Recently I read an article titled on Forbes.com and I wondered if wealth can be detrimental to a marriage. The article was based on a survey 433 independently wealthy men and women and the conclusion is that almost half say that they’re unhappy in their marriage and more than half have been unfaithful in the past three years. Those unhappy with their marriage also fear divorce would be very costly and hurt their business dealings so they stay together. The article was focused on the wealthy and it makes you wonder if money affects the quality of a marriage. This leads me to ask, can wealth be detrimental to a marriage?

I believe that wealth is generally a good thing in marriage because it gets rid of worries about affording basic needs. However, as my ex-roommate always said, “marriages are difficult at best”. So I think the problem with having a tremendous amount money in a marriage is that the focus shifts to the cash rather than the spouse. For example, what I found interesting in the Forbes article is that most of the wealth of these couples were accumulated during marriage, and yet 75% of those with assets over 10 million agreed that marriage hindered their financial success. I can see instances where a marriage can hinder one’s financial success. For example, a married person who has to take care of a spouse and children is less likely to take large financial risks or be very mobile to take on new jobs and opportunities. However, these wealthy folks ARE very successful and they did it while married. So the fact that they think their marriage hindered their financial success means that they don’t think they are as successful as they hope to be. This makes me think that they are more focused on their money than their marriage.

Another “problem” with accumulating a massive amount of wealth during a marriage is that people can change from working together to working against each other. What I mean is that when young couples get together and have nothing they try to work together to make a better life, and sometimes when that better life is achieved people get more possessive of the things they have. That is why in the Forbes article a large percentage of the wealthy have hidden and protected assets. I think this is another example of putting money over marriage.

I also find it funny and ironic that money keeps unhappy people together because it is too costly for them to get a divorce. I hope that I will never get to that stage in my marriage. Ultimately, money is inanimate and neutral and shouldn’t be detrimental to marriages

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