Can You Afford to Live to 95 After Divorce? with Logan Dimitrie, CFP

Divorce can make you feel like you’re rebuilding from scratch, but the real challenge is longer than the settlement paperwork: how do you stay stable, independent, and confident for the next 25 to 40 years? We sit down with Logan Dimitrie, associate financial planner at the Center for Financial Planning, to unpack longevity planning in plain language and make it practical for anyone navigating divorce or life as a newly single adult.  Logan also shares details on the Center’s virtual Longevity Conference for caregivers (May 21, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.), https://www.centerfinplan.com/longevity-virtual-conference-2026.with resources on dementia caregiving, community support, scams, fraud, and the key legal steps to protect your family. 

To Reach out to Logan, 

• https://calendly.com/logan-dimitrie/introduction-call-clone
• https://www.centerfinplan.com/logan-dimitrie
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/logan-dimitrie/

Center for Financial Planning
Striving to Improve Lives Through Financial Planning Done Right! https://www.centerfinplan.com/

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Transcript

Welcome And What Rich Means

SPEAKER_04 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 is the 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. 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 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 adjust 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 that you can trust to have your best interest in mind, and you're ready to take the next step, visit centerfinplan.com at centerfinplan.com and schedule a conversation. Center for Financial Planning.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

Live your plan. Disclosure. Security is offered through Raymond James Financial Services Inc., member FENRA, SIPC. Investment Advisory Services offered through Center for Financial Planning Inc. Center for Financial Planning Inc. is not a registered rubber dealer and is independent of Raymond James Financial Services. Center for Financial Planning was a sponsor of the Divorce Rich Podcast. The Center for Financial Planning and Raymond James are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Divorce Rich Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 2:49

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Divorce Rich Podcast. Today we're going to be talking about longevity planning. And this is a really interesting topic as we have more and more people that are getting into the age frame of meeting longevity planning. I know that a lot of my divorced clients are certainly within this range. We want to cover this topic in a um as thorough of a way as we can today. My guest is Logan Dimitri. He's an associate financial planner at the Center for Financial Planning in Southfield, Michigan. And he is going to be hosting a longevity conference that their firm is putting on. And we're going to talk a little bit about that later on in this episode. He's been in the financial industry for seven years. And prior to that, he started off in senior living. So he is ideally suited to this topic. And I'm really glad that you're here with us today. So welcome.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Thank you so much for having me, Jackie. Happy to be here.

Planning As A Newly Single Person

SPEAKER_04 3:50

So longevity planning, for those of us, for those people listening in the audience that aren't sure what that is, longevity planning is pretty much the process of designing your financial legal healthcare and lifestyle system so that you can maintain independence, stability, and quality of life over a long lifetime horizon, usually I'd say 25 to 40 plus years. And for those that are in the process of divorce, that could be single. So you know, when I when I'm talking to clients, Logan, I find that a lot of my clients don't initially identify as single for life. So even if statistically they may be what shifts when you start planning as a long-term single person, in your opinion, versus someone who assumes that they're going to be in a partnership again or they're going to have a spouse. How would that be different?

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah, great question, Jackie. And um I I'd say, like you said, most people don't plan to be single for life, but I would even say most people don't plan in general. They'll try to kind of live by the moment and um almost avoid committing to certain plans. And so when you're newly single or you find yourself you were in a partnership and you're no longer in a partnership, um some of the big things that change are taxes. Taxes are a big one, um especially depending on the income imbalances, what income you still have or don't have, you could find yourself in a relatively high income bracket all of a sudden, going from say married filing jointly to single. Um so that's significant. And really, a lot of times your fixed expenses may even stay somewhat similar. And so you'll want to be careful there with the switching to single income that you can cover those fixed expenses and really, really plan for those big tax events. Um, I'd say it even makes sense to give yourself a buffer until you're comfortable with those new expenses, new cash flow, new taxes by maybe increasing your conservative investments, your emergency fund, and just being prepared for something that you an emergency that comes up that you'll now be weathering on your own instead of a partnership that can be a bit more stressful.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

