The Economics of Divorce

From non less than Mr Money Mustachio

The Economics of Divorce

Even in the most carefully run and financially independent of lives, there will be some wrenching twists and turns.

Friendships and businesses will fail. You or your loved ones will get sick and some of them will die. Kids will have plenty of trouble on their long road to adulthood – if they even make it. And all around you, there will be a sea of fighting and breakups and divorces and mismatched relationships that you wish would end, for your sake or that of your best friends.

With all of this happening, it’s a wonder that we can remain happy and productive and even thrive as humans. But we can. And we do. Because sometimes life just serves up a **** salad and we don’t have a choice in the matter, but we always have a choice of how to respond to it.

So if you haven’t already heard through the rumor mill, the former Mrs. Money Mustache and I are no longer married. Although we had been drifting this way for a while, the formal change of our status is still less than a year old, so it’s still a topic that deserves some quiet respect*.

 

Quote..

So the former Mrs. MM and I (mostly under her guidance!) worked through the do-it-yourself paperwork and paid a $265 fee to the county court for the divorce. I bought the lowest-cost house in the neighborhood, just a 2.5 minute bike ride down the hill from the family house, and I’ve already fixed it up and started hosting Airbnb rentals to help make it carry its own weight. I left the Nissan Leaf behind and chose not to buy a car of my own because I already have bikes.

 

Women just aren’t into this tightwad way of living. She probably got over living on noodles and cycling everywhere.

 

Not specific but statistically higher.

Better?

 

I hope you are kidding! But in case your not can we have a source for this statistic please?

 

It takes two to Tango

What makes a tightwad

In general, the researchers found that men are bigger tightwads than women; younger people are more likely to be spendthrifts than older people; and the more educated a person is, the more likely he or she is to cling on tightly to a dollar.

 

Just go down to your local shopping mall. How many shops are targeted at women compared to men?

This isn’t taking a swipe at women, just most women would spend more than men on discretionary items. So making light of the situation I said MMM wife probably got sick of his tightwad ways and walked out.

 

I've noted recently that there are a lot more women cyclists - can't be a bad thing.

Are they all getting divorced or maybe marrying tightwads?

 

MMM in the above link said
Update: Some of the negative speculators have assumed “your wife dumped you because you were too frugal.” This part may be necessary to address because of the money theme of this blog.

The answer is NO. I was the one who asked for the separation so you can blame me for it. And no, there were no frugality issues because earning and accumulating money was always extremely easy for us. We spent whatever we wanted, we just happened to have finite desires. Plus I was not the “boss” of the house. Mrs. MM has always been an independent-minded person who is good with money and decides on her own spending.

 

Ok, so he left because she was spending too much

 

92.46% of statistics are made up

 

On a side note.....

What’s funny is these guys don’t need to be frugal, they made a fortune from selling the concept

Being frugal wont make you rich

 

For people being frugal, becoming rich is often not the goal - it is usually to have enough.

cheers,
Inertia.

 

Perhaps?? but being frugal can mean you obsess about money, not sure whether that is a good or bad thing? If its extreme.... it could be a kill joy


On the flip side we have friends who are very wealthy and very frugal, old habits die hard

 

Now I find it quite ironic...… MMM got rich by being really really good at being poor. It's almost as if there is a lesson here, but I still cant get my head around it.....

I believe he earns something like $400K pa alone from his blogs, very nice.

He makes money from products and services he recommends ....very nice …. viva consumerism....)

Moral of the story, his just another rich guy living frugally.

 

Me neither, but there were some threads on MMM...… its still ironic.... and I think its going to be a tough call to hide these numbers from his avid followers.

Perhaps they wont care?? they are in love with the concept