that can help guide you, I think can give a lot of comfort. Um, but really thinking about you know, what is my financial picture look like now? You know, you have this totally new financial framework, your income is different, you have different expenses, sometimes new responsibilities. Um, it's really time right now to put pen to paper and assess what your cash flow looks like. So understanding what's coming in and what's going out, um, and understanding you know how much you need to have set aside to deal with those bills. Um having an understanding of what your net worth looks like. So thinking about the money that you're using now versus money that's set aside for retirement versus physical assets like your home or you know, any other real estate that you may have gotten in a divorce. You have to understand like how those not, you know, not all assets are created equal, right? How how do you manage these assets that were awarded to you? You know, a home is a great asset, but like you said, that asset can easily cost you money, not add to you know, your day-to-day income. You can't readily take a withdrawal from your home to live on. So you have to think about things very differently, something like real estate than you would a retirement account or a brokerage account. And they all have different tax rules, liquidity levels, kind of planning and implications.

Should You Pay Off The Mortgage Now

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Right. And that's why I think it's so important to have a co-pilot with um with you if you if you're new to it. I have had several people, even today, Andy, say to me on the phone that they're planning to liquidate their portfolio to pay off their mortgage. And I always feel that's a conversation that that they can have later when they work with a financial advisor after the divorce, which I always recommend that they do. But um can you talk a little bit about why, you know, what are some of the cons of doing that? Taking all of your investment assets, cashing them in, and paying off a mortgage.

Priorities Checklist: Now Soon Later

SPEAKER_03 21:25

It really comes down to taking choice away. When you pay off a large asset like a home, if it takes a significant amount of your assets and you can't depend on that home to buy groceries or you know, pay for a new car if you something happens to your car, it takes choice away. So it just becomes this balancing act of you know, how much assets do you have versus how much you owe on that home, what interest rate you know you're paying on that home versus what interest rate. Interest rate you may be able to earn elsewhere and kind of balancing that. Maybe it it's better to have a plan to pay down a little earlier than the end of that mortgage. Maybe you decide instead of paying it all off to make extra payments each year along the way and kind of reduce the duration of that debt. All debt isn't bad. And usually the debt you have to own your home is not bad debt. Now, if you're if you switch switching gears and you're talking about credit card debt, it's probably a very different story because those are much higher interest rates. But uh having h debt in a home isn't necessarily a bad thing. And I want to urge that it's important to kind of keep control, especially right now, not making huge decisions like that when you're going through this huge life transition already. Sometimes it's it's good just to we can keep that as something we have on our radar, but you don't need to make that decision today. You can wait six months or a year or two years before you make that decision.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

I love all of that advice. Everything you just said, I would love to put an exclamation point on. That is so on point that people don't have to make that decision right away. When they're right when the divorce is done, it's it's you've been through a traumatic experience. It's so hard to get your head straight on what are the things that you need to do right away. And a lot of the things that need to be done right away are get the investment accounts into my name, transfer everything over to me, um, more procedural things that need to be done right away, get your estate planning redone. But when it comes to a big decision like cashing in all your investment assets to pay off a loan, that needs to happen when you're in a different frame of mind. And you can talk to your financial advisor about giving you a wide range of choices. So I love what you said about how that really limits your choices. I think that's the right frame to look at it with.

Taxes, Rebalancing, And Liquidity

SPEAKER_03 24:00

Um one of the things we do with our clients is we create a now soon later list. So, like you said, now are those really important procedural things like updating your beneficiaries on retirement accounts, um, changing how accounts are titled so they're titled properly, you know, getting your emergency savings kind of beefed up, you know, the cash that you need to pay bills is there. You know, so you know, those things are really immediate and things you need to focus on now. But there are so many other questions, and it you, you know, if you don't kind of prioritize what you need to focus on first, it can just be overwhelming and you do nothing. And that's kind of the worst thing to do. So if you make this kind of now, soon later list, you can compartmentalize and kind of knock those really important, urgent things out first, and then be have the space later, you know, maybe six months from now to work on that soon list and you know, a couple years from now work on that later list, it can really help you make things achievable.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

I agree. Is there anything else in the um investment outlook, the economic environment that you think people should be aware of right now?

