The Moneyist: What to do about your finances during a divorce

The Moneyist: What to do about your finances during a divorce

MARRIAGE problems are more likely for people in some career paths than others.

Workers in certain fields are seeing higher divorce rates by the age of 30, a recent analysis of US Census Data from career website Zippia found.

The highest divorce rate was for first-line enlisted military supervisors, its analysis of Census Bureau’s Public Use Microdata Sample, or PUMS, data found. They had a divorce rate of 30 per cent. The occupation involves leading operations and co-ordinating the activities of enlisted military personnel.

The next highest rates came from careers including logisticians, automotive service technicians and mechanics, followed by military-enlisted tactical operations and air weapons. In fact, military jobs took three of the top 10 spots in its listing. Across all fields, military workers of all ranks were most likely to be divorced by 30, at a rate of 15 per cent. (The average age for divorce is 30 and roughly 41 per cent of first marriages end in divorce, studies show.)

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People who serve often face a unique set of circumstances that can impact their home life. “Some of the most demanding professions can be hardest on marriage, either because of time spent away, persistent danger or insufficient pay,” said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at personal finance site Bankrate.com.

“These challenges can certainly pertain to those who serve in the armed forces, making or either willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.”

Military deployments have a profound effect on marriage, according to a separate study published last year in the Journal Of Population Economics. It found divorce rates increased significantly when spouses spent long periods of time away from home.

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Mental health issues put additional strain on marriage with 20 per cent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans reporting experiences with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, experts say. Another study from Military.com — a website that gives people with a connection to the military access to jobs, benefits and discounts — found that even non-deployed military members found their relationships struggled due to marrying too young and moving too often.

Of course, career stress affects all couples, Mr Hamrick said. Money troubles can create additional divides. The overall divorce rate in the US peaked in 1980 but has been falling ever since. In 2016, the US divorce rate was at 6.9 divorces per 1000 total population.

In Australia, divorces peaked in 1976 with a rate of 4.6 divorces per 1000 people and has been falling since, with 2 divorces per 1000 people in 2016.

Careers with lower rates of divorce listed by Zippia included religious workers, speech-language pathologists, and dentists.

Baby Boomers, in particular, have seen divorce rates double in the last 25 years, a Pew Research Centre report found, increasing 109 per cent since 1990 as people are living longer and the cultural and religious stigma of divorce has declined in recent years.

“Gray divorcees tend to be less financially secure than married and widowed adults, particularly among women,” the report said. “And living alone at older ages can be detrimental to one’s financial comfort.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.