The financial condition of an individual depends on many important factors, for instance a close family situation. Uncertainty in the family can trigger financial troubles. Therefore, choosing the right spouse is critical for the future financial freedom.
Divorce and marital satisfaction rates are similar in both Christian and non-Christian religions. Hereafter, increases in religious marriages, religious commitment and spirituality have been shown to make significant differences in divorce and marital satisfaction rates. However, many young adults are lacking frameworks to understand how to choose a potential spouse, or what factors or characteristics are most important in making such a choice.
Almost all premarital education is aimed at young adults who have already chosen their spouse, but have no education aimed at understanding what matters most in making this choice.
For those who want to achieve financial freedom, choosing the wrong spouse could be disastrous in future. For instance, divorces may consume around 75 percent of personal net worth. Apart from financial values, divorce can take your emotional balance, leaving you uninspired to take on personal goals, dreams, and aspirations. The distraction of an unhappy home will take its toll on both your wellbeing and finances.
Why is it important to be educated about the importance of choosing right spouse? Since the 1980s, there has been a large increase in the number of personal bankruptcy filings per year and a disproportionate increase in the number of applicants who are divorced in the United States and most developed countries.
In some countries, financial strain leads to marital instability. In fact, financial problems can in fact begin before divorce and often trigger the divorce. For instance, couples who divorce have lower pre-divorce incomes than couples who do not divorce. Among couples with increased financial strain, 14 percent reported that their marriage was worse, and 34 percent of couples with debt problems reported increased marital discord in the United states in 2010. We can conclude that sharp declines in income and wealth brought about by events such as unemployment can probably lead to divorce.
For those who experienced a divorce situation, sometimes a key factor to financial recovery after divorce is remarriage. It is evident that those currently divorced, who have experienced financial difficulties, are much more likely to get remarried, suggesting that remarriage may play a key role in helping both divorced males and females recover financially.
Financial Effects After Divorce
As we mentioned earlier, there is a positive correlation between marital instability and financial stress. Generally, marital instability is likely to lead to financial strain. Households experience a significant decline in income and assets, and a sharp rise in debts upon divorce.
The negative financial consequences of divorce are often severe, particularly in the long-term. However, some studies provide additional insight into the role that specific types of income, such as child support, alimony payments, and public assistance can play in helping to offset the financial consequences of divorce.
Unfortunately, even with supplemental income sources, a household may still be unable to recover financially from a divorce. The end result for these and other households may be a severe financial problem in both short and long term.
In 2001 for instance, for 57 percent of divorced women, divorce created financial difficulties in the United States. They have to pay all the bills on their own now with only one paycheck instead of two. Although these financial difficulties still exist in some countries. However, dramatically governments have reduced what used to be the financial effect of divorce that was even more severe on females than males in the past.
Another effect of divorce was on the rate of savings in the United States. The United States national savings rate has dropped drastically from eight percent in 1960 to two percent in 1980. Moreover, income fell from 8.95 to 4.17 percent between the 1960s and the 1980s respectfully.
During this same time period the composition of households underwent dramatic changes. While there were fewer married households between 1960 1980s, there were also considerably more divorces.Especially, the divorce rate per 1,000 married adults doubled from the 1960s to the 1980s, rising from 10 to 20 percent, and the marriage rate experienced a linear continuous downward trend.
The increases in divorce rates have a negative correlation with the savings. The higher the divorce rates the lower the savings for households.
Effects of Uncertainty on the Financial Situation
Contrary to the above review, households’ savings decisions in the following statement are driven by marital uncertainty. Marital uncertainty is the uncertainty over marriage match quality and the uncertainty of meeting a potential spouse. How could it help explain the fall in aggregate savings? The model specified plays on the following interactions of household structure and savings:
- Married households have an advantage over those with disposable income over divorced or single households, through dual-earners and economies of scale, allowing them to save a greater fraction of their income
- Divorce has a negative impact on household finances, as some wealth is lost in the separation process and spouses lose the economies of scale in maintaining their home for instance
- Rational households prepare for the probability of a divorce by changing their consumption and savings behavior to minimize the impact of a negative event such as a divorce. However, high earning members of a household that foresee a divorce are less likely to save due to divorce costs and potential asset redistribution etc. While-low members and households where both spouses have similar earnings, save more as economies of scale are lost upon divorce.
- Single agents might save in order to differentiate themselves from potential competition in the marriage market. A lower marriage rate and higher divorce rate will likely dissipate this effect, as the benefits of a marriage decrease.
Therefore, choosing the right spouse would lead to an economy with a high fraction of married households and low divorce rate. In general, you should have a higher aggregate savings rate. An increase in marital uncertainty and a decrease in the number of married households can greatly affect the aggregate savings rate as well.
How to mitigate the financial effects of divorce
The financial damage of choosing the wrong spouse may not necessarily impact everyone in the same way. However, in general some people, who have negative financial effects as a result of wrong choices, can utilize access to social and financial capital resources. Social capital is the term given to the relationships among people in a social group, for instance family, community, society or group based on other forms of affiliation, from which resources may be exchanged among group members.
Those financially affected by divorce, for instance, can obtain financial resources from social ties, which might include inheritances, interest-free loans, free childcare, etc. Social and financial capital resources are valuable because access to them inheres in social relationships. Thus, people who are not part of those relationships are effectively excluded from them. As access to these resources is associated with socioeconomic out-comes, such as education and employment, lack of access may negatively affect one’s ability to overcome socioeconomic threats.
How to Choose Spouses
Marriage is more extremely popular today than ever. Four out of five Americans over 25 years old get married at some point in their lives. However, there is a growing ambivalence among young people about marriage, an attitude which is driven by economic and social factors, including higher levels of cohabitation and continued high levels of divorce.
Despite these factors, many young people desire marriage and research shows that there are many benefits of marriage. However, many are uncertain on how to choose, as to what is most important for a potential future spouse.
While choosing your life partner, don’t go by the looks, the success and the personality of them rather look beyond them onto their character. The strength of a potential future relationship comes from the character and core values one brings into it, not from the personality of the person. In marriage, when we honor and celebrate each other, we’re freed up to be the best people we can be. Below are the four most important things to consider before choosing a spouse.
Choose someone who respects you
Respect is a core foundation of successful marriage or even a relationship. It is difficult to share your life with someone who disrespects you or downplays your ambitions in life. Be sure to select a partner who will respect all aspects of your life.
Willingness to invest in the relationship
A relationship is a two-way street. Each of you must be determined to make the relationship work. Select a person who allocates time for you and demonstrates concern for your needs and purpose in life.
Assess the intellectual level of your partner
If you are a high achiever and aggressive in pursuing your dreams, consider a person with the same attributes. Choosing a laid-back person could cause problems in your relationship.
Consider an interested long-term partner
A person willing to be in a long-term relationship with you will show genuine support for your ambitions and goals in life. Consider a partner, girl/boyfriend, or spouse who would be supportive of your plans to advance your career or pursue a worthy course.
The primary reason marriage is significant is because it is part of an ordained plan to provide the world with a picture of God’s love. Marriage must become a means for married couples to demonstrate their love for God. Therefore, marriage is a means of serving and glorifying God. Both married couples must view marriage that way, to succeed and prevent the negative impact of uncertainty or divorce.
Before considering choosing a spouse, we must develop a genuine foundation of marriage. In which God established marriage as a covenant, not a contract. It is important to understand the difference between these two. Three important differences exist:
A covenant is based on trust between parties. The contract is based on distrust. A covenant is based on unlimited responsibility. The contract is based on limited liability.
A covenant cannot be broken if new circumstances occur. Contracts can be voided by mutual consent