Most individuals who go through divorce notice the financial toll that dividing one household into two takes on the newly divided family. For many, the divorce process can make it difficult to focus on work, and keep one’s personal life separate from one’s professional life. However, divorce can have a positive effect on a recently separated or divorced person’s career.
A writer for Financial Times, Lucy Kellaway, explains this surprising financial upside in a new article, “Divorce can galvanise a career as well as ruin it.” Read the full article here.
Kellaway explains that when she got divorced, her sudden financial instability motivated her to work much harder and devote herself fully to her profession. Rather than allowing herself to slow down toward retirement like many of her peers, Kellaway was reinvigorated by her renewed need to make money, and found new success in her career because of it.
She explains how work became more interesting when the financial security that she experienced as a married couple fell away. This required each person to work harder to achieve any similar level of financial success, and this motivation made the work seem fresher, and paychecks more significant.
None of this is to say that going through and past a divorce will not be financially taxing. However, the silver lining of this struggle is that renewed commitment to your career may pay off even more over time. While others in middle age may be, as Kellaway describes, “sluggish” in their work because the work has lost its luster, those who are re-motivated in their careers will stand out for their efforts and should reap benefit, even in a level of work satisfaction.
While separating finances from your spouse may be quite difficult, look to the possible upside of renewing commitment to your career.
Don’t hesitate to contact an attorney at Cantafio & Song PLLC, with all your domestic law needs.