It used to be common for 22-year-olds to graduate from college, immediately find a full-time job, and settle down while squirreling away savings for a home.
These golden days may appear far-fetched to millennials. Nowadays, there are many young adults who cannot seem to get ahead financially. Many struggle with an avalanche of student loans, ever-rising rent payments and never-rising wages.
But, what’s one, big, bank-account-changing life event many millennials are still making? Yes, getting married, and of course, sometimes getting divorced.
While marriage can certainly be romantic, it is also a contract. This means that it needs to be approached in exactly the exact same way you’d approach an auto loan or a mortgage: with severe forethought, focus on detail, and cautionary provisions that might become necessary should circumstances change.
Marriage is more than just a fairy tale. It is a legal contract just like any other.
Prenups, as “unromantic” as they may seem, might be the perfect way to look after yourself and your spouse.
A pre-nup enables each of you to remain in control of your financial lives. If you get divorced without this agreement, then a judge dictates your future based on a set of laws that may appear unfair and don’t seem to take into account the conditions of your life.
Some people claim that pre-nups encourage couples to not attempt to work as hard to save their marriages, because there are no stakes if separation is simple. In other words, people may say that acquiring a pre-nup doesn’t incentivize the couple to stay together.
Well, a couple’s dedication to staying together should be about more than the annoyance of divorce, and at times, divorce is the best-case scenario. People today utilize divorce to extract themselves from toxic or abusive situations, which may be made even harder when money is involved.
I have known couples to invest in excess of ten dreadful years in divorce court fighting divorce specifics. They suffer years of lawyers’ fees, psychological exhaustion, court dates, and all kinds of other consequences.
Sure, there is a bit of taboo surrounding the idea of requesting a Prenuptial Agreement.
Even if you choose not to compose a formal document, you should still be able to openly talk about financing. Not just the fun things like the idea of purchasing a house someday, but also the challenging things such as how much debt you have, your credit rating and financial obligations to other people (like child support).
Your union may be the most important legal partnership you will ever enter. Like business partners, you have responsibilities, assets and debts, skills and talents, plus you’re attracted to one another.
You’ve already established your love and commitment. The next step is to decide how best to manage your future.
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