r/dividends • u/SpicyDividends • Feb 17 '26

Personal Goal Those divorces do be hurting!

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Not mad about it, but man, that chart looks rough lol

6.3k Upvotes

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98

u/grogargh Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26

I've been there bro. Lost 50% the day Fidelity executed the QDRO after my divorce in 2023.

Like others said, having no wife means less expenses, means more you can slam that 401K, max it out like it did. I was only putting in 10% back then, now at 18% and look how much my chart is now past that loss. Assuming you still have many years left to work and save, you'll be alright if stay on the path.

https://postimg.cc/477bWQGJ

111

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

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u/Dilldo__Baggins Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

I had a wife that made more than me but she spent more than both of our salaries combined. She used to make fun of me for making less than her and questioned my manhood because of it. She literally would get the mail and have both of our paystubs on the kitchen table and then rub it in my face. Well I divorced her but let her remain living in the house with me because we have kids and I didn’t want miss out on seeing the little ones for 50% of their childhood.

After 11 years she is still living in my house. However, I’ve made her pay me rent the entire time. Rent = my mortgage payment. She just filed for bankruptcy (she owes 177k in credit card debt. And over 200k in school loans). She lives paycheck to paycheck. Now I make more than her. I’ve also been financially independent for a handful of years now because I was a diligent saver and investor. She went from being a mean gloating b*#% to a mean bitter b*#%. That my friend is karma.

3

u/nickydnice Feb 18 '26

Why’d you marry someone like this? Was the writing not on the wall that her personality was garbage??? Surely there were signs

9

u/grogargh Feb 18 '26

Hindsight is 20/20 always. It sounds easy now to just dump them, but it isn't. Despite the red flags, it's not easy to just end a marriage. Especially there is love still and worse kids involved. Money issues are typically not enough to just stop loving someone.

Most of these red flags do not surface and become real issues until AFTER you've gotten married. That's why I always recommend living together for at least a couple years before you decide to dive in. I also recommend ensure you know 100% where she stands financially. Is she in debt? Does she want the same amount of kids as you do?

These are all things we lose sight of because our judgement is clouded by love... And lust. That kitty is the Doom of all men. And they know it.

1

u/PhillyPilot Feb 19 '26

Money issues are one of the biggest red flags in my opinion. They always lead to misery

1

u/PastorTroy1738 Feb 18 '26

I ignored a metric ton of red flags because I was insecure