For Richer, For Poorer: Divorce in Australia
The saying goes, “I asked my partner what they wanted for our fifteenth wedding anniversary, to which they replied, ‘a divorce’. I wasn’t planning on spending that much”.
Last month AMP and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (NATSEM) released their report into the financial impact of divorce on Australians. With one in three Australian marriages ending in divorce, the financial impacts are significant and widespread.
Among its findings, the report noted that:
Divorced parents aged between 45-64 years of age have 25 per cent less assets than their married counterparts.
Super balances for divorced mothers are 68 per cent lower than married mothers while on average a divorced mother has 37 per cent less super than a divorced father.
More than 20 per cent of newly-divorced mothers are struggling to afford basic items including school uniforms and leisure activities.
A family breakdown decreases a child’s chance of getting a university education by 6%
This report provides valuable insights to and has far reaching ramifications for financial and retirement planning, asset protection and estate planning, risk protection and personal insurances. It also has important social implications on child-rearing, education and (indeed) marriage. This is not an attack on divorced people, or marriage for that matter. It’s an eye-opening barometer of issues likely to affect, well, all of us more or less directly.
The detailed report is well written. You can access it here. I encourage you to at least skim through and reflect.