Retirement Planning And Risk Tolerance

SPEAKER_03 25:16

I think taxes. I think you know, we're coming into tax season. So you know, sometimes people may need to take some money out of certain accounts to kind of beef up that emergency savings, um, or you know, have that kind of day-to-day cash to live on. You know, what assets do we want to sell now? If we're thinking about, you know, long-term, what we want our asset allocation to be, you know, how much do we have in cash? How much do we have in bonds? How much do we have in stocks? It can be a great time to rebalance. Markets have been really phenomenal for three years in a row. And if we need to sell something to make some cash liquid for you, now is a great time to do that. Maybe those assets that you've gotten are a little bit more aggressive than you need or want to be in the long term. Now might be a great time to trim from that stock side of the portfolio. But then you need to think about taxes. So depending on if you're having capital gains or maybe if you have to take that money from a retirement account right now, you know, thinking about the tax impact because in a few months we're going to be filing our taxes. You know, thinking about that tax impact of those decisions is really important right now. And the market's offers offering us a great opportunity to liquidate things if we need to. So that I think is something that should be top of mind for people right now.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

I agree. We don't want to make a lot of long-term decisions like cashing in all of our accounts to pay off debt out of fear temporarily, but we do need to have clients check in with a financial advisor.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

Yeah, exactly. Um, I also think, you know, retirement planning, it's something that you need everyone needs to be thinking about. Um, maybe should be top of mind. Um, it's a good time to think about am I still on track for retirement? And what do my investments need to be doing for me to get there? Um, so I think retirement plans can look very different post-divorce. Um you may need to adjust, you know, how much you're saving. You may need to rethink that investment strategy. You may need to rethink, you know, your risk levels. I mean, have has anyone ever asked you what your risk tolerance is? You need to be talking about that and thinking about you know how much risk you can afford to take on or how much risk you can tolerate taking on with your investments going forward.

Event Invite: Economic & Planning Outlook

SPEAKER_02 27:58

Um it's different when you're single than when you were a couple. And for a lot of people that were not managing the investments, nobody ever asked them what their risk tolerance is. They might not even know what that means, that concept. Um, and I think that that that's what's really going to drive the rate of return when you're working with an advisor is what is your tolerance and how do you allocate your assets amongst all the asset classes that you were talking about at the beginning of our conversation. And that's where people really could use help. And I do think that women are women are more prone to asking for help when they need it. Then that does make them better investors. Yeah. There are no stupid questions here. Never. No, I agree. I agree. Well, thank you so much, Andy, for being on the show today. This was really important information. And I love how you explain everything in such a nice, calm way. You have an event coming up, right? That's sponsored by your company. And for anyone here local in Michigan, can you tell us about that and who is welcome to come to that event?

Sponsor: Divorce Attorneys For Women

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Yeah, I mean, it's really open for anyone. Um, we have an event in the end of February, uh, or close to the end of February. It is February 25th. Um, it's our annual economic and investment outlook. So talking about a lot more detail in some of the market-based topics that we touched on today, um, thinking about like where we've come from and and where we're potentially going over the next year. We're also doing a little um financial planning update because we have a lot of changes because of the one big beautiful bill that passed last year. So we'll be talking about um some changes that you need to be thinking about there. So yeah, anybody can come, it's Lun and you get to listen to me and some other wonderful people from my organization speak. It's in Southfield at the Great Lakes Culinary Center.

SPEAKER_02 30:01

Okay, that's a that's a very cool place. So I'm gonna link all the information in the show notes to this episode. If people want to attend, they can contact the Center for Financial Planning. It's a good opportunity for people to become part of the conversation. Thank you, Angie. Thank you so much for having me today, Jackie.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

When you're facing divorce, you deserve an advocate who understands what you're going through and who's dedicated to protecting your future. At Dawn, Divorce Attorneys for Women. Our mission is simple: to help women move forward with clarity, confidence, and strong legal guidance. Whether you're just starting the process or feeling overwhelmed by what comes next, our team is here to support you every step of the way. Schedule a free consultation today and learn how we can help you take back control of your life. Visit women's rights.com slash free consultation video to get started.

