James Sexton

Thanks so much for having me.

Great to see you guys.

Yeah, I mean, money is a tremendous piece of the puzzle.

I think it's not just the money itself, but it's also what the money comes to symbolize for people.

You know, I think people who grow up with economic insecurity...

money comes to symbolize all the things they didn't have in their life.

So it becomes, you know, money is a symbol of security.

Money is a symbol of, you know, peace and tranquility, safety, a feeling of not being so afraid.

So I think, you know, when that gets threatened, it creates tremendous distrust between parties.

When people lose their jobs, when there's economic instability, when technological innovation changes the job landscape, that has a tremendous effect.

I mean, there's a

a high correlation between men losing their job and the divorce rate because there's a significant hit to a man, you know, as men being defined in many cultures as being, you know, the provider, the protector, feeling like as a result of factors beyond your control, you've lost your job, you know, is a tremendous difficult experience for anyone, but certainly for men when they're defined in their role as a provider.

And then you see second-order effects that come from that.

Substance use issues as a coping mechanism, you know, men being disincentivized to, you know, participate in genuine things like therapy that might be a better solution than trying to pour whiskey on the shame.

So you see money underneath all these things.

But I always try to say to people, even when you're talking about infidelity, we want simple explanations for the complex problem of a divorce and the breakdown of a relationship.

But I think, you know, people go, you know,

get divorced the same way they go bankrupt, very slowly and then all at once.

And so no single raindrop's responsible for the flood, but all of these little things add up.

And then there is some final indignity, some final moment, whether that's infidelity, whether that's financial impropriety, that really is the straw that breaks the camel's back.