If you want to be wealthy, delay marriage

Findings of a new scientific study suggest that waiting to get married is financially beneficial if you are a woman. Apparently, college-educated women who wait to wed in their thirties earn up to 56 per cent more than those who wed a decade earlier. PHOTO | FILE 

In Summary

• Researchers from the University of Virginia in the US found that the men who settle down in their twenties on the other hand end up earning more than those who marry in their thirties regardless of their education level.
• Women who never went to college were found to be likely to have a child much earlier even before they got married. For women who dropped out of high school for instance, the average age at which they had their first child was found to be 20, meaning that they had an even harder time rising up the career ladder.

By JOAN THATIAH
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Findings of a new scientific study suggest that waiting to get married is financially beneficial if you are a woman. Apparently, college-educated women who wait to wed in their thirties earn up to 56 per cent more than those who wed a decade earlier.

Researchers from the University of Virginia in the US found that the men who settle down in their twenties on the other hand end up earning more than those who marry in their thirties regardless of their education level. The researchers found that the average marriage age for women is 27 while the one for men is currently 29.

After analysing the findings, the researchers decided that childbirth was the cause of these results. They found that up to two-thirds of income growth usually takes place within the first 10 years of a person’s career.

When a woman gets married in her twenties, the researchers observed that she also gives birth early and takes a break from her career. Eventually, she takes longer to climb up the career ladder.

CAREER PROGRESSION

Nevertheless, not all women were found to reap financial benefits from waiting to get married. Those that had degrees did but those that weren’t college-educated didn’t.

The explanation given for this finding is that for those not who don’t go to college, the average age of the first birth remains unchanged whether they get married early or not.

Women who never went to college were found to be likely to have a child much earlier even before they got married. For women who dropped out of high school for instance, the average age at which they had their first child was found to be 20, meaning that they had an even harder time rising up the career ladder.

For a man, marrying earlier tends to be beneficial to their careers because a married man is usually surer of himself than a single man. This trait is reflected in the way that each performs at their job.

In fact, men who never marry were found to earn significantly less in their lifetime than men who marry. Couples who married later were also found to be less likely to divorce than those that married in their early twenties.

Taking these findings into account, it seems like the right advice would be to wait to get married so as to enjoy a more successful career as well as a more stable marriage.