The Starter Marriage
BOSTON (CBS) - According to Wikipedia a Starter Marriage is a first marriage that lasts five years or less and ends without the couple having any children together.
Kids have had front row seats at their parents' divorces and they view divorce as the norm. With a starter marriage a couple ends up splitting very few assets because there are very few assets to split. Or worse, they end up splitting the debt they've accumulated.
This is an expensive dress rehearsal for the real thing. The average cost of a wedding today in the U.S. is almost $29,000.
Pamela Paul coined the phrase, "Starter Marriage" with her book, The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony. She talks about the wedding as being the prize that the couple has focused on and not the next 50 years together. Once the wedding is over they have nothing in common.
Her research consisted mostly of census data analysis and interviews with dozens of young divorced people. Some of these young people chose marriage as a way to get out of their parent's home or they had been dating a long time and marriage seemed to be the next step.
Studies have shown that living together before the wedding does not give a couple an edge in creating a lasting relationship. And more and more couples are living together because it is cheaper to combine households.
Marriage should not be treated as a throw away commodity. Getting married requires commitment from both parties, emotional as well as financial.
But either way, marriage or living together you need to do some planning as a couple so you don't end up as a statistic. You should be having the money conversation with your significant other long before you start to pack the boxes to move in together.
A book you might find helpful is Money Without Matrimony by Deb Neiman, who is a local financial planner.
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On Saturday May 17th Dee will be the keynote speaker at The Money Conference which is a FREE one-day event presented by The Office of Massachusetts State Treasury and the Massachusetts Financial Literacy Trust Fund, in conjunction with local cities and community partners to help households build their financial knowledge and improve their financial behavior through quality financial education.
The Money Conference: Financial Empowerment for Individuals & Families
Saturday May 17, 2014
8:30 am - 3:00 pm
Everett High School
100 Elm Street
Everett, MA 02149
Questions? Contact Sheila O'Loughlin at (617) 367-6900.
Do you feel your need for financial education and empowerment is urgent? You are not alone! Americans are saving less, spending more and carrying credit card debt over from month-to-month, suggesting that the painful financial lessons of the recent past may quickly be forgotten.