Sheryl Rowling of Morningstar

Beyond the emotional strain of a “gray divorce,” managing your finances is critical.

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The first step is hiring an experienced divorce attorney. Although it might be tempting to avoid legal fees, going without professional guidance could cost you more in the long run. Additionally, understanding the key financial and tax issues that come with gray divorce is essential.

1) How to budget after divorce

The cash flow you had while you were married supported one household. After a divorce, that available income stream will need to fund two households. At best, you can expect your income to be cut in half.

Granted, you only have to cover your own personal expenses, but some expenses, like housing, insurance, and medical expenses, could exceed 50% of your married costs.

Start with calculating a spending budget. To begin, itemize your fixed costs: things like rent, car payments, insurance, groceries, and utilities. Your variable expenses, such as travel, restaurants, and gifts, can be adjusted based on your available income.

As your post divorce lifestyle becomes more certain, you can revise that budget.

2) Selling the house and downsizing after divorce

After a late-life divorce, you might be thinking that you’d like to keep the family home. This could be a double-edged sword. Keeping all the equity in the house means you’ll get less of the other assets.

Also, the cost of maintaining a large home along with assuming a mortgage could squeeze your budget. Do you really want to be house-poor to keep a residence that might be too big for you?

3) Social Security divorce benefits

If you were married at least 10 years, your Social Security benefit will be the greater of your own benefit or half your ex-spouse’s benefit. Certainly, if this makes a difference for you, consider the timing of your gray divorce. For example, if you’ve been married for nine and a half years, you might want to delay the final decree for six months.

Additionally, if you are approaching age 62 (or older), you have a choice of taking benefits early for less of an ongoing monthly benefit or delaying to increase your monthly benefit. Your personal financial situation and life expectancy will be the primary decision-making factors.

4) Working after divorce

If you will be short on cash flow , returning to (or continuing) work might be a good solution. Depending on your shortfall, it might not be necessary to hold down a high-level full-time job.

Many semiretired people supplement their income with substitute teaching, house- and dog-sitting, and other part-time work.

Whether you continue your regular job or pursue something less demanding, there’s a big advantage to bringing in income: You might be able to delay drawing from your investments.

5) Long-term-care insurance after divorce

When you are on your own, long-term-care coverage is important. This insurance will be less expensive and easier to obtain when you are younger (under age 60) and healthy. If you’re not able to afford premiums, consider opting for a longer waiting period of 180 or 360 days. Paying for long-term care for six months to a year can be more easily handled than having to cover care for many years.

Watch

There are two other options for covering long-term-care costs. One, you may able to exchange a life insurance policy for a long-term-care policy. Second, consider moving into a “continuing care” retirement community. You can choose independent living, which is similar to having your own apartment. As you age and require more care, you can move to assisted living, healthcare, or memory-care facilities within the community.

This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to  https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance

Today is Saturday, April 12, the 102nd day of 2025. There are 263 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting the earth once before landing safely via parachute after a planned ejection from his space capsule.

Also on this date:

In 1861, the U.S. Civil War began as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

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Today in History: April 10, Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement

Today in History: April 9, Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox

In 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63; he was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman.

In 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded “Rock Around the Clock,” a song often cited as bringing rock ‘n’ roll music into the mainstream when it was popularized in the film “The Blackboard Jungle” the following year.

In 1955, the polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk was declared safe and effective following nearly a year of field trials undertaken by about 1.8 million American child volunteers dubbed “polio pioneers.”

In 1963, civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, charged with contempt of court and parading without a permit. (During his time behind bars, King wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”)

In 1981, the NASA Space Shuttle program began as Space Shuttle Columbia, the world’s first reusable spacecraft, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center.

Today’s Birthdays:

Musician Herbie Hancock is 85.
Musician John Kay (Steppenwolf) is 81.
Actor Ed O’Neill is 79.
TV host David Letterman is 78.
Author Scott Turow is 76.
Actor Andy Garcia is 69.
Movie director Walter Salles (SAL’-ihs) is 69.
Country musician Vince Gill is 68.
Actor-comedian Retta is 55.
Actor Claire Danes is 46.
Actor Jennifer Morrison is 46.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is 44.
Model-actor Brooklyn Decker is 38.
Actor-comedian Ilana Glazer is 38.
Actor Saoirse (SUR’-shuh) Ronan is 31.

CALGARY, Alberta — One of the many often-repeated truisms of hockey says that trying to end another team’s season is among the hardest games you will play.

With a chance to clinch a playoff spot and put the Calgary Flames on the brink of elimination, the Minnesota Wild found that task harder than they could manage on Friday.

Just 48 hours after they had posted a season-best eight goals in a home win over San Jose, the Wild’s offense ran dry in Alberta as Calgary led from start to finish, winning 4-2 and ensuring that Minnesota’s postseason plans will have to wait.

