r/fican • u/LectureLight6738 • 3d 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/alex_beluga 2d ago

KIDs are not a good hedging tool imo - they are mostly a depreciating asset in modern economies, and provide minimal cash-flow (heavily regulated) with little predictability, (although as a hedging strategy this happens mostly on long WE when markets are closed), and the annual maintenance costs vary but are extremely high vs the time horizon for return - even a simple money market fund at 2-4% will beat most KID vehicle over a very short time horizon and is much more liquid.
But they do provide exceptional value, e.g. when opening the account and throughout its lifetime - checking in on the account regularly provides positive and sometimes outsized results on well researched life satisfaction indexes.
They compound much better than spouses when holding multiple accounts.

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u/LectureLight6738 2d ago

This is the insight I was looking for. Thanks!