Dear Scott,
I am a 58-year-old woman. I own an apartment in Sydney with about $1 million in equity and have $200,000 in super, though I have no savings. For the past 20 years I have run a reasonably successful small business. Two years ago I married a rich older Asian guy, eight years my senior. His offer on the table was that he pays for pretty much all my day-to-day expenses, and when he dies I will inherit his monthly (ex-diplomat) pension of US$5,000 per month until the day I die! We live half at his place in Asia (I run the business remotely) and half at mine in Sydney. He does not want to combine any assets, nor move to Australia, and he wants to keep his assets and cash separate as all this will go to his daughter and grandson.
Yet now I’m jack of spending half the year in Asia at his house, and I want to move to Sydney, pay off my mortgage, find a lower cost home in rural Australia, and settle. He will not contribute to this move. Should I see a financial accountant or a family lawyer, or both?
The Wanderer
Hi Wanderer
Your husband has an old-school defined benefit pension (which defines the payout: $US5,000 a month, probably increasing with inflation, for the rest of his life … or to his surviving partner). They’re so generous that almost no employers offer them now. Still, most of these plans are very clear: if you are not classified as his de facto when he kicks the bucket, you won’t be entitled to receive his pension.
Come to think of it, that would be a very attractive thing to put on a Tinder profile:
“89-year-old seeks fun-loving hot 25-year-old. I like long wheelchair pushes along the beach … and when I kick the bucket I can offer you a $5,000 a month pension, indexed to inflation, for the rest of your life.”
OH BEHAVE, BAREFOOT!
Hey, I’m just pointing out that there’s a lot of hungry young people doing OnlyFans earning a lot less.
All jokes aside. You’ve got a million bucks and, in your words, a decent business that affords you a decent living. You’ve got 20 (or so) years to do whatever the hell you want to do. So my advice would be to only stay with him if you love him – don’t do it just for the money.
After all, the old bugger might end up outliving you!
Scott.