Today we’d like to introduce you to Amy Colton.
Hi Amy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Amy Colton is a Wealth Advisor and Partner at Forefront Wealth Partners where she provides advice with regards to financial, tax and legal strategies. She is also the founder Your Divorce Made Simple LLC, where she combines the role of Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA®) and Family Law Mediator helping couples and individuals achieve win-win outcomes during the divorce process.
She comes to the financial planning industry after a successful career of more than 40 years in sales, management and business development in the technology and pharmaceutical industries. During that time she spent more than 20 years at International Business Machines (IBM) as an executive in sales and management.
Amy is a graduate of the Michigan State University (MBA), and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (BA). She is a speaker and author. In 2022 she published Have We Really Come Along Way, Baby? which chronicles her journey through IBM from 1976 to 1996 and is available on Amazon.com. Her second book titled Kitchen Table Divorces will discuss her unique process for helping people going through a divorce and will be out later this year.
Her own journey began when she entered the corporate world with IBM, where she spent 20 years. During that time, she experienced 2 careers changes, 3 marriages, 3 divorces and 4 geographic moves. Her life was a series of transitions.
After leaving IBM she spent 5 more years in the technology industry and then moved on to the pharmaceutical industry where she spent 7 years in the skin care and aesthetics industry working with dermatologists and plastic surgeons.
After losing her job in the corporate world in 2008 she decided to embark on her 4th career which led her on the path to becoming an entrepreneur. Today she runs 2 businesses and has devoted her practice to educating and supporting women, especially ones that are going through major life transitions.
Each time a change occurred in her life she was able to manage these life-altering challenges. This gave her greater confidence during these transitional times.
During her own journey she realized that she had a passion for supporting women and helping them build and sustain a strong financial foundation coming from a place of strength and not fear or uncertainty.
As a financial advisor, she wanted to create an environment that encouraged every woman to get their financial house in order. She wanted women to be able to make decisions from a place of strength and not fear. She wanted to ensure they could move forward with confidence in a more optimistic and positive way so that they could choose their destiny and not be a victim of circumstance.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has never been a smooth road. I started my journey into the corporate world in 1976 working for IBM in Detroit in the division that repaired hardware and software on mainframes. There were very few women in the industry on the technical side of the business at that time. In fact, it was not unusual to be told by management that “women did not belong in this business” which happened many times during the 20 years I spent at IBM. I even wrote a book about my experiences as a woman in a man’s world called “Have we really come a long way, Baby?”
My last position in the corporate world was in 2008 when I got laid off for being too old and making too much money. At that point I was a sales manager for a French company that sold skin care products to physicians. They brought in an executive from Germany whose mission was to “clean up” the bottom line. In order to do this he fired every manager and replaced them with high paying sales reps. Then he could replace the sales reps with ones he could hire at a lower rate since they had no experience. This plan failed but I was out of a job.
At that point I decided that I needed to do work that I was passionate about and that no one would be able to fire me for making too much money or being too old. This lead me on the path to becoming an entrepreneur which is where I am today.
As you know, we’re big fans of Your Divorce Made Simple. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My business is Your Divorce Made Simple. Most people thinking about divorce think they need an attorney because that is the traditional path. But, this path will take the most time and cost the most money. I want to give people another option that will save them time, money and create a more amicable way to navigate this difficult journey.
Most people getting divorced are going through it for the first time.
They don’t know what to expect, what questions to ask their professional team, and how to develop a plan or process for going through this journey. Instead, they rely heavily on their attorneys to help them through the emotional, legal, and financial aspects of their divorce.
One thing they don’t realize until well into the process is that their attorneys are there to give legal advice, not to offer sound financial advice or emotional support.
I created Your Divorce Made Simple more than seven years ago to give individuals and couples going through divorce the information they need to navigate this difficult journey. Drawing upon knowledge from my own three divorces as well as my skills as a Certified Divorce Specialist (CDS®), Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA®) and Family Law Mediator, I am able to help clients gain the necessary education.
Through my work at Your Divorce Made Simple, I have created a unique new approach for helping people navigate this emotional and stressful time.
It is called the Kitchen Table Divorce.
This process helps clients save money, save time, and creates an amicable environment that allows for win-win outcomes.
My team and I have worked with both individuals and couples to help them negotiate the division of
assets, child considerations, as well as financial and tax planning needs both during and after the divorce.
We educate our clients on the different options available, the likely outcomes, and the financial and tax ramifications of their decisions. This approach guides them through the divorce process with civility and saves them thousands of dollars through sound advice.
Because most people fight over money during divorce, getting advice from a financial professional who understands the nuances of divorce is essential to reaching a beneficial settlement that can work for both spouses. That’s something they will rarely get from working only with attorneys.
We have seen firsthand how the Kitchen Table Divorce process inspires our clients to move forward with confidence and make better financial decisions during one of the most stressful life transitions they’ll ever go through. After all, the decisions they make during divorce will affect them for the rest of their lives.
This process is viable whether you come to Your Divorce Made Simple as an individual or as a couple. It also has helped people who have already hired lawyers.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Helping people solve problems. I love to educated people on things they may not be aware of. Over the years I have learned so much about so many things. If I can be of service and help educate people I believe I am living my true purpose.
Pricing:
- My fee for working with clients is a fraction of what they would pay attorneys or mediators.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yourdivorcemadesimple.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yourdivorcemadesimple/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amy.colton.77/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-colton-mba-cdfa-30094b158/
