Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco Polo
Out of curiosity, there seems to a consensus of never getting married again. Why is that? I'm 37 and have spent my entire adulthood to being very successful and more than financially stable. I recently got out of a relationship (note: got dumped, but friends think I dodged a bullet), but have always wanted to get married.
What is the difference between fantasy versus reality?
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From what I have observed, when a marriage begins to sour, it is very common for one spouse to become very demanding. Have you worked hard to build up a good financial nest egg? Guess what? You're gonna give her half of whatever you acquire after the wedding day (and possibly a good chunk of what you brought into the marriage) if things go south.
Of course, there are exceptions to that, but chances are very good that by the time it all falls apart (if it comes to that) you'll be happy to give up half just to escape the arrangement. I see that all the time: people who could probably get a better deal settling for giving up half just to end it all.
From what I have seen, it's not that marriage itself is such a bad deal, it's that if it ever falls apart then you're gonna get screwed.
And you cannot possibly predict whether it will fall apart... nobody gets married thinking "This is only going to last 5 years, then I'm getting a divorce." Everyone thinks that they will be the exception, that their marriage will be one that makes it. Then they get hammered in the divorce.
From what I have seen, it's better to just cohabit unless you have some moral/ethical reasons to avoid that.