<prompt> Human: Title hits the high points, but generally Im starting over in life on my own and just need any general guidance I can get. Tough times and dont have much margin for error, so I need to get this right.More background: Just finished grad school, and taking a new job starting tomorrow. Base annual salary is 60k, with a small bonus and some stock options, which may be worth something someday, but cant rely on those yet. Does have health insurance, and Im reasonably healthy, but no 401k match or other benefits. I have 10k in savings, but no retirement accounts or other financial assets. No car or other expensive personal property. I live in a high COL area, but have made a budget and this job is enough to pay the bills given my current living situation, even if not a lot of disposable income left over. I am continuing to search for better paying jobs, but zero guarantee those materialize, so I have to build with what I have.For debt, I have 7k in credit card debt at 15 APR, and a disgusting amount of student loans. Roughly 40k in private loans, and remainder federal loans under an IBR program. Realistically, unless I get a huge spike in income, Ill never be able to pay off the latter. Now that Im employed again, though, have been thinking of refinancing the CC debt at a lower rate.Now, the soon-to-be divorce: My wife makes 75kyear, has no debt, but does have retirement accounts worth 30k. No pre-nup, at her insistence. She doesnt want to share any assets or take on any debt. Have gone back and forth on whether I should litigate with her, which I can do at a limited cost Im a former lawyer so can represent myself reasonably well, but dont know if I can stomach the emotional turmoil of that. My betrayed self wants to fight, but my rational self just wants it over ASAP. No hope, or desire, for reconciliation.Moving forward, its all up in the air. Probably staying in our current apt. for another 3 months, then on my own which will probably require a roommate. Job I have does have room for promotiongrowth, and am willing to move if the right opportunity presents. Im also, again, a licensed lawyer and would like to use that to make side-money to build a safety net and pay down debt, but really dont know how to do that.Any advice insight, would love to hear it. Any more info needed, let me know and happy to provide.  <response>: She doesnt want to share any assets or take on any debt.I mean, sure, that makes sense. I dont want to give away my stuff or take on debt either. But thats just not the way this works. Youve got a bunch of debt and no retirement. Its hard to both save for retirement and pay off debt. I think that walking away from this is a financial mistake youre going to regret. With little disposable income in a high COL area, 7k accruing interest in debt and losing 15k in retirement accounts, you might be looking at 6 years worth of retirement savings youre just walking away from.Im sure the emotional cost of this is high, but you should at least consider that taking on the burden now could result in you actually starting over with some assets, instead of totally broke and debt-ridden. The next few years of rebuilding your life are going to be challenging enough without paying for debt that isnt solely yours and trying to bootstrap your 401k. 