"There is no question that a huge infusion of wealth to relatively young people has a disastrous effect on the marriage's stability," says Bern Clare, a Manhattan divorce lawyer.In the world of hedge fund managers one can become an overnight multi-multi-millionaire. And with this new wealth come drama. High dollar value divorces are becoming more and more common among fund managers and with them, excessive demands. Just take a look at a few:
- "A case in which the dependant spouse insisted that she needed $800,000 a month in child support payments, even though she already had an income of $7 million a year. "The judge listened calmly and found she had plenty to maintain herself. Then he ordered $100,000" a month."
- "In one recent divorce, the entire settlement was hung up on the issue of whether the former wife would be given $500,000 or $750,000 a year to cover first-class air travel."
The reason why I decided to discuss this article is because I believe wealth interferes with many parts of our lives. Wouldn't you think that wealth would improve a marriage? Eliminating so many of the worries most of us have. But this is obviously not the case, and there are countless other areas where wealth damages our lives whether it be parenting, to our own internal happiness. As Dr. Richard Easterlin, one of the world's foremost economists explained: As a person’s income goes up, he or she doesn’t grow any happier in a lasting sense.
The point is wealth can be a vice without the proper foundation... A foundation where one understands that money is not a replacement for love, or a pre-requisite for happiness.
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