So that's a good point to try to move your assets into um more conservative positions. A lot of my clients are female and they have not been the one making the investment or the financial decisions during the marriage. So a lot of times they inherit really risky investments. Um can you talk a little bit about what qualifies as conservative and what does that mean in practical terms?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Um we see that all the time too, very uh aggressive positions. Now finding yourself in a single situation where you're trying to manage those investments, and there's a lot of volatility with those riskier investments when you have like heavy equity focus, or if you're invested in like a specific stock, um, as the market moves, you'll see a lot more movement there. So to get more conservative, um for example, emergency fund. I mentioned emergencies, um, really padding like cash and cash equivalents. So finding like a good high yield savings account. And the typical rule of thumb is like three to six months of savings for your emergency fund. Um, I might even recommend going a little higher on that until again, you're comfortable with like a cash, the new cash flow, um, so that if something does come up, you're able to handle it as without that partnership you used to handle those emergencies with. Um, but really, if you're talking about the whole investment portfolio, getting away from some of those equities and having a bit more balance with some bonds, a lot of times, like fixed income type investments will help you out. Because while those can change in price too, they are typically more aligned with interest rates. So as interest rates go up, bonds might go down and inversely, but not typically as significant as the equity market. And a lot of times they provide income as well. Um, if we're talking just equities, you might move from more like growth type investments to income type investments, dividend income, that sort of thing. Um, just again, to really help with like that cash flow piece as things change.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

So become a little bit more conservative, protect your safety is what I hear, I'm hearing you say. Anyone listening in to they should be aware that you don't want to cash in all of your risky investments all at once. And that's what I know as a financial planner who works with clients post-divorce, you would help them figure out, you know, a strategy instead of just taking everything and cashing it in and repositioning it.

Taxes And Account Reallocation Traps

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Yes, a good balance, exactly. A balance of investments. And also on that note, the investment vehicle or the account type is another significant one to watch out for. So if it's say an IRA, for example, you could reallocate without um being subject to tax. So if you sell things in the IRA and reallocate it, you don't get taxed at capital gains rates. But if it's a taxable account, you want to be careful there because if you sell things for a game, you might owe some taxes.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

So I know you can help out with the strategy for that. You've done it for a lot of my clients in the past at the center. What are some of the common blind spots that you see when some when someone has to suddenly manage everything on their own financially? Um, do you see anything that they overlook in terms of longevity planning that maybe if they were with the partner, they would think about it in a different way?

SPEAKER_00 10:26

So longevity. Um I I think one big change is that you were in a partnership, you were planning for the long term with them, and now this sudden change, you're on your own, and you're really you start to become more in the moment, and it's even harder to plan for the long term. Um, because like you said, you're not planning to maybe be single for life, or you just don't really know where your life's taking you. So you almost just go with the flow and don't plan for it. Um, but really it's probably more important to plan when you're single rather than a partnership. It's always important to plan, but very important. Um so thinking about longevity as a single person, I mean, there there's a lot to think about. I mean, um, you've got to think about like healthcare. Um and I mean, just who who is your trusted contact? Trusted contacts, such a huge thing for me working with seniors. Um, and I mean, even our industry has the requirement if we're working with clients 65 or older, we need to at least ask and make a good effort to get a trusted contact on file. And what that is, is if we can't get a hold of you, who should we call to just see what's going on? Is everything okay with you? Um, did your contact information get updated and we just haven't connected? Um, so you really want to think about those things. Your your healthcare, your trusted contact, um, I mean, beneficiaries, account titling, that sort of thing. Um you've got to update that. Um, there, I mean, there really is so much to think about. And honestly, I think that's why I love what I do. I love what you do for some of our clients too. Um, and we can kind of focus on the things we specialize in, the things we work on every day, um, day in, day out, while the clients can focus on what's important to them. And honestly, like the biggest thing I feel is more important than all the numbers, the taxes, the investments, it is the purpose. Um, and actually like where you want to go. Where do you see yourself? And then we can look at the numbers and figure out how to get you there. But I I wish more people that suddenly found themselves single, um actually really focused on themselves and tried to figure out what their purpose get reach their happiness. Um, and then I'd love to help look at those numbers and get you there because um Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

