How AAB Wealth helped me find my financial footing after divorce

“She listened. She didn’t push me into anything.”

After 25 years of supporting her husband’s career and not working, Shelley found herself facing divorce and, for the first time in her adult life, the prospect of managing her finances entirely alone. Here’s how working with Claire McMahon at AAB Wealth gave her the clarity she needed to build a life on her own terms.

“When I made the decision to divorce, I really had no idea what my financial situation would be. My husband and I had a very comfortable life together, and throughout our marriage I had supported his career – which meant living in different countries and not working. In fact, I hadn’t worked for 25 years.

I knew I would be receiving a pension share as part of the settlement – my husband had an exceptionally good pension through his employer. But I had no real understanding of how pension sharing worked in practice, what income it might actually generate, or whether it would be enough to live on without returning to work. The thought of going back at my age felt incredibly daunting – my skills felt completely out of date – I was really hoping that I might not have to.”

Finding the right person

“My solicitor gave me three names of financial advisers to approach. I did my research, and one of them was Claire McMahon at AAB Wealth. I liked what I read – the reputation of the firm and the testimonials about Claire. I decided I’d meet her first.

I’d spoken to financial advisers at different points in my life, and I also went along to my bank, who arranged for me to meet one of their pension specialists. That meeting didn’t feel right. It felt like I was being given a script rather than a conversation – it wasn’t personal, and I wasn’t clear on what they could actually offer me.

From the very first conversation with Claire, it was completely different.

She listened. She didn’t push me into anything.

I should be honest: I arrived at that first meeting in a fairly emotional state. I’d been through a great deal, and I was still processing what lay ahead.

What I appreciated was that Claire was sympathetic, but she didn’t let that get in the way. She stayed one step removed – she listened without pushing. And then it became: right, let’s look at what you need, what your outgoings are, what your life looks like. It was exploratory and unhurried. She asked me what I wanted from my daily life – things like holidays, regular spending and what my monthly lifestyle actually looked like. And then she showed me what could be achieved, which felt like everything.”

Understanding the full picture

“Claire walked me through cashflow modelling, and we also talked through my attitude to risk. I’d been through a risk assessment before, but my circumstances had completely changed since then. Previously, the money I had invested was, in a sense, ‘extra’ – it sat alongside everything else we had. Now, this money was my income – this was what I was going to live on – that changes how you think about risk entirely.

We looked at everything: the pension, the general investment account and the ISA. Claire explained that not all assets are equal – they need to be treated differently and arranged in a way that works with tax rather than against it. The income I draw each month is structured carefully across those different sources. I genuinely didn’t know that was how it worked before.

One question Claire asked early on has stayed with me: did I see myself outliving my money, or my money outliving me?

For some people, the answer shapes everything – they have children or grandchildren, and leaving something behind matters enormously. My picture was different: I don’t have close family to pass things on to. So my outlook is very much that I’d rather enjoy what I have while I’m here. That realisation – that my plan doesn’t have to be built around a legacy – opened things up and shaped everything that followed.”

Being able to say yes

“One of the most liberating outcomes of working with Claire has been understanding, concretely, what I can actually afford to do.

I’d bought a small cottage – a two-up-two-down, which is absolutely right for me – and had a list of things I wanted to do to it. There’s a very narrow entrance to the driveway I wanted to widen so I could get my car off the street. I wanted a small ensuite bathroom and a new kitchen. I’d had a figure in my head as a possible budget, and I half-expected to be told I’d have to scale back, but Claire’s assessment of it was higher than I had hoped.

But more important than the figure – and this is what gave me real peace of mind – she made it absolutely clear that this money is entirely separate from my monthly income. The renovations come from one pot; my day-to-day living comes from another and they don’t touch each other.

I also have a year’s worth of income sitting in a cash account as a safety net. To some people that might sound overly cautious, but to me it’s an enormous comfort. That money feels real in a way that investments don’t, not yet. Knowing it’s there – that if anything went sideways I’d have a full year before I needed to do anything – matters more than I can say.

I’m also planning for the longer term. It’s a small cottage, but I’ve thought about what happens if I can’t manage the stairs one day. The bathroom is already downstairs and I could convert the sitting room into a bedroom if I needed to. Claire and I talked through all of this. She asks what I want, then works out what’s feasible. Being able to ask for everything I’d love – even knowing I might have to pare it back – is so much better than assuming you can only do the minimum and missing out.”

A team fighting your corner

“I’d like to also mention Morgan Macdonald, Client Relationship Support, who has been wonderful throughout the whole process. When we were trying to get the pension transfer completed – and there were real delays, documents going astray, frustrating back-and-forth with the pension provider – Morgan was there every week, telling me what she’d chased, what the response had been, exactly where things stood.

I was kept completely in the loop – at no point did I feel I was waiting in the dark.

That’s what I mean when I say I felt I had a team around me. Claire is there for the advice and the strategy; Morgan makes sure everything actually happens. Between them, I never felt alone in any of this.”

How it feels now

“The income I receive means I don’t have to go back to work, and means I’ve been able to settle into my new home. Once the renovation work is done and my spending settles into a steady rhythm, I’ll have an even clearer picture of where I stand.

What I know is that I can afford to live the life I want. I can pick up the phone to Claire whenever I need to – not just at my scheduled review. I’ve never once felt that I only get my one meeting a year and that’s it.

Claire knows her stuff, and she’s professional about it. But she also made me feel I could ask any question without feeling stupid. My understanding of financial matters is minimal, but  I never once felt talked down to.

The balance she struck – empathetic, but with enough professional distance to actually get things done – is something I think about a lot. Being sympathetic without the professionalism behind it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well. It’s a rare combination.

I feel very lucky to have gone down this route. I really could not have asked for more.”