Natalie’s Journey

I was born and raised in California.  I found who I thought was the “love of my life” in junior high school and we married in 1980.  My plan was that I wanted to have two children before I was 30 and God decided to bless us with twins! We began raising our kids in southern California and all seemed right with the world.

About 6 years later, my “love” and I decided that the hustle and bustle of California were not really where we wanted to raise the kids, so we ventured to a new home in Utah.  It was fun there – truly enjoyed living through all 4 seasons.  After being in Utah 2 ½ years he received a job offer in Las Vegas, Nevada.  It wasn’t the ideal location that I wanted to be in to raise our kids, but it did put us closer to our families in California.  So off we went on another adventure.

Our life in Vegas was good.  We made many friends over the next two decades; some from my dear husband’s job, some from mine (friendships after divorce is something for another blog post discussion).  I went back to work.  I’ve always worked in the accounting industry because I enjoy working with numbers; organizing, calculating and balancing.

In 2001, after caring for my elderly mother for two years, I returned to Nevada.  I decided to start my own bookkeeping services company.  It has been a wonderful experience being there to help others with their finances.

In 2008 my dear husband decided that he would become “retired” so he quit his then $100,000+ a year job and came home.  Not being much of a financial wiz, he figured we could survive on the $45,000 a year income from my business and maintain the same lifestyle that he had always presented to our friends and family. Yeah right!  The result was going through our entire savings, my inheritance from my mom, as well as his 401K savings.

When I was finally able to explain to him that by the end of 2011 we would be entirely out of money – he figured he had better go back to work.  He finally found a job but it required him to move to another state.  This helped us financially but also continued to destroy our relationship.  Living long distance does not always make the heart grow fonder…..It was even more difficult…..no time together at all and when he finally came home for a visit his attitude was,

That was pretty much the last straw.  I knew I had to make a change.  So I prayed and thought about the idea of being alone after always being in a relationship.  I came to the realization that it would be better to be truly alone, alone; rather than feeling alone when the guy was in the same room with you.

After going through my divorce in 2013 and a bankruptcy the year prior (2012),  I decided it was again time for a change.  I set my goal to move from Nevada back to southern California to be nearer to my son and his family.

I’m happy to say I am now back on my feet both financially and emotionally.  And it’s really nice.

I thought about it and it hadn’t been easy for me to go through the divorce process even when I was the one that had always handled the finances.  It was still confusing to figure out everything that needed to be done.  I couldn’t imagine what it was like for someone that didn’t have my background in finances or accounting experience; not understanding what to do in any of the many financial situations that we go through during our adult lifetime.

I came to the conclusion that I wanted to start my own business where I could help other women, whether they are going through divorce or perhaps widowhood, or just need help in understanding their finances – – to give them the help they need to win the battle with their finances;

I’m here to help.  My site will contain articles and resources, as well as learning modules so you can gain further education to get back on track with your finances and on with the rest (and better part) of your life.  After he’s gone…..now what?   I’ll show you!  We will get through this together. 

Here’s to our future!  Take care, talk soon,

Natalie