Well, I think also, you know, people that are um are suddenly single or they don't sometimes they're not aware that they need to pick out someone to be their trusted contact or someone who's gonna handle their if you're incapacitated. Do you have a healthcare power of attorney or a financial power of attorney if you can't make decisions? You know, when you're married, you assume your spouse is going to do all of those things. And there's so many things to handle, right? When the divorce is over, transferring accounts, you know, changing the utility bills into your, there's just so many logistic things that I think it's hard for people to take a step back and think about okay, what if something happened to me? Who do I want to take care of me? Um, and so to your point of like where what is the purpose? Like, where are we going? Um, keeping in mind some of those important questions that we take for granted when we have a partner that they're gonna take care of us. Um I think that those are the kinds of things that you guys are ideally suited to starting that conversation with clients. Um if somebody is suddenly single and they're thinking about long-term planning, um is there anything that like I'm thinking long-term care has got to be part of this conversation. What are your thoughts about and can you tell us what long-term care insurance is? Can you explain that for anyone that's listening and has never heard of that term?

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Yeah, so long-term care insurance, um, it's definitely a a good way to protect against longevity and increased health care costs, which uh all of us know that um health care is really uh always getting more costly. We even in our assumptions, we uh assume a higher inflation rate and costs. Um and basically long-term care insurance can help protect against that because if basically if an event happens, usually um some sort of hospitalization, um, some ADLs, so uh activities of daily living, if you can't do a certain amount of those, it might kick in and basically provide some coverage for, say, a facility, um skilled nursing facility, that sort of thing if you need the care.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

Um that's really expensive, right? If you have to pay for that on your own, that can be a real risk to your investment portfolio.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

It can be a significant risk to your investment portfolio. It's honestly um one of the major reasons I switched from the senior living industry to the financial industry. Um, really? Yeah. So uh my role in senior living was life enrichment director. So I got to do the fun stuff, the activities, yeah, um, help people fulfill their purpose. And what a cool job. Oh, I I loved it. I had a blast. Um however, um I started thinking about like personal finance and like how will I be able to afford to live in a place like this? I'd love to, and started thinking about the costs of it, um, income savings, and was just really obsessed for my own financial health, financial well-being. And I realized like growing in senior living, there would be some really tough conversations I saw with families who, you know, maybe didn't plan or the care they thought they needed, they ended up needing more. Um, I worked in independent living, and we also had assisted living and memory care all on the one campus. So I saw families go between all place to place, and then the costs increasing, and then the conversations that like an executive director might have to have with a family who really couldn't afford it anymore because we weren't like a Medicaid facility where you might be able to spend down what you have, but then stay when you run out. So people needed to move. And then I started realizing, right? Yeah, it was it was terrible to see. And so I wanted to be more proactive. I didn't really want to be on that end of helping families figure it out. I wanted to be on the end where how can we help you ahead of time so you have the freedom of choice in those later years where your body might not be allowing you to do everything you want to do, but you're not limited in where you can stay, the care you receive. And you can actually choose maybe a higher quality facility, a facility that's still within your community. So your friends know where you're at. You're trusted contact, as we talked about.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

Right. Um so yeah, like I mean, I from what I read um and from what I've seen in my own family, people that have a very strong social network live a lot longer. Um, that seems to be a really big part of longevity is being around other people and having that social engagement. So to be able to afford that obviously is gonna make a big difference for someone, especially someone who's single, who isn't gonna have their partner in their house. Um, in terms of affordability for long-term care policies, I know that there's a couple different ways that you can purchase those. Um what are what is somebody typically looking at? I'm not, I I know that you can't give any specific costs because we don't, we're not sitting in front of an actual client. But in general, is that something that could be affordable? And is there a certain age that you have to start thinking about that before it becomes exorbitantly expensive?

