Cortez 1

Stephanie Cortez
Eric Kuffs
English 114 B
17 March 2016

When is the right time to get married? Who should I marry? And Why did I get married?
These are million-dollar questions. These are questions and ideas people constantly ask
themselves. Many young and un-married adults in our society grow up meeting people with
standards and expectations pre-built in their minds. In our minds we say, (respectively) Wow,
hes/shes good looking I wonder how much money he/ she makes in a year What does
he/she do for a living? Can he/she maintain me in the long run? Now, this is my theory and
my personal preach moment;
[an individual creates their own happiness. Your husband or wife cannot give you
happiness. If you depend on your partner to give you entire happiness, you may not get it too
often. If you try and give more happiness to your husband or wife and feel no type of reciprocity
or mutuality, youre going to feel used and unwanted. Money comes and goes, but your husband
or wife doesnt; if theres a ring on it! Why fight over something thats temporary? Why not
work on something thats permanent? Dont get married to someone just for their money because
what happens if they go broke? Im not saying that money isnt important because its super
important. Having or not having money is important factor but either way, are you working
towards constantly living better? Money does not equal love. Love is a feeling you get when you
see someone. Love is a comfort zone to share with. Love is unconditional. Your relationship is a

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companionship filled with mutual positive feelings, not a tool for you to make more money off
of. Your relationship should be honest and innovating. Love and be loved.]
Now, that I have expressed a little bit of how I feel about money and love, lets talk
numbers. According to Pew Research Center by Belinda Luscombe, people in 2014 were
surveyed and they answered what the main reasons were as to why they were not currently
married. Their ages were from eighteen to twenty four, twenty five to thirty four, and thirty five
and older. The reason with the highest percent of not getting married came from the thirty five
and older bracket and was Havent found what they are looking for. Their percentage came out
to be forty one percent. The lowest percent came from the youngest age bracket, eighteen to
twenty four. Their percentage came out to be twenty five percent. There is a sixteen percent
difference here. It may be that people that begin to grow older and reach their late thirties and
early forties are still way too attached to the standards they have created in their head. If they
would be more open minded to different types of people, maybe they would have found the one
they wanted to marry instead of still looking.
Another source of research comes from Sonya Britt. Britt says despite the amount that
someone makes, the top predictor for divorce is money, because it happens at all levels of
income. I completely agree with Britt here in this statement. All types of people argue or discuss
money, so questioning if youll marry someone or not just because of their financial status, isnt
a smart thing to do. Like I said, money does not equal love. Being attracted to someones money
is wrong. You should be attracted to a person for the characteristics they own. However, Britt
displays a chart that shows the percent of how less likely a couple will be to divorce based on
their annual household income. According to this chart presented by her research, it is fifty one
percent less likely for a couple to divorce if their annual household income is one hundred and
twenty five thousand dollars or more. In contrast, it is thirty one percent less likely for a couple

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to divorce if their annual household income is between twenty five and fifty thousand dollars. In
other words, the more money you and your spouse make, the less chance you will end up getting
divorced. Many people refer to the saying, more money, more problems but I have chosen to
neglect that statement and transform it to a positive outcome of my own. I have constructed this
idea with my significant other that goes like this, More money, more opportunities. If all
couples stay focused on the bigger picture (that of financial stability and a happy future) they
they would be arguing less. Of course, there will always be disagreements and moments of
frustration, but the fundamentals and the principal of the relationship should be set strong and
created out of love.
The third source comes from the one and only, Oprah Winfrey. She speaks to her crowd
of a lesson titled, Money and Marriage on May 4th 2009. Oprah begins her video with, Lying
to your partner or spouse about finances is a recipe for disaster. She incorporates a real life
scenario by demonstrating a couple that wishes to get married. Eric, the soon to be husband, does
not know Anastasia, his future wife, is about fifty thousand dollars in debt. Eric finds out this
information the day of the interview from Oprahs producer. One of Oprahs guest consultants on
the show responded to this couple with if they can afford a wedding or not because this was their
initial concern. However, Oprahs consultant said that there were bigger problems than if they
could afford a wedding or not. Just before the show aired, Oprahs consultant asked Anastasia
how much credit card debt she was in, and while streaming live, the answer she had given before
the show was way lower than what was displayed on the screen projected to the audience.
Oprahs consultant said that Anastasia not being honest with Eric is a huge problem and will lead
to them having no trust in one another. Now, this brings me back to my main point.
If you are not focused on the principals of your relationship like being honest, being
respectful, trusting one another, and loving each other unconditionally, then there will be leading

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future marital problems. The idea of being married only scares or intimidates people because
they cant look forward into the positive and beautiful aspects of it. We, as people of value and
intellect, should be smarter and make better life choices in our relationships. Money Can only be
and Should only be seen as a tool for opportunity, never a problem.

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Works Cited
Britt, Sonya. "Kansas State University." Researcher Finds Correlation between Financial
Arguments, Decreased. Relationship Satisfaction. Kansas State University, 12 July
2013.Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
Luscombe, Belinda. Why 25% of Millennials Will Never Get Married. Time. 24 Sept. 2014.
Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
An Oprah Show Lesson in Money and Marriage. Oprah.com. Oprah, 2009. Web. 15
2016.

Mar.