2/13    "Marriage Brings Wealth, Divorce Steals It"
        http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060118_wealth_marriage.html
        It's more than about combining assets in a marriage and splitting the
        assets in a divorce.
        \_ What ever happened to BDG?
        \_ This matches my experiance.  Division of labor is also a big
           win in my house.
        \_ ...from which it follows that gay marriage will increase the
           overall wealth of society, since more people will be getting
           married.
           \_ Unless many gay marriages end in divorce.  [Disclaimer: Not a
              statement on gay marriages as such (and in fact I am pro-gay
              marriage), but just pointing out a logical flaw.]
              \_ That's a good point.  I guess it depends on how much the
                 positives of marriage and the negatives of divorce cancel
                 eachother out based on the fraction who get divorced.  Of
                 course the same is true of straight couples.  I'm guessing
                 it comes out significantly ahead for marriage with some
                 divorce vs. no marriage or divorce, both for straight and
                 gay couples.  Of course, there are much better reasons to be
                 in favor of gay marriage, but I like to point out these things
                 since it's the party of greed who is most strongly in
                 opposition to gay marriage, in spite of the wealth it would
                 generate for society at large.
              \_ This is easy to deal with: just don't let gay people get
                 divorced. This will help build society's wealth, while also
                 preserving the traditional heterosexual institution of
                 divorce.
        \_ So that's how those Mormons get rich!
           \_ Well, is there research on the relationship between children
              and wealth?  My guess is negative, and very.
              \_ Huh, another argument for gay-marriage.
              \_ Agreed.  I'm happily married but unhappily parenting.
        \_ There's a conflating factor, which is that people often get
           divorced because of money.  "For those who got divorced,
           wealth began to decline about four years before divorce and
           bottomed out the year prior to divorce."  So it is probably not
           the divorce that causes the loss of wealth, but the loss of
           wealth causing the divorce.  -tom
           \_ Maybe, I don't think there's a lot of evidence for that in
              the article though.  It could also be that your wealth goes
              down when your marriage is on the rocks. -jrleek
              \_ Could be, but I think common sense would show Tom's
                 scenario more likely. There's no real reason I can
                 think of for wealth to decrease just because a marriage is
                 going poorly.
                 \_ Normally finances are the direct cause of marriage problems
                    and lead to divorce.  Want to know how a couple could get
                    into financial problems?  Take a young couple with a $30k
                    wedding + honeymoon, so they start out life in debt.  Then
                    she quits her job when they having their first kid.  You
                    can all see where this leads.
                 \_ Eating out alone more often because not wanting to eat with
                    spouse at home?  Cost of marriage counselling?  Decrease in
                    work performance because of bad mood, hence lower bonuses
                    and raises and promotion?  More impulse shopping?
                    \_ Don't forget the cost of a mistress/beau.
                 \_ "Wealth begins climbing again in the year of the
                     divorce, but not by much." Then why does wealth begin
                     to increase after divorce?
                     \_ Throwing yourself into work to avoid depression/dealing
                     \_ closure?
                     \_ Divorce lawyers are expensive.
        \_ This is a stupid study.  It's done on 21 to 28 years old who don't
           have much money to begin with:  "After divorce, men had 2.5 times the
           wealth of women, but this seemingly large disparity worked out to
           only about $5,100, on average."  At this stage, little things like
           paying a divorce lawyer can eat up the few thousands dollars of
           have much money to begin with:  "After divorce, men had 2.5 times
           the wealth of women, but this seemingly large disparity worked out
           to only about $5,100, on average."  At this stage, little things
           like paying a divorce lawyer can eat up the few thousands dollars of
           wealth.
           \_ 21-28 year olds shouldn't be marrying.  Marriage shouldn't be
              allowed before 30.  35 would be even better.
              \_ You work in the fertility biz?
                 \_ I didn't say "no kids before 30." I said "no marriage
                    before 30."  I don't want to hear anyone complain about
                    high divorce rates when they're marrying off their 17 year
                    old daughter.
                    high divorce rates when they're marrying their 17 year
                    old daughter.  I am yet to be convinced that pregnancy
                    out-of-wedlock is more dangerous than wedlock out-of-
                    pregnancy.
                    \_ Wow.  That's not a point of view you hear every day.
                    \_ Hahaha. What's "dangerous" about it?
                       \_ I meant to say "harmful", not "dangerous", but the
                          strains of marriage are not helped along by feelings
                          of obligation and resentment over an unexpected
                          pregnancy, not to mention financial strain. There is
                          no reason other than social stigma for marriage to
                          be the necessary response to a pregnancy.  Outside
                          of pregnancy, I posit that people are ill-equipped
                          to make a life-without-end bargain in their 20s.
                          \_ Well the kids -> marriage thing is about the
                             kids and being responsible for them, and trying
                             to provide a family. No pregnancy is truly 100%
                             unexpected and people make choices when they
                             decide to fuck each other (and not abort). Anyway
                             since divorce exists, obviously it's not
                             life-without-end now is it? Society doesn't seem
                             to care that people regularly break these pledges.
                             \_ I care. </skywalker>  Divorce sucks for all
                                involved.  A breakup, if it must happen, is
                                hard enough without legalities and such.  We
                                seem to be talking at cross purposes here.
                                The dysfunction that can arise from entering
                                marriage based on obligation is what I was
                                talking about above re "harm".
                \_ Fertility is still very good in the early 30s. It is not
                   until after 35 that it really starts to fall off.