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Great question, Jackie. Um I I would say it really is going to depend on the individual. There are different levers you can pull. A lot of times people already have maybe annuities or a life insurance policy, and you might be able to do some sort of exchanges into a long-term care policy if um if you don't already have one. Um, some old employers, we don't see it as often anymore, have offered long-term care policies. If yours does, it might be worth into that. But those portable ones are usually not portable, meaning you can take it with it.

SPEAKER_04 20:10

So someone has like cash value in a life insurance contract, they might be able to transfer that into a long-term care policy.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. Absolutely an option that's possible. We'd have to look at like illustrations, of course, like the policy that they have and make sure everything would work for them. But yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

Wow, okay. That would be a tremendous planning tool for a lot of people. I know that, you know, when you are married, a lot of times you've got that life insurance to protect the other spouse. And a lot of my clients, they don't need it anymore. And so they either just, you know, they stop making the premium payments or they let the premiums pay, you know, at the cash value pay the premiums. But if they could transfer that into a long-term care policy, that's certainly worth exploring in more detail.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Absolutely. Yeah, and we found recently some of the long-term care policies that have come about are like long-term care policies with a life insurance chassis, if you will. Like they a lot of them are life insurance and they have these LTC riders built in, things like that.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

So Okay. I think people don't like to talk about long-term care insurance. I don't know if you find that to be true. Why do you think that is?

SPEAKER_00 21:28

Oh, um, I mean, it can depend on the individual, but I'd say one, insurance. If you hear the word insurance, uh it just gets a bad rap, which I I get. I I've always kind of been somewhat against insurance in a way, even though it's it's kind of like a necessary evil, if you will. Um, it's something you pay for that you hope you don't have to ever use.

SPEAKER_04 21:53

Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:53

It's hard.

SPEAKER_04 21:54

It's just a a tough decision to make for people to put money towards something. But if you need it. And you don't have it, especially how uh a large percentage of us are going to need some kind of um some kind of care in our senior years. So it's a pretty good chance that that's not going to be a waste of money.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Right. Yeah. As folks are living longer, life expectancies are increasing, it it's likely you'll need it. And I also don't think people like talking about getting older. But as one of my favorite uh seniors from my time in that industry said, it beats the alternative.

SPEAKER_04 22:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

And it's good to plan for it.

Longevity Conference For Caregivers

SPEAKER_04 22:39

So yeah, absolutely. So I know that you guys have a conference come coming up, and I want to hear all about that. So can you tell us what that what the date is and who's invited to attend and what it's going to be like?

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Yeah, absolutely. Um, so we're very excited. It's our third annual longevity conference. Um, this year we're really focused on caregivers, so like family caregivers who um kind of like that sandwich generation is typical. It's, you know, you've got your kids, your full-time job, but your parents are now in that range where that caregiving role is starting where they might need your help. And that could be a big burden. So with this webinar, it's virtual, is basically to have we have um Julie Edgar from Ageways and um Paula Duren. Um, she's the founder of Universal Dementia Caregivers. Um, that's Paula Duren. And they're both coming in to speak um basically about resources available. So Julie will really focus on resources in the community that are available for caregivers, and then Paula resources available for those that are caring for folks with dementia, which can be um an entirely different burden uh on its own. And then um we'll also have I'll be kind of facilitating hosting it with some questions. Um, and Sandy Adams and Michael Brokavich, two partners at the Center for Financial Planning, will actually be answering some of those questions. So we will be digging into like scams, fraud, how to avoid them, um when people should start thinking about longevity planning, what to think about, and the legal documents, as you mentioned earlier, to make sure you have those in place, like your durable power of attorney, um, things like that.

