Time to hedge bets on a rich husband

This affects not just the hedge funder, of course, but his spouse. One fellow Hedge Fund Wife came up to me at a holiday party and said: "It's been a terrible year for X [her husband]."

She phoned later. "Forget I said that," she said. Her husband had apparently given her a telling off for broadcasting his lacklustre performance.

One imagines how the dire results in all financial service companies (Goldman Sachs excepted) will affect marriages this January. "People mostly only divorce over infidelity or money," a woman whose opinions I respect once told me.

One friend is not only not collecting his bonus this January, his fund just blew up. He had to tell his wife that the private jet was being sold and constructionon their new holiday home would have to stop. Their conversation might play out like this:

Wife: "What do you mean? No plane? What about all the germs on public transport?"

Husband: "Well, the fund blew up." Wife: "Where is your sense of responsibility? You have children. How can they not have a home in Antigua? They could get Seasonal Affective Disorder without sufficient sunlight."

Husband: "Well, we still have a roof over our heads and we can afford school fees for Cleo and Theo. We just need to cut out the excess."

Wife: "Do not for one second think that my jewellery counts as excess." Husband (a bit pale): "Quite right. You deserve the best." He heads into his study, where he stares hopelessly at his screen.

Perhaps the scenario turned out well. The wife has already picked out which jewels to auction off and is cutting back (by her standards). The marriage seems to have got stronger. The husband is hustling for new business; the signs are that he will start a new fund.

"The question every well-off married person should always ask themselves - long before a crunch happens - is could they cope if it did?" says psychologist and family and divorce coach Shel Miller. "Divorce lawyers tell me that many women wouldn't marry the same person at the outset if he were poorer."

Well, let's hope that this week there are not too many of them feeling belated regret.