Marriage and Financial Recession
The world is busy with figuring out how the recent financial recession has affected and remains a dangerous phenomenon for development basically in terms of business, economy, investment, employment and poverty. However, we may forget or have never thought of how it affected love or marriage life. Interesting, Yahoo published an article on how people make decision about marriage and divorce under the effect of financial crisis. Below are some extracts from the article.
- Couples spending an average of 24% less on tying the knot than in ‘07, they are scaling back on everything from the number of guests to meal selections to flowers. A recent survey done by David’s Bridal entitled “What’s on Brides’ Minds” reports that 75% of weddings are being downsized in order to save money.
- 37% of matrimonial lawyers report seeing a decrease in divorcing couples during economic downturns. The reason, the article posits, is because getting a divorce is the “worst thing you can do financially.”
So maybe the frugal thing to do these days is just stay single? Not so fast.
- Buffalo, New York, and star of A&E’s former reality series “Confessions of a Matchmaker” said her business has seen a 30% increase in clients in the last eight months.Novak tells CNN:
“I think that as people go through more difficult times, being alone becomes more difficult…[Even] if they can only afford popcorn and a six-pack on a Saturday night, they’d rather do it with somebody than alone.”
Similarly, Greg Waldorf, CEO of eHarmony, reports a 20% increase in monthly registrations from September 2008 to January 2009, compared with the same time period the prior year. He also points out that the number of visits to its site was higher than average on days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by more than 100 points. Waldorf told The Economist, simply:
“Going through difficult times with someone special is better than doing it alone.”
But searching for love during a recession isn’t just limited to finding that perfect soul mate. A recent New York Times article reports that sales of romance novels are up as well.
Harlequin Enterprises, the world’s leading publisher of romance fiction, reported that fourth-quarter earnings were up 32% over the same period the year before. And while sales of adult fiction were basically flat last year, according to Nielsen Bookscan, the romance category was up 7% after holding fairly steady for the previous four years.
Interesting, isn’t it?
May 5, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Yes, it is interesting. hehehe