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Originally Posted by unbelievable  American wives statistically make 80% of all discretionary spending decisions, so I'd have to find one that makes 400% of my salary even to reach economic parity. A ring and a ceremony instantly relieves me of 50% of all I have or will have. In my state, it instantly makes me financially liable for any child she produces, regardless of who fathers the child. It makes me responsible for any credit obligation she enters into. If I married some ridiculously wealthy woman, I suppose there is a chance I might actually gain something. For the rest of us, it's pretty much a lopsided proposition. |
This is one of the reasons I am never getting married. It actually boils down to simple math. You might even remember doing this exact calculation in grade 10 or 11.
If the chance of A failing is 10% and the chance of B failing is 10%, what is the probability of both failing at the same time?
0.1^2 = 0.01
That's a 1% failure rate.
Now suppose you merge the two together and the two must work as a team. If either A or B fails, the entire system fails. What is the probability of failure?
1 - (0.9^2) = 0.19
That's a 19% failure rate.
Joining two systems together like that immediately makes it 19x more likely to fail. This is why you as an individual get 90% in all of your class assignments, but group projects involving 4 or 5 people always end with crap results. This is loosely related to the term "design by commitee" where a project going in multiple directions at one time ends up going nowhere.
My gf and I get around this by staying as separate as possible. My money is mine, hers is hers. I pay some bills, she pays some bills. She can use my second car, but the car still has my name on the title and it's registered to me. If either of us goes insane and starts spending everything, we can make a clean break with minimal damage.
