The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is divorcing the soon-to-be rich MacKenzie Bezos. I say soon to be because after the divorce is finalized it is likely that MacKenzie Bezos will walk away with billions of dollars through divorce settlement.
While the actual sum of MacKenzie’s post-martial earnings will probably be much more, I think it's safe to say she will be set for life. But Jeff Bezos could lose quite a bit of money and he wouldn’t feel it.
For the average American, divorce can be extremely harsh. This is why I urge anyone to reconsider marriage.
When the average net worth of a married couple in America is 167,704, there is a lot less money to part with. People who get married don’t intend to divorce their spouse. However, when an estimated 45 - 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, it's pretty likely it will happen at some point.
Especially considering that people now live longer than ever, the person you married in your 20s is not going to be the same person in their 50s.
Take Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos. It is pretty apparent they had a strong marriage when looking at past interviews with Jeff Bezos.
In an article from 1999, Bezos clearly has strong affection for his wife. These days, Bezos has been dating another woman, months before his divorce. Clearly his devotion to his wife has waned.
That is perfectly natural. It is really hard for anyone to say they know what they want out of a relationship. Preferences change, and so do people. All of this is reason enough to never consider marriage.
I’m not saying don’t fall in love. I’m saying don’t finalize that love on a legal document that you may regret in 10 years. In fact, a study found that the happiness of those who get married doesn't increase compared to those who stay single, it only decreases or stays the same.
There are other, less risky options. For instance, common-law marriage. There is no legal contract and more importantly if you separate both of you have no real legal standing to liquidate and split assets.
In fact, common-law marriage is only recognized in eight states plus Washington D.C. Only you and your spouse validate the marriage and once that's gone, the marriage itself is gone.
Obviously this doesn’t provide the safety net that divorce settlement does. But I argue that the lack of a safety net is better for a marriage anyways. If you know that you can divorce at any time and still be relatively financially secure because of asset liquidation, then your less inclined to work things out.
On the other hand, having no safety net means that both parties are more willing to figure things out and move past disagreements because the alternative is starting over.
Now marriage has been around for thousands of years. I am not going to say that no one should ever get married. It works for some people but not most. To those people, I salute them and their endeavors.
But to the rest of you, I caution against marriage. Perhaps it is for you, perhaps it isn’t. Ultimately it is your choice. All I ask is that you remember not only the good things that can come from marriage but the bad and you weigh that risk carefully.
You might think you're always going to be like Jeff Bezos in 1999 but you might turn out to be Jeff Bezos in 2019. Know yourself and know the risks.
