Another week goes by and it is another week of ludicrious divorce settlements. Greedy women taking their poor lunch-tickets, oops I meant ex husbands, to the cleaners. Anyone with wealth or ambition marrying in Britain today needs their head examined.
Nick Robertson the, rather pompous, boss of online retailer ASOS got taken for £70 million - half his fortune - by his ex Mrs. The argument is that without her there to support his career by looking after their brats he would not have the fortune. That is patently untrue. I have met Robertson, who strikes me as smug and conceited, but there is no doubt that he - not his money grabbing ex Mrs - had the idea, drive and talent to create and build ASOS. Yes the Mrs looked after the brats, but she was doing a job which could equally have been done by an uber- posh blonde Swedish nanny with great legs on £40,000 a year.
I am sure Mr Robertson could have been persuaded to hire such a nanny had his Mrs really wanted to go out and get a job but she did not. And what was Mrs R capable of earning? That we do not know. A fair settlemnt would be the higher of the cost of the nanny for 20 years and Mrs R's potential earnigs. Let's say she was a trainee bankster when she met Mr R capable of earning £150,000 a year. I do not think she was but I give her the benefit of the doubt. In such a case she should be entitled to £3 million for her salary sacrifice ( her potential salary being greater than 20 years of a blonde Swedish nanny costing £800,000 in total) . That would be fair. Instead she gets to take half of Mr Robertson's fortune which he alone has created,.
Mr Robertson is probably happy to be rid of his greedy ex, especially as he has traded her in for a far younger ad better looking model. That must be some compensation for the pain he feels in writing alarge cheque to that ex.
No-one enters marriage expecting divorce but the UK's laws on divorce are ludicrous. If you are rich or have any chance of being rich the curent set-up makes marriage a suicidal financial option. Had Mr Robertson booked a high class hooker at £3,000 a night, every night for 20 years and avoided marrying his greedy ex altogether he wouldtoday be around £45 million better off. And one suspects fairly happy about life too.
The moral is clear. Until our archaic and unfair divorce laws are changed, if you are a rich male or have a chance of earning a good whack going forward, dont get married just stick to a life of nights with upper class hookers every time.