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A millionaire retiree who built most of her wealth after divorce shares her biggest money regret
Sandy, who’s been divorced three times, eventually reached a $1 million net worth on her own after years of not seeing eye-to-eye with her partners.
Money can bring people together, and tear them apart.
Sandy, who uses a pseudonym online but has been verified by Insider, knows that firsthand. The mother of two adult sons has been divorced three times. Despite being a diligent saver and teaching her kids how to manage money from an early age, Sandy wound up with little to her name after each marriage ended.
“I had three husbands that liked to spend money and didn’t have financial goals and didn’t care to have financial goals,” Sandy, 63, told Insider. “They just wanted what they wanted when they wanted it. And you would think I would have learned after the first or the second, but I didn’t.”
The problem, she later realized, was that they didn’t communicate openly about money before committing to one another. It’s OK to want different things than your partner, she said, but it’s important to take precautions so you can pursue your own goals too.
“I think really frank, honest talks about money should be a prerequisite to getting married or…
