Money or love? No, that isn’t a teaser for some new reality tv dating show. Like seriously, are we honestly supposed to believe those contestants have a hard time getting relationships. Nope, the question of money or love was the premise of a 2019 Merrill Edge survey asking what consumers valued more. So, what were the results?…
And the results are…
A survey pool of 1034 affluent adults- affluent being defined as having investable assets ranging from $50,000 to $250,000-concluded that fifty-six percent (56%) of respondents would rather have financial security than being “head over heels” in love. (For the record those that choose love was 46%). So, what do these results really suggest?
An Interesting Hypothesis
Is it safe to say that the more affluent an individual is the greater chance for him or her to struggle finding love? Well, of course, we can’t emphatically support that claim but that is an interesting hypothesis to consider.
Question…
Let’s assume you are a single individual that’s looking to settle down. On one hand you have an amazing individual that is (for lack of a better phrase) your soulmate. I mean insert all of the relationship clichés you can think of;
- you finish each other’s sentences,
- you feel respected,
- you have similar life goals,
everything is perfect. Well, almost perfect. There is one exception…
You two will struggle financially.
That’s right, the person of your dreams is definitely not rich by any stretch of the imagination. And although you two are overdosed with love, your future will be…let’s say meek at best. In layman’s terms, you’ll pretty much be living paycheck to paycheck.
Now, on the other hand, while you were dating you also meet another amazing person. This new individual is not as wonderful as the first individual. I mean his or her life goals are different than yours, your feelings sometimes get placed on the back burner, and as far as completing each other’s sentences…well I mean I guess it’s not that much of a big deal right? However, unlike the previous individual if you’re with this person you’ll have financial security.
Now which partner would you go with?
Even though most people wouldn’t want to admit it for fear of seeming vain, the reality (according to the survey) is that the majority of people would lean towards the partner (or life) that could provide financial security. This actually makes sense when you consider how many societies (currently and previously) use the institution of marriage transactionally-something we’ll explore in future posts.
Money versus love….money’s winning!
Money plays a very important role in our daily lives. However, have we let our desire of having financial security outweigh love when choosing our relationships? According to this Merrill Edge survey it looks like when it comes to love…money is more important.
