Money never sleeps, which means there's a virtually infinite set of newsletter topics we get to choose from every week. The market is at all-time highs. The housing market is changing rapidly. Credit data are illustrating important shifts in American spending and debt.

But deep down, in the cockles of your heart, you knew we were going to spend our regular weekend time together discussing Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Don't worry, though. Because we're only going to talk about them as a launching point into one of marriage's most uncomfortable topics:

The "prenup."

Taylor vs. Travis: By the Numbers

As far as blockbuster weddings go, it's hard to get much bigger than the to-be-determined marriage of music megastar Taylor Swift and likely Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Travis Kelce, who recently announced their engagement on Instagram.

One of us here at Young and the Invested is a sports junkie who loves bios and stat attacks, so before we get going …

Taylor Swift: The West Reading, Pennsylvania-born pop icon would need to rent out the Trinity College Library to display all of her awards, which include 40 American Music Awards, 49 Billboard Music Awards, 30 MTV Video Music Awards, 34 iHeartRadio Music Awards, and 14 Grammys (including four Album of the Year Awards). And the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has named her Global Recording Artist of the Year five times, which is more than any other artist. 

Swift notched the largest female concert of the decade in 2024, with 96,000 attending her show in Melbourne, Australia. That was part of her Eras Tour, which was the first tour to collect $1 billion, the first tour to collect $2 billion, and the highest-grossing tour of all time. (Related: Coldplay's Music of the Spheres World Tour was also a billion-dollar tour, and we could probably also use that to talk about the importance of prenups. Anyways …)

Lastly, she's worth a whopping $1.6 billion, putting her in rarified air. She's actually a billion shy of Jay-Z, but what are you gonna do? He's a business, man.

Travis Kelce: The Cleveland Heights, Ohio-born football star was an All-Lake Erie League quarterback at Cleveland Heights High School, then largely played tight end at the University of Cincinnati, where he earned first-team All-Big East honors and was named College Football Performance Awards Tight End of the Year during his final collegiate season.

He was drafted in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, where he has played for his entire career. He's considered a lock to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame (not much more than an hour away from where he grew up) as one of the league's best tight ends of all time. He's been named to the Pro Bowl 10 times, and been named an All-Pro seven times (including four on the first team). He's only the fifth tight end to reach 10,000 career receiving yards, and did so faster than the other four. He owns the single-season tight end receiving record at 1,416 yards, which he pulled off in just 15 games. He's recorded seven 1,000-receiving-yard seasons (a best among all tight ends), and those seasons were all in a row (also a record, obviously). He has more playoff receptions than Jerry Rice. He holds the record for most career catches in the Super Bowl (35) across five appearances, and he has three Super Bowl rings.

Lastly, Travis Kelce is worth $70 million, which is a phenomenal sum compared to most people … but probably what you could find under Swift's couch cushions.

Combined, though, we're talking about a power couple commanding a collective $1.7 billion or so. Forget high net worth (HNW, typically considered to be liquid assets of $1 million or more) … that's sky-high net worth. And it's not just the money alone. It's their collective reputations and opportunities: Swift, whose empire spans music, film, and branding, and Kelce, who has a multimillion-dollar NFL contract, endorsements, and could land just about any NFL media job he wants once he retires.

When that much money, opportunity, and reputation is involved in a marriage, the conversation (if not theirs, certainly ours) will inevitably turn to a prenuptial agreement.

And to explain why—and why other HNW individuals should seriously consider the benefits of a prenup—we spent some time this week with Sondra Douglas, a principal and family law attorney at Stein Sperling.

What You Should Know About Prenuptial Agreements

A prenuptial (or premarital) agreement is a legally binding contract between future spouses that details how things such as assets, debts, and spousal support will be handled in the event the couple divorces, or one person passes away.

That's why prenups can be a sticky topic to even raise, let alone formally draw up: You're effectively planning for a divorce, after all.

But for most people, that's all it is: planning. It's not hoping, anticipating, or expecting … it's just planning. And people should value prudent planning in every aspect of their financial lives—even if it gets a little uncomfortable.

Will Swift and Kelce opt for a prenup? It's hard to say for sure, but it would certainly be smart protection for the both of them. Without one, the division of assets in the event of a divorce could entangle everything from Swift's master recordings and real estate portfolio to Kelce's future earnings and business ventures, setting the stage for one of the most complex financial separations the entertainment and sports worlds have ever seen.

