Solaris Strategic Wealth

One task that often gets missed after losing a spouse: a full review of insurance policies and beneficiary designations across every account, retirement plans, life insurance, even old employer accounts.

It's an easy thing to overlook while grieving, and it can have real consequences years later if it's not addressed. We help clients work through this methodically, so nothing important slips through.

If you know someone in the months after this kind of loss, this is a task worth raising gently.

When kids are involved, divorce introduces an ongoing financial relationship that continues long after the paperwork is finalized: shared expenses, college savings, and decisions that require some level of coordination with a co-parent.

We help clients build a plan that holds up in this new structure, protecting their own financial footing while still supporting the goals they share for their children.

If you or someone you know is navigating this balance, we'd welcome the chance to help.

Whether it's a marriage ending or a spouse passing, the financial picture changes overnight, and so does everything that used to feel automatic: who pays what, who decides what, who's even in the room.

We specialize in guiding people through both of these transitions. Not just managing what's left, but helping you land on solid ground, so what remains is relief.

In the weeks after losing a spouse, there are decisions no one should have to make while grieving: which accounts to touch first, what bills need attention now versus later, what can simply wait.

We help widows and widowers sort through exactly that, at a pace that respects where they are.

Our job isn't to rush you toward answers. It's to hold the financial complexity so you don't have to carry it alone, so what's left is relief.

Divorce rewrites your finances from the ground up: new accounts, new goals, sometimes a new name, almost always a new sense of what "stable" even means.

You don't have to figure that out alone, and you don't have to figure it out fast.

We work with people rebuilding after divorce and turn the financial complexity into a clear, steady plan. Relief is the point.

“Am I really allowed to walk away from the 9-to-5 if a layoff hits tomorrow?”

That was the heartbeat of a conversation that Nicole Crisman Milone and Jennifer Meldrim had last week with a dual-career couple, one of whom is bracing for bank restructuring. They pulled their plan onto the big screen, layered in a realistic capital-gains “budget,” and stress-tested early retirement against rising healthcare costs. The moment of truth? Even with a more conservative 6 % growth rate, their assets still supported 30 years of travel, without touching their home equity. The look of relief when they saw that green “91 % probability of success” bar is why our team loves this work. If uncertainty at the office keeps you up at night, consider giving your numbers a fresh, honest run-through.

Clarity is a powerful antidote to worry.

Imagine getting a pre-layoff notice after 28 years with the same firm, just as the painters arrive to prep your house for listing.

In last week’s meeting, that was our client’s reality. Together we unpacked more than moving boxes: we mapped how a full year of severance, the home sale proceeds, and a potential career pivot could power multiple futures. By dropping his salary to zero in the plan first, we surfaced the true “sleep-at-night” number, then layered in part-time, full-time, and “golf-course marshal” scenarios.

The result? Relief and the freedom to choose work that sparks joy rather than panic.

Big lesson: before reacting, press pause, model the numbers, and let them tell the story.

Clarity turns a scary notice into an open door.

If a transition is looming, when was the last time you stress-tested your plan?

Our good friend!

Sabrina Winters