Muddy Stilettos

There are few moments in life that make the ground shift beneath your feet quite like divorce, redundancy, caring for ageing parents or losing someone you love. One day you&#8217;re planning holidays and school fees; the next you&#8217;re learning a whole new financial vocabulary while wondering whether you&#8217;ll ever feel in control again.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1707" height="2560" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Woman-portrait-sunglasses-drink-scaled.jpeg" alt="Woman in polka-dot top wearing white sunglasses sipping red smoothie with serious expression. Concept of beauty and beverage branding, summer lifestyle, female fashion, minimal drink ads." class="wp-image-141574" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Woman-portrait-sunglasses-drink-scaled.jpeg 1707w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Woman-portrait-sunglasses-drink-400x600.jpeg 400w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Woman-portrait-sunglasses-drink-667x1000.jpeg 667w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Woman-portrait-sunglasses-drink-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Woman-portrait-sunglasses-drink-1365x2048.jpeg 1365w" sizes="(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px" /></figure>



The good news? A financial reset doesn&#8217;t have to mean starting from scratch. In fact, many women find that life-changing moments become the catalyst for taking ownership of their finances for the first time. No spreadsheets worthy of&nbsp;The Apprentice&nbsp;required (unless that&#8217;s your thing). With expert insight from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alliancewitan.com/learning-zone?utm_source=muddy-stilettos&amp;utm_medium=engagement&amp;utm_campaign=sponsorship" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alliance Witan</a>, our Happy + Healthy financial wellbeing partner, we&#8217;re looking at the practical steps that can help you regain confidence, make sense of your money and start building long-term financial resilience.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-first-things-first-don-t-panic-buy-a-cottage-in-the-cotswolds">First things first: don&#8217;t panic-buy a cottage in the Cotswolds</h2>



When your world has just been turned upside down, your instinct is often to&nbsp;do something big. Sell the house. Move the investments. Stick everything in savings. Open three spreadsheets and colour-code them. (We&#8217;ve all been there.) But according to Alliance Witan, one of the smartest financial decisions can actually be&#8230; not making one immediately.



Instead, take stock. Work out what cash you have available, what needs paying over the next few months and what can safely wait. Giving yourself a little breathing room before making life-changing decisions isn&#8217;t procrastination – it&#8217;s giving your future self the chance to think with a clear head rather than an emotional one.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Your redundancy payment isn&#8217;t one giant pot of money</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="2560" height="1707" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WOman-laptop-in-chair-scaled.jpeg" alt="A business woman in a white shirt sits in a chair by the window using a laptop to work." class="wp-image-141576" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WOman-laptop-in-chair-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WOman-laptop-in-chair-600x400.jpeg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WOman-laptop-in-chair-1000x667.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WOman-laptop-in-chair-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/WOman-laptop-in-chair-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></figure>



Whether it&#8217;s a divorce settlement, inheritance or redundancy package, there&#8217;s a natural temptation to see one big number sitting in your bank account and treat it all exactly the same. In reality, every pound probably has a different job to do. 



Some of that money might need to cover the boring-but-essential bits of life – mortgage payments, school shoes, the boiler that will inevitably choose&nbsp;this&nbsp;exact moment to pack up. Other money may not need touching for years, giving it a very different role in your long-term plans.



Thinking about your money in separate &#8216;pots&#8217; rather than one giant windfall can make financial decisions feel much less overwhelming – and a lot more purposeful.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Confidence isn&#8217;t something you suddenly wake up with</h2>



Here&#8217;s the thing nobody tells you after a divorce or redundancy: losing confidence with money is completely normal, particularly if someone else has traditionally taken care of the family finances. The trick isn&#8217;t trying to become the next Martin Lewis overnight. It&#8217;s simply getting comfortable with the basics.



Start by understanding what&#8217;s coming in, what&#8217;s going out, where your pension actually lives (it&#8217;s amazing how many of us have no idea) and what your ISAs and savings are doing. Little by little, the jargon starts making sense, the numbers become less intimidating and suddenly you&#8217;re making decisions because you understand them, not because they sound reassuring.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-it-s-never-to-late-to-start-again">It&#8217;s NEVER to late to start again</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="2560" height="2560" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-scaled.jpeg" alt="Feminine modern home office desk workspace with laptop, perfume, watch, lipstick, brush, accessories on white background. Flat lay, top view. Fashion blog, girl boss composition" class="wp-image-141572" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-600x600.jpeg 600w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-1000x1000.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-300x300.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-2048x2048.jpeg 2048w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-500x500.jpeg 500w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Laptop-flatlay-1100x1100.jpeg 1100w" sizes="(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></figure>



If you&#8217;re rebuilding your finances in your 40s, 50s or beyond, it&#8217;s easy to wonder whether you&#8217;ve missed the investment boat. Thankfully, money isn&#8217;t nearly as ageist as we sometimes imagine.



Alliance Witan&#8217;s message is refreshingly reassuring: consistency matters far more than perfection. Even if you&#8217;re starting later than planned, regular investing over time can still play an important role in helping your money grow. The real challenge isn&#8217;t trying to predict what markets will do next Tuesday; it&#8217;s keeping focused on where you want to be in five, ten or twenty years&#8217; time.



Because while cash is brilliant for rainy days, inflation has an annoying habit of quietly nibbling away at its spending power if it sits untouched for years.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Financial resilience isn&#8217;t about being rich</h2>



When we hear the phrase &#8220;financial resilience&#8221;, it&#8217;s easy to picture someone with six investment properties and a wine cellar bigger than your kitchen. In reality, it&#8217;s much simpler than that.



It&#8217;s about having enough accessible cash to cope when life throws one of its inevitable curveballs, while also keeping one eye firmly on the future. It&#8217;s checking in on your pension every now and then, continuing to save or invest where you can – even if the amounts are smaller than they once were – and remembering that financial wellbeing isn&#8217;t built through one grand gesture. It&#8217;s built through lots of sensible little ones.



After all, looking after your money isn&#8217;t so different from looking after your health. You wouldn&#8217;t expect one Pilates class to transform your core, and one good financial decision won&#8217;t magically secure your future either. But make enough good decisions over time and you&#8217;ll probably be surprised how strong both become.



Want to know more about investing? Head over to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alliancewitan.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Allia</a><a href="https://www.alliancewitan.com/learning-zone?utm_source=muddy-stilettos&amp;utm_medium=engagement&amp;utm_campaign=sponsorship" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">nce Witan</a>&nbsp;for more useful videos and articles. Capital is at risk. Investments can fall as well as rise in value and you may get back less than you invest. This feature is for information only and does not constitute financial advice.



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<li class="has-small-font-size">The information in this article is intended as general guidance only and isn&#8217;t personal financial, investment or legal advice. If you&#8217;re navigating a major life event such as divorce, redundancy or bereavement, it&#8217;s important to seek advice that&#8217;s tailored to your own circumstances from appropriately qualified professionals. Investments can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest.</li>
</ul>

Divorce, redundancy, reinvention: How to rebuild your finances after life’s curveballs

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