After graduation summa cum laude from Chatham College, Janet started her financial career as a stockbroker and bond trader. When her firm was sold, Janet became a financial consultant and focused on helping women with their investments and retirement plans. She quickly realized that many women were getting divorce settlements that made their Golden Years not so golden.
This realization corresponded with the formation of the certification designation of Certified Divorce Planner…a new national financial organization that focused on training financial professionals in all the financial aspects of divorce…specifically equitable distribution. That original company morphed into the current Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts, which trains, tests, and certifies professionals, awarding the designation CDFA, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. Janet was one of the first to be trained and certified nationally; she became one of the first Directors for the Institute, a position she held for 10 years. As a Director, she travelled the US extensively and taught her peers in various aspects of divorce financial planning.
Janet started her Divorce Financial Planning practice in Pittsburgh in the year 2000 and was the first CDFA to start her own practice. Since then, she has helped hundreds of spouses, both men and women. She later became a trained Mediator, which allows her to help couples divorce amicably and fairly.
Janet has been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, and various national and regional magazine and print articles. She brought the California program Second Saturday to Pittsburgh, a program that helped educate hundreds of women in all aspects of divorce. She was a frequent guest on Nan Cohen’s radio show, Dealing with Divorce. She has been teaching Preparation for Divorce, Avoiding Financial Disaster at the Community College of Allegheny County for over 20 years, and teaches various workshops on divorce at many local libraries. She volunteered her services when the Women’s Center in Squirrel Hill was newly formed and provides pro bono services for those who cannot pay for her services.
Janet’s professional career has always been dedicated to coaching, educating, and crafting divorce solutions, so that her clients may achieve a fair and positive financial outcome to their divorce, not just on the day of their divorce, but well into their future. Her goal is, and always has been, making sure that, “You will be OK.”