Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary reveals why getting divorced is the 'stupidest thing you can ever do'
Topics: Money, Sex and Relationships
Niamh Shackleton
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/The Diary Of A CEO and Kevin O'Leary
Topics: Money, Sex and Relationships
If you're thinking of getting a divorce anytime soon, Kevin O'Leary says should you shouldn't.
While Shark Tank star O'Leary didn't make his millions from giving people relationship advice (he made his money from selling his software company Softkey Products to Mattel), he certainly knows his onions when it comes to good and bad economic decisions.
Arguably he does know what makes a successful relationship though, having been married for over three decades.
O'Leary wed his wife Linda in 1990 and they've been together ever since. As well as welcoming two kids together over the years, the pair have gone on to create several businesses together too, one being O'Leary Wines. Linda is the vice president of marketing there, PEOPLE reported previously.
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With this in mind, maybe we should take on O'Leary's advice when it comes to divorce and why he believes it's a poor financial decision.
Speaking on The Diary Of a CEO podcast, the 71-year-old said: "If you're happy 51 percent of the day with your wife or husband, stay with them.
"Every time you get divorced, you pay the woman (or man) you divorced and you pay the government a third through capital gains [taxes] and liquidation, because you can't separate all the assets without liquidating them sometimes."
He continued: "This is the stupidest thing you can ever do. It took your whole life to actually create this nest egg. [...] Think about that for a while because you are going to wipe out up to two thirds of your wealth. You better really like somebody else a lot.
"And frankly, sometimes it's not the other person that you're divorcing – it's you. You're the problem and you should probably not get into another economic union. You should probably just date 'till you drop dead because it's stupid."
O'Leary has always been financially savvy when he comes to relationships and had a low-key wedding to his wife at their home, which he says saved them a 'fortune'.
He told CNBC back in 2018: "I said to my wife, 'Why go in debt?' Let’s invite our friends over, let’s buy a few cases of beer and I’ll order some pizza.
"We saved a fortune. I was able to put it in my business to start growing it."
And he did just that. Four years prior to them tying the knot O'Leary founded Softkey Products. He went on to sell it to Mattel for billions of dollars in 1999.