"A good prenup protects against unforeseen problems by anticipating and resolving certain potential eventualities," Douglas says. "High-net-worth individuals tend to face more marital risks than less-well-heeled newlyweds. And for HNW couples where one half happens to be a billionaire while the other is merely outrageously wealthy, there can be a lot more than money at stake." For instance:

Business Risk

For HNW individuals, a substantial portion of their wealth may be tied up in businesses they own or have a significant stake in. A prenup can protect the business as much as the individual, preventing a court-ordered business breakup due to the claims of an ex-spouse.

And especially if there's no prenup nor any partnership agreement, the dividing of a business can get pretty complicated—even if only one half of the couple is actually part of the business.

"The court looks at it this way: You were able to build a lucrative business. Maybe that's because the other spouse was at home taking care of the children so you could work those longer hours," Douglas says. "There is no line in the sand that says your contributions stop within the home. Your contributions will extend to whether you built a successful business. Then you have to identify that, value it, and decide if it has to be divided.

"If you don't have a partnership agreement, and you don't have a prenup, what happens in litigation is, you have to hire all these experts—hire a business evaluator, hire a forensic accountant. It can have a lot of impact."

Reputation & Privacy Risks

In the age of social media and constant public scrutiny, the fame-and-fortune formula that A-list celebs use to build their empires comes with significant risks. A prenup can address reputation and privacy-related issues, shielding family members and associates from unwanted attention.

"I call them beauty clauses," Douglas says. "How are your image and likeness presented? How are you trying to present it, and how are you trying to protect it?

"The No. 1 thing that comes to mind is social media. Boundaries around posts, like 'don't post the children,' that's very common. It might be that you don't post the children on social media under any circumstances, or you agree on what can and can't be posted."

Asset Division

Without a prenuptial agreement in place, or unless it specifies otherwise, the assets a couple acquired during their marriage will typically be split 50/50—or a court might change that ratio depending on other factors (e.g., who contributed more/less to the marriage, and which party has or had greater earning capacity).

"You might say income, no matter the source, is not 'marital' [and thus what each person earns is their own], but if you purchased a home and titled it in both names, that's marital. So you can lay out those big-ticket items up front, then if in the future you decide you want something to be marital that you originally said shouldn't be, you can create a separate agreement for that."

Alimony, Spousal Support, And Child Support

For couples that have a significant disparity in incomes, a prenup is especially important. Without one, a court could decide that the individual with significantly more money should pay alimony or spousal support to their former spouse. (How long and how much they'll have to pay the other in alimony varies. The length of the marriage, the couple's standard of living, and each individual's financial needs and earning potential are considered.)

"If children are involved—especially from a previous marriage—a prenup can provide them with protections they might not otherwise have," Douglas says. "Child support payments can be predetermined, sparing the kids and adults alike a painful court battle."

Tax Implications

Since many HNW individuals already have complex tax scenarios, a prenup can establish guardrails and address various tax implications in advance.

"How alimony laws have changed!" Douglas says. "It used to be that alimony was tax-deductible (for the payer). It no longer is. So the person paying must claim that income, and the recipient does not. So now you have to take that into consideration when you're looking at the whole of the 'marital pot.'"

Another consideration is the marital home. Is one person buying the other out of the home? Is the couple trying to sell the home? The home sale tax exclusion currently varies by a quarter of a million dollars depending on whether you're selling it while filing single ($250,000) or jointly ($500,000). 

Emotional Strain

Divorce is emotionally taxing, regardless of net worth. A prenup serves as a safeguard against the uncertainties that accompany even the most amicable of splits.

Whether a prenup or a "postnup" (an agreement made after a couple has married), these agreements can even be drawn up to tackle the topic of marital fidelity.

"If you have a spouse that has not honored their vows, and they don't want to throw the marriage away but do want to reassert boundaries around their commitment, I've drafted clauses that address that infidelity and the financial consequences," Douglas says. "[A prenup is] not just defining marital property; it can also be a boundary around the moral compass that matters to my client."

In essence, a prenuptial agreement is not just a contract; it's a thoughtful plan that safeguards both parties' interests and strengthens the foundation of a marriage. For a couple like Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce—each bringing extraordinary careers, brands, and assets into their union—a prenup can serve as a tool for clarity, trust, and long-term stability. 

"Rather than a sign of doubt, it's a proactive step that ensures their shared future is built on transparency, allowing love—not legal uncertainty—to remain the focus of their story," Douglas says.

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We hope this week's subject matter hasn't put you too down in the dumps. If it has, cheer up—it's finally Week 1 of college football season. Go Bucks!

Riley & Kyle

Young and the Invested

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