TL;DR: HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet) typically earn between $375,000 and $750,000 in inflation-adjusted terms, but haven't yet built the net worth to feel secure. A prenup is a planning tool for the wealth still in front of you: future RSUs and stock options, a possible single-income chapter, and the debts and savings each partner brings in today. About 47% of married or engaged millennials and 41% of Gen Z respondents now have one.You can read a comp sheet, you understand vesting cliffs, and you've probably already had a conversation with your partner about whether the second income survives the first kid. What you may not have done yet is talk about how all of that gets handled if the marriage ends, or how it gets supported if one of you steps back from paid work for a few years.
That's the conversation a prenup is built for. And it's the conversation HENRYs in particular benefit from having early, because most of the wealth in question hasn't arrived yet.
What's a HENRY, and why does this matter for marriage? The term HENRY (High Earner, Not Rich Yet) was coined by Fortune 's Shawn Tully in 2003 to describe households earning well above the median but without the accumulated assets to feel financially secure. In his 2024 update , Tully adjusted the range for inflation: today's HENRY household earns roughly $375,000 to $750,000 annually.
For context, the U.S. Census Bureau reported a median household income of about $80,610 in 2023. HENRY incomes sit four to nine times above that median, which is part of why the financial picture feels both abundant and precarious at the same time. There's enough coming in to feel responsible for. There isn't yet enough sitting in brokerage and retirement accounts to feel safe.
That gap (high income now, modest net worth, big future earning potential) is exactly the financial shape a prenup is designed for. A prenup written for HENRY couples isn't really about dividing what you have today. It's about agreeing in advance on how to think about what's coming: the RSUs that haven't vested, the bonus structures that could double in five years, the single-income chapter that might happen, and the debts each of you walked in with.
If you want a broader primer on how prenups work before going deeper, our prenup primer covers the foundation.
Why a prenup belongs in the HENRY financial plan Most HENRYs already think about financial planning as a stack of decisions: max the 401(k), pick a term life policy, set up disability insurance, get the umbrella liability coverage, automate the brokerage contributions. A prenup belongs in that stack.
The logic is the same. Each of those tools is a way to set the rules in advance for a future state you can't yet see clearly. Term life addresses what happens if one of you dies young. Disability insurance addresses what happens if one of you can't work. A prenup addresses what happens to the financial picture you're building together if the marriage ends, or if one of you takes on a different role inside it.
According to a Harris Poll for Axios in 2023, about 47% of engaged or married millennials and 41% of Gen Z respondents report having a prenup, compared with roughly 20% of married couples overall. The pattern isn't a coincidence. Younger high earners are treating prenups the way they treat any other piece of financial infrastructure: as something you set up early, while you still have leverage and time.
Equity compensation: RSUs, options, and the timing problem If you work in tech, finance, biotech, or any senior corporate role, equity compensation is likely the single most complicated piece of your future net worth. It's also the piece most likely to cause confusion in a divorce.
RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) and stock options vest over time. A grant made before the marriage might vest during the marriage. A grant made during the marriage might vest after a separation. State courts have built formulas to deal with this, and they don't always produce results that feel intuitive. In California, for example, courts apply the Hug and Nelson formulas to allocate unvested equity between separate and marital property, and the result depends heavily on grant dates, vesting dates, and separation dates.
In the absence of a prenup, RSUs vested during a marriage are generally treated as marital property in most states. That includes shares that were granted before the wedding but vested after it, though courts typically apportion such grants between separate and marital property based on how much of the vesting period overlapped with the marriage.
A prenup lets you write your own rules around this. You can specify whether RSUs and options are separate or marital, whether unvested grants are split using a time-rule formula or a different method, and how the tax burden on vesting (which is taxed as ordinary income) is allocated between the spouses.
Without that planning, the default rules in your state apply, and those defaults vary widely. Nine states use community property; the rest use equitable distribution, where a judge divides marital assets "fairly," and "fairly" doesn't always mean "equally."
The single-income scenario: protecting the partner who steps back If you've spent any time on r/HENRYfinance, you've seen the thread. One partner is considering stepping back from paid work for a few years to handle childcare, or to support a relocation, or to start something on their own. The math seems to work, but the conversation gets stuck somewhere around the question of what happens if things change.
A prenup is one of the strongest tools for that conversation, and it serves the lower earner at least as much as the higher one.
A well-drafted prenup can establish a defined level of spousal support, subject to enforceability requirements at the time of any future divorce, set a lump-sum "wealth equalization" payment tied to years out of the workforce, or include review and sunset clauses that adjust terms as life changes. Treating a prenup as protection only for the higher earner misses half its purpose. Done well, it gives the partner who steps back real certainty rather than relying on what a judge might decide years from now.
The financial weight of this matters. Census Bureau research published in 2025 found that after divorce, mothers worked roughly 8% more hours and fathers worked 16% more, and the probability of moving households nearly tripled. The point isn't to scare anyone. A single-income family where the breadwinner is also the one with the prenup-defined obligations is in a meaningfully different position from one where everything is left to discretion.
A prenup is also a living document in the sense that life changes after you sign it. Our piece on what happens if things change covers how review milestones and amendments can keep the agreement aligned with the marriage you're actually living.
Debts, lifestyle inflation, and "future you" The other thing HENRYs walk into marriage with is, often, debt. Med school loans. Law school loans. An MBA. A mortgage in a high-cost-of-living city. Sometimes business debt or a personal guarantee on a startup loan.
State law treats premarital debt differently from marital debt, and the lines aren't always intuitive. A student loan one partner brought in is typically separate, but interest accruing during the marriage, or refinancing into a joint loan, can complicate the picture. A house purchased during the marriage is generally treated as marital regardless of who contributed more to the down payment, unless a prenup says otherwise.
