Oct 21, 2024
Just months before her wedding, 22-year-old Molly is grieving the sudden loss of her father, while also dealing with a significant inheritance from her grandfather. This unexpected windfall introduces new challenges, complicating her relationship with her high-school sweetheart and raising important questions about money and family.
“I just inherited $1,500,000 … so I want to know if I should get a prenup or not?” she asked on a recent episode of The Ramsey Show. Prenuptial agreements have become more popular in recent years. A 2022 Harris Poll report found that 15% of U.S. adults had signed such an agreement before getting married, up from just 3% in 2010.
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However, after digging deeper into the details, Dave Ramsey was convinced a prenup would be insufficient for Molly. Here’s why.
Contracts are not magical documents
Molly told Ramsey her grandfather was a successful businessman in the hardware industry. His recent passing left her with $500,000 in cash, $500,000 in stocks and $500,000 in business notes that offer passive income via interest payments.
This windfall is part of a trend financial experts have described as "Great Wealth Transfer" where an estimated $90 trillion in wealth is expected to be handed down from Baby Boomers to younger Americans.
However, only 26% of Americans expect to leave behind an inheritance, according to Northwestern Mutual's 2024 Planning & Progress Study. For most beneficiaries, the size of the inheritance is unlikely to be life-changing. As of 2022, the average American has inherited about $58,000, according to the Washington Post.
That means Molly’s seven-figure inheritance is relatively rare. Not only is it about to change her life — her previous net worth was $10,000 — but it may also impact her future marriage.
When asked if her fiancé has money, she replied: “Not a ton. He graduated college and his parents have a franchise called Mosquito Joe that he was going to take over … But I'm just a little concerned that the inheritance has made him less [likely] or it's created less pressure for him to work.”
For Ramsey, that’s a clear red flag. “Contracts are not magical documents, they don’t suddenly give people character,” he told Molly.
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To improve the chances of a successful marriage, he advised her to go further than simply signing a prenuptial agreement.
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Pre-wedding couples counseling
Although he doesn’t usually recommend prenups, Ramsey said he believes it might be useful in Molly’s situation. He advised her to sign one but warned her about its limitations.
“What I don't want you to do is to think your prenup is going to fix your fiance,” he advises. “It doesn't. It just helps you escape him if it goes completely bad.”
To secure her relationship, he recommended couples counseling before the wedding.
“You need to do some intensive marriage counseling where you say to him what you said to us. That’s very important,” Ramsey explained.
According to a 2019 study conducted by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, 45.2% of couples claimed to have attended some form of premarital counseling. Those who did were more aware of the struggles in their relationships and were more open to the idea of seeking therapy after the marriage to improve their relationships.
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Vishesh Raisinghani is a financial journalist covering personal finance, investing and the global economy. He's also the founder of Sharpe Ascension Inc., a content marketing agency focused on investment firms. His work has appeared in Moneywise, Yahoo Finance!, Motley Fool, Seeking Alpha, Mergers & Acquisitions Magazine and Piggybank.