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Send Us Your Questions & Closing

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the mailbag segment of the Divorce Rich Podcast. This segment is sponsored by Dawn, the Divorce Association for Women based in Michigan, and their contact information will be in the show notes for this episode. Well, I'm gonna dive right in, and the first um, the question that we're gonna be covering today was sent in by Ashley, who is in the cold state of Illinois. She's kind of emailing us from Chicago. It is very cold, by the way, here in Michigan. As you can see, I've got my tea. I'm sitting in front of the fireplace trying to get warm as I answer this question from Ashley. Ashley wrote to us asking about her husband's HSA. And she says that he has an HSA through work and he's adamant that she should not receive any part of it. So she wants to know is that okay? Or is it worth digging your heels in? So, Ashley, let's take a step back and let me explain what an HSA is. An HSA is a healthcare savings account. It's offered through an employer, and there are many benefits to having an HSA. The first benefit is that the money comes out pre-tax. And so you don't pay taxes on that money as earnings. Let's say I make$80,000 a year and I put$5,000 into my HSA. My employer, I only get taxed on$75,000 of earned income for the year because that$5,000 that I put towards the HSA is deducted off of my taxable income. So that's one benefit. The other benefit is that I can use that account to reimburse myself for any healthcare expenses. And that would come out tax-free. Those types of expenses would include the definition is very broad. So it could include co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions, mental health care co-pays. It could even be for something as broad as cosmetic procedures. You want to check with your HSA to see what they allow and what they cover. So that's another benefit of the HSA. It goes along with a high deductible health insurance plan. So if you have a high deductible plan, you usually have the ability to open up an HSA. And sometimes your employer will help and give you money towards your HSA. But even if they don't, it's worth it for you to open that account. So that's the second benefit. The third benefit of an HSA is that the earnings on that account, which are invested in assets just the same way that you would invest money in your 401. So you have different assets available to you that you can invest in. And any of the earnings are not going to be taxed in the year that you receive those earnings. So another great tax benefit for the HSA. But the real benefit of the HSA is, and I'm going to highly recommend to you that if you have an HSA, you don't use it to reimburse yourself because it is a fabulous retirement savings vehicle. It is actually the best one out there. It is, you get the deduction for it off of your income taxes, off of your taxable earnings. The interest is not taxed to you. And as long as it comes out for healthcare purposes, even in retirement, it's going to come out tax free. Also, once you hit age 65, you can take that money out and you can spend it on anything. And it will be tax free. And it is not going to be it's not going to be treated as taxable income to you. So Ashley, you want a share of that HSA. It is a great asset to have. It can be transferred pursuant to a divorce. You don't need any kind of a separate document like a quadro. You would just need a copy of your judgment of divorce and whatever paperwork the custodian required. So you'd fill out that paperwork and it can be transferred to you. It doesn't matter where the HSA is held. It's an IRS regulation that it can be transferred to you, to a former spouse after the divorce. Now, whether or not I'm going to go to Ashley's bigger question, which was should she dig her heels in? And I don't know anything about the rest of your settlement, Ashley. So I can't tell you if you should dig your heels in or not. I can tell you an HSA is a great investment, and certainly you'd want to have one if you could. Now, that doesn't mean that you should sacrifice other important things in your settlement negotiations for an HSA. That's going to be up to you, your attorney, and hopefully you have a CDFA that you can talk to about your specific case. So thank you again, Ashley, for sending that question in. And I want to remind all of our listeners, we would love to hear from you. Please send in your questions to us. There is no dumb or stupid question. The only one that is a bad question is the one that you don't ask. So send them to us at divorcerichpod at gmail.com. And again, we would be thrilled to feature and answer your question on this show. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to listen to Divorce Rich Podcast. If you like this podcast, please follow us on Apple or anywhere that you download podcasts and share this link with any friends or family that you think might benefit from this picture.