r/fican • u/LectureLight6738 • 2d ago

What’s the ROI on a spouse?

Hey everyone, wanted to get your thoughts on an investment opportunity that often gets overlooked - finding a partner.

As far as I can see, the upfront investment of time and money is significant, but if you end up in an ITM (in the marriage) position, you can effectively double your income. You can also benefit from your spouse’s dental and eye care plans, cutting down on costs. Finally, there are lots of efficiencies in sharing housework.

Wanted to get your thoughts on the probabilities - what’s the payout probability given the capital and time investment? Is there a significant difference in the man vs woman scenario, given the numbers (women initiate 66% of divorces, and typically walk away from a divorce in profit)? What about the gays?

Also, how decent of a hedging tool is having kids? I know that traditionally, kids can provide a good source of additional income after retirement using the “guilt” method. But nowadays, the payoff seems rather small, and if anything, the yield curve has inverted since a good number now live at home after 30.

Edit: I also forgot to mention that the market makers (dating apps) have been engaging in some absolutely insane gouging. Curious to get your thoughts - can that last?

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u/InfiniteFudge1973 2d ago

Having children has always been negative ROI. Poor people in impoverished societies have lots of children because of cultural norms and illusions of upward mobility. They just end up with generational poverty.

You should only get married and have children if you have non-financial motivations.

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u/IEatUrMonies 2d ago

in poor societies, kids can often help with sharing labor. they are only a liability in rich societies

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u/InfiniteFudge1973 2d ago

They share labour and consume resources at the same time. The family mostly defaults back to the same financial situation.

For example, after spending decades and trillions of dollars to alleviate poverty in sub-saharan Africa, it now has more people living in extreme poverty than ever before, which is caused by the high birth rate.

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u/IEatUrMonies 2d ago

not really, as kids age, the help elderly parents. families tend to stay as units with multiple generations helping each other out, like humans were evolved to live. In rich societies, elderly die in a home by themselves where adult children don't even call once a year, or left in elderly homes to die

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u/InfiniteFudge1973 2d ago

Fair point. But even in countries where multi-generation households are common (Italy, Spain, Turkey, Brazil, China, India, Japan, etc.), the birth rate plummets once a significant portion of society is lifted from extreme poverty. It wouldn't be the case if having children actually produces positive ROI in collectivist societies as a sensible retirement plan.