Minnesota Wild’s Frederick Gaudreau (89) checks Calgary Flames’ Brayden Pachal (94) during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Calgary, Alberta, Friday, April 11, 2025. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dustin Wolf, the lanky northern California kid who has been Calgary’s mainstay as a rookie goalie, needed to stop just 16 shots to grab the two points that pulled the Flames within three of Minnesota in the Western Conference standings. Calgary has a game in hand, as well.

Yakov Trenin spoiled the Calgary shutout with 4:21 left in a game that was already decided, and Minnesota got an extra-attacker goal from Gustav Nyquist but could not close the gap.

Wild coach John Hynes said this is two games in a row where the team has not played to its identity.

“San Jose game was a little bit of a pond hockey game for us, and then tonight we were the second most competitive team on the ice. So, that’s not really who we are and what we’ve been, but we’ve got to make sure that that’s gonna be different tomorrow night,” he said, referencing the looming road game at Vancouver.

With two regular-season games remaining, the Wild still control their own playoff destiny but are now at significant risk of an eighth-place finish, which would mean a playoff visit to conference-leading Winnipeg starting next week.

Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson had 25 saves for the Wild before giving way to Marc-Andre Fleury with 12:40 to play. Gustavsson will start Saturday’s game in Vancouver, with Minnesota in even more desperate need of points. And in an all-too-familiar story this season, the Wild lost another player of note to injury as captain Jared Spurgeon missed most of the second period, returned for a few shifts in the third, then left the game before the final horn.

Calgary, which won all three of its games versus the Wild this season, got a pair of second-period goals to break open a tight game, and has two of its remaining three games at home.

After the Wild survived a few early scares, Calgary broke through after Gustavsson stopped a long-range shot. Mikael Backlund flipped the rebound over the goalie’s blocker, giving the Flames a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period.

Spurgeon was injured on his opening shift of the second, and then things got worse for the visitors when Yegor Sharangovich deflected a puck past Gustavsson on the stick side for a 2-0 Flames lead. The deficit grew to three when Calgary scored on the game’s first power play.

“There’s just times (that we have to) play simple and we don’t do it, and it bites us. We didn’t generate a lot of shots to the net. We passed up things in the second where maybe we could have found momentum,” veteran wing Marcus Foligno said. “That’s the thing, I think sometimes we kill ourselves on momentum. There’s a time in the game where you can turn it around, (and) we choose a harder play, or not thinking quicker, and tonight it bit us.”

Minnesota’s best chance to chip away came late in the second when Calgary was called for consecutive penalties, giving the Wild nearly 4 straight minutes of man advantage. But they managed just two shots on Wolf in that span and headed to the second intermission still down by three. The Wild had shots by Vinnie Hinostroza and Joel Eriksson Ek strike posts in the period, but both slid harmlessly away.

The Wild pressured Wolf to start the third, but a fumbled puck at the blue line led to a Calgary breakaway which made it 4-0 and prompted the goalie change. Trenin got a late breakaway goal past Wolf. Fleury, in what could be his final NHL regular-season appearance, stopped the three shots he faced.

Calgary, which came into the game leading the NHL with a whopping 14 losses either in overtime or in a shootout, still clings to hope of making the playoffs, but the Flames cannot help but lament all of those potential points missed in the regular season’s first 79 games.

“The game in November is just as important, to make sure we finish, as it is now. We’ve got zero runway left now,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said before the game. “You want them to learn to prepare and treat every game as the most important of the year. You go into the year wanting to play playoff hockey, not wanting to play (crucial) games at this time of year.”

Hynes said he was unsure of the status of Spurgeon, who appeared to get hit in the throat by a puck, for Saturday’s game. Spurgeon leaned on Sharangovich during a stoppage of play before making his way to the bench early in the second.

“It was sort of serious. I was not understanding what he was saying to me. I thinks it’s my English. He just catched me,” Sharangovich said. “I feel bad because I should help him. He (held) me and the referee helped him after. After, I asked what happened, and he said he lost his breath.”

Minnesota played a third consecutive game without defenseman Jake Middleton, who is on the road trip but has not returned to the lineup since going headfirst into the end boards in a road loss to the New York Islanders a week ago. Hynes said Middleton is a possibility to return for the Vancouver game.

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Police in South St. Paul are investigating a fatal shooting that occurred Friday night.

According to police, officers responded to an 8:50 p.m. call about a shooting in a residence in the 700 block of 12th Avenue North. Officers arriving at the scene found a man with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene by medics.

A 36-year-old man from Hudson, Wis., was arrested at the scene in connection with the shooting. Police said the victim and suspect were known to each other and that there is no ongoing threat to public safety.

South St. Paul police were being assisted by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigation in collecting evidence and determining the circumstances of the shooting. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office was also investigating and will positively identify the victim.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact South St. Paul police at 651-413-8300.

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