Here's how the most common HENRY pressures map to the planning tools a prenup offers:
HENRY concern
Without a prenup
What a prenup can address
RSUs and stock options vesting over years
Court applies time-rule formulas; unvested grants become litigation flashpoints
Classify as separate, define split formulas, allocate tax responsibility
One spouse stepping back to raise kids
Spousal support left to a judge's discretion
Guarantee support, set lump-sum equalization, add review and sunset clauses
Big student or professional-school debt
Debt may be partly marital depending on state and use of funds
Keep premarital debt separate; define responsibility for jointly incurred debt
HCOL home purchase with uneven down payment
Home generally treated as marital regardless of who paid more
Define ownership percentages and proceeds split
Inheritance or family trust expected later
Income from inherited assets can blur into marital property
Keep inheritance and trust income separate
The goal isn't to designate every dollar one way or the other. It's to make conscious decisions about which buckets are shared, which are separate, and how the boundary is maintained through years of vesting, refinancing, and life changes.
What to do next: the prenup conversation, timing, and tools Most attorneys recommend starting the prenup process well before the wedding, both because rushed agreements are more vulnerable to challenges of duress and because some states have specific timing rules. In California, the final draft must be delivered to both parties at least seven days before signing, per California Family Code § 1615 .
California also has a separate, stricter rule for spousal-support waivers. Under California Family Code § 1612(c) , a spousal-support waiver in a prenup is unenforceable if the party against whom enforcement is sought was not represented by independent counsel at the time of signing, or if the waiver is unconscionable at the time of enforcement. Other states have their own variations, and state laws governing prenups vary substantially.
For the conversation itself, two to three months before the wedding is a reasonable floor. Six or more months is better, particularly if equity compensation, business interests, or support provisions are part of the picture. Our guide on how to start the prenup conversation with your partner walks through how to approach it without making it feel like a negotiation.
This is also where First fits. We built First for the kind of couple this post is describing: two professionals with complex but planable financial lives, who want to handle this carefully without disappearing into a six-figure legal process. Flat-fee Self-Serve and Lawyer Review options. No hourly bills, no surprise scope, no hang-ups.
Frequently Asked Questions Do you need to be wealthy to benefit from a prenup? No. Most modern prenups are signed by couples who aren't ultra-wealthy but who have meaningful income, debts, or future earning potential to think through. For HENRYs, the value is mostly forward-looking: protecting equity that hasn't vested, debts each partner brought in, and the financial picture you're building together over the next decade.
How does a prenup handle RSUs and stock options? A prenup can specify whether RSUs and options are separate or marital property, and how to value or divide unvested grants if the marriage ends. Without one, RSUs vesting during the marriage are generally treated as marital property in most states, and courts use formulas (like California's Hug and Nelson rules) that can produce results neither spouse expected.
Can a prenup protect a stay-at-home parent? Yes. A prenup can guarantee a defined level of spousal support, set a lump-sum wealth equalization payment, or include sunset and review clauses tied to milestones like having a child. Treating it as protection for only the higher earner misses half its value. Done well, it gives the lower earner real certainty rather than relying on a judge's discretion.
Can a prenup waive alimony entirely? In most states, yes, but enforceability isn't automatic. Many states scrutinize alimony waivers at the time of divorce; California requires each party to be represented by independent counsel, and that the waiver not be unconscionable, for a spousal-support waiver to be enforceable. Courts in many states can also set aside waivers that would leave a spouse on public assistance.
When should HENRYs start the prenup conversation? Earlier is better. Most attorneys recommend signing well before the wedding to avoid claims of duress, and several states have timing rules around delivery and review. Starting two to three months before the wedding is a reasonable floor; six or more months gives room to negotiate equity, support, and debt provisions without pressure.
Will getting a prenup hurt the relationship? For most couples, the opposite is true. The process forces full financial disclosure and conversations about debt, equity, and life goals that many couples have never had, which is why many people report feeling closer to their partner after going through it.
Today you, future you If you're reading this, you're probably already comfortable with the idea that financial planning is most useful when you do it before you need it. Term life is cheapest when you're young and healthy. The 401(k) compounds best when you start early. The same logic applies here.
A prenup written when you're a HENRY isn't really about the assets sitting in your accounts today. It's about the next ten or twenty years, the equity that hasn't vested, the career chapters neither of you has lived yet, and the partner-stepping-back conversation that might or might not happen. Today you gets to make those decisions clearly, together, with leverage and time. Future you inherits the agreement.
If you and your partner are thinking about how to plan around equity, debt, and a future that's still coming into focus, First was built for exactly this kind of conversation . On your timeline, at a flat fee, with the option to connect with a licensed family law attorney when you want one.
If you're thinking about an agreement after the wedding instead of before, that's a postnuptial agreement, and you'd want to consult with independent legal counsel about a postnuptial agreement directly.
First is not a law firm. The information and tools provided by First on this site are not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.
Sources Meet the Henrys: high earners, not rich yet (Fortune, Shawn Tully, August 2024) — original definition of HENRY and inflation-adjusted income range of $375K–$750KIncome in the United States: 2023, Report P60-282 (U.S. Census Bureau) — U.S. median household income of approximately $80,610 in 2023More millennials are signing prenups (Axios, reporting on Harris Poll, September 2023) — 47% of millennials and 41% of Gen Z report having a prenup, vs. ~20% of married couples overallCalifornia Family Code § 1612 (California Legislative Information) — independent counsel requirement for spousal-support waiversCalifornia Family Code § 1615 (California Legislative Information) — final draft of a premarital agreement must be delivered at least seven days before signingDivorce, Family Arrangements, and Children's Adult Outcomes, CES Working Paper 25-28 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025) — post-divorce changes in work hours and household mobility
