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October 17, 2021

People without significant assets less likely to marry: study

It’s no secret that Canadians have been getting married later in life and are becoming more likely to forego marriage altogether.

AdThose with at least some level of post-secondary education are more likely to tie the knot, so perhaps as more people become more educated, they’re simply delaying marriage until they’re more established in their careers.

Or, according to a recent Princeton University study, maybe it really has more to do with money.

People who lack personal wealth in the form of a car or financial assets are significantly less likely to enter into a marriage, says Princeton's Daniel Schneider.

Several studies have found that having a steady job and a good income are important factors in determining whether someone gets married. But income only explains a part of these gaps, he says.

He wanted to see if accumulated wealth -- whether or not someone owns a car, has money in a savings account, or owns financial assets like stocks and bonds -- might be playing a role along with income.

After controlling for confounding factors such as income, employment, and family background, his  analysis showed that owning a car increases the probability that a man will get married in a given year by 2.6 percentage points whereas owning a financial asset increases the probability by 1.5 percentage points.

Wealth also increases the likelihood that a woman would marry, though to a lesser degree than for men, he suggests.

Are you delaying or even skipping marriage altogether? Does it have much to do with money?

By Gordon Powers, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...