After divorce, your financial life will need tweaking. Even if investing has presented a roadblock in the past, it's now one you're ready to conquer.

Here are some tips:

• Every time you get a raise, increase your contributions into your retirement and other savings accounts. Bonuses, tax refunds, and inheritances are all an invitation to rejigger as well. Anyone who has done an outstanding job of accumulating wealth will tell you how important this strategy is. Give your own savings a raise every time you get one, and put at least part of every windfall to work for you.

Say it and sound smart: “I'm putting 75 percent of my bonus away for the future. I hope we'll have a lot more years like this one, but if this is the end of the gravy train, I don't want to spend the money and regret it.”

• Open your financial statements. Each quarter, you need to keep track of the direction your investments are going in and where you stand. Paying attention will help you spot any errors in your account immediately. And you'll notice if the asset allocation you've chosen is getting you to your goals in a timely fashion, or if you need to rebalance your investments to take on a little more, or a little less, risk.

Say it and sound smart: “I know it's time for CSI. Just give me a minute to look at how my investments are doing.”

• Ask questions when something seems wrong. If you don't understand something on your statement, call the toll-free number. This is no time to be shy. Tell the customer service rep what's on your mind. Little miscalculations and other errors will get worse over time.

Say it and sound smart: “It says on my statement that in July I bought shares... Can you go back into my record and tell me what you see?”

If you were dieting to lose weight, you'd know precisely how much you wanted to lose, and how fast you wanted to lose it. You need to be just as specific about your debts. Ask yourself these questions:

• How much do I owe?
• At what interest rates?
• By when would I like to pay it back?

You know that certain diets exclude some foods, at least for a while. The Debt Diet has nine rules to follow if you want the greatest shot at success:

1) Make debit your plastic of choice. When you're using a debit card, you can't spend money you don't have.

2) Slim down your wallet. Take all but one credit card (the one with the lowest interest rate) out of your wallet.

3) Stop shopping online except for groceries. Shopping online for groceries stops impulse purchasing and can save time and money. All other online shopping poses an expensive risk.

4) Stick to a shopping list. Whether you're buying a birthday present or burgers and buns, if an item is not on your list, you didn't think about it in advance. Don't buy it.

5) Make a visit to an ATM only once a week. Cash is even easier to blow through than plastic. Decide how much cash you want to spend each week. Take it out on a Monday and divvy it up into seven parts. Each day, carry one-seventh of the total with you. You're allowed to splurge with the extra you have saved.

6) Pay your bills as they come in, rather than all at once. If you do, you'll have more in savings, less in debt, and you'll be happier. Why? Because if you get a big bill – say for heating, or air conditioning – early in the month, you'll compensate and spend less on other things the rest of the month.

7) Bank online. If you are a believer – as I am – that time is money, then paying bills online saves you a lot of each.