Divorced baby boomers’ financial status improved by remarriage
As divorced baby boomers enter retirement age, their financial status will be less if they have not remarried, according to a report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies. It found that divorcees who had not remarried are less likely to own a home outright, have fewer assets and are less likely to invest in superannuation than those who never divorced or who have remarried.
Baby boomers will push the rate and numbers of older persons who are divorced up, as the rise in divorce occurred after the changes to the marriage laws in 1975.
The experience of divorced men and women were similar when it came to financial outcomes, with both divorced single men and women having the lowest median household incomes. But while divorced and single men were most likely to have lower educational qualifications, divorced and single women were generally better educated.
Remarriage often improved a person’s financial status but both older divorced men and women had the lowest perceptions of their own prosperity.
The report is based on responses to the 2002 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey and covered more than 2,000 people aged 55-74.
