This study examines the accumulation of personal wealth of husbands and wives and investigates the development of within-couple wealth inequalities over time in marriage. Going beyond previous research that mostly studied the marriage wealth premium using household-level wealth data and that conceptualized marriage as an instantaneous transition with uniform consequences over time, we argue that entry into marriage is a gendered life-course event that dynamically shapes husbands’ and wives’ wealth accumulation. Using high-quality data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017), we apply fixed-effects regression models to describe wealth accumulation within marriage. We find evidence that wealth premiums are lower during early years of marriage, but increase steadily thereafter. The premium is mostly concentrated in housing wealth. Results from supplementary analyses with limited data, however, suggest that the premium may not be causal for men. Regarding within-couple wealth inequalities, we find a pronounced within-couple wealth gap prior to marriage during pre-marital cohabitation. This gap remains stable over time in marriage. In contrast to findings regarding income, our study indicates that the institution of marriage may not amplify within-couple wealth inequalities further.

ObjectiveThis study examined potentially gendered net worth changes over the marital dissolution process, starting up to 3 years prior to separation and continuing up to 15 years postdivorce.BackgroundIncipient literature showed steep wealth declines for men and women associated with divorce, treating marital dissolution as a single point‐in‐time event. These findings may be limiting as legal regulations and divorce‐stress‐adjustment research conceptualize marital dissolution as a process that lasts several years.MethodUsing fixed effects regression models, we analyzed changes in personal net worth as well as changes in personal net housing worth and financial net worth of individuals whose marriages dissolved between 2002 and 2017. Analyses used comprehensive wealth data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel study.ResultsAlthough wealth declines commenced prior to separation, separation was the most critical point with 82% and 76% reductions in personal wealth of men and women, respectively. Divorce did not pose additional wealth penalties, but wealth was also not recovered in years after divorce. The lasting separation penalty was mainly driven by declines in housing wealth and a lack of financial wealth recovery. Overall, both men and women experienced dramatic relative wealth declines with negligible gender differences. Predicted wealth levels, however, indicated that men may be in a financially better position compared to women due to higher preseparation wealth levels.ConclusionResults illustrated important variations in personal wealth measures over the marital dissolution process, which may drive lasting wealth inequalities, particularly with regard to housing wealth for both men and women.

Objective To explore disparities in wealth trajectories between divorcees and continuously married individuals including moderation effects of remarriage and gender. Background Amid concerns of long‐term economic consequences of divorce, research illustrated that ever‐divorced individuals hold less wealth than the married preretirement. However, it remains unclear whether this is a direct result of immediate, lasting divorce‐related wealth penalties or whether divorce also leads to long‐term wealth accumulation disparities. Method Using personal‐level, longitudinal wealth data from the Socio‐Economic Panel Study, I applied propensity score and exact matching with random‐effects growth models to compare wealth trajectories of divorcees and the married. The matching allowed (1) married controls to be assigned a theoretical divorce date for ease of comparability to the treatment group (i.e., divorcees) and (2) the account of a wide range of baseline differences. Results Wealth differences between ever‐divorce and continuously married individuals stem from lasting disadvantage—particularly for housing wealth—generated immediately around divorce rather than a scarring of divorcees' wealth accumulation. Remarriage but particularly gender is relevant moderators. Whereas remarriage moderates net wealth trajectories through housing wealth, gender moderates trajectories through financial wealth. Conclusion Divorce importantly contributes to wealth stratification. Mitigation of divorce‐related wealth penalties for both men and women needs to focus on immediate, but lasting costs of divorce particularly regarding homeownership.