SPEAKER_04 24:44

So okay, that sounds like a great resource.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah, and so the date and time, I'm sorry I didn't say date and time of the webinar, May 21st. It's a Thursday, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And the sessions, the three sessions kind of have breaks in between, and it's virtual. So if you need to step away because I'm sure you're busy if you're a caregiver, um, that's okay. And we'll have resources to send out after as well. So fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 25:15

Okay, and we will have the um the sign-up information in the show notes for this episode. So if anybody wants to sign up, and it's open to anyone, they don't have to be a client of the center, right? It's open to anyone that's interested.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Yes, open to anyone that's interested, even if you think caregiving is something potential that could come up for you. You know a friend and they're just too busy. Maybe you want to go to it and uh share the resources. It's open to anybody that's interested.

SPEAKER_04 25:47

Okay, awesome. Thank you so much, Logan, for coming on and talking about all of these important issues. And again, I really appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Thank you so much, Jackie. I appreciate you having me on.

SPEAKER_04 26:00

Well, today is a day that we are talking about upcoming events in Michigan for our listeners here who are local. Up next, I have Kelsey Minor talking about an upcoming event that Dawn, Divorce Attorneys for Women, is hosting. It's also uh a different kind of a free webinar. And uh Dawn is the mailbag sponsor of the Divorce Rich podcast. Instead of our mailbag segment this week, we are going to be hearing from Kelsey about this upcoming event. So stay tuned. Hi, everyone. I am here with Kelsey Minor, who is the managing partner at Dawn, Divorce Attorneys for Women in Michigan. And they have an exciting event coming up that I'm really happy she's here to share some details on.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

So welcome, Kelsey. Hello, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. So tell me about the event coming up. Of course, of course. So we are Michigan's original law firm dedicated to representing women, and we've been doing this work for over 30 years. Um, and we know that considering divorce can feel overwhelming, confusing, and sometimes even scary, which is why we created our webinar to give you clear, honest information so you can better understand what to expect and feel more in control of your situation or divorce if that's the route that you choose to take. Um, the webinar is about education and support. We'll walk through the basics of divorce in Michigan, talk about some of the most commonly asked questions and the biggest concerns that we hear, we as attorneys hear, hear from women. So you're not alone in this process. Whether you're considering filing for divorce, have already filed, or you just want some information regarding the process, you are not alone, and we will help guide you through through this difficult time. So the webinar will take place on May 12th at 6 o'clock PM and registration is now open. Okay, awesome. So is it virtual or is it live? So it is virtual. Okay, awesome. We know how busy, busy people are. Um, so we wanted to make this as accessible, accessible as possible. Um, you know, people have daycare pickups or other commitments, right? We want to make it available to as many people as we can.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

Okay, awesome. So that's May 12th, 2026, for anybody listening. And we are going to have the uh the link to register in the show notes. Um, but just for for someone who's listening in, it will it be posted on your website also? It will, yeah. Okay, and what is your website address?

SPEAKER_03 29:07

Yeah. So women's rights dot com.

SPEAKER_04 29:14

Women's rights.com. Okay, and that's coming up. And it's open to anyone that is looking for information. So there's no commitment that they have to hire anyone. It's open for anyone for education purposes, correct?

SPEAKER_03 29:26

Absolutely. We want to share the knowledge that we have and assist in any way that we can.

SPEAKER_04 29:33

Awesome. And how long is it going to run? Do you think?

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Um, approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Okay. So it sometimes depends on the amount of questions that we get near the end. Gotcha. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

All right. Well, I highly encourage anybody who is in Michigan to tune in and sign up for this seminar. The more information that you have when you're thinking about divorce, the better. And a lot of people are getting really bad information nowadays on AI. And so I really appreciate that you're out there putting real information out into the community for people to tune in.

SPEAKER_03 30:13

Of course. And thank you so much for having me. Thanks, Kelsey. All right, take care. Have a good Monday. Bye-bye. Bye.

SPEAKER_04 30:27

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 information.