Women tell more money lies than men. According to a survey of 23,000 conducted by the websites TODAY and SELF, 56% of women lied compared to 37% of men. This was in spite of 66% of respondents saying honesty about money is as important as sexual fidelity. Twenty-five percent of women said something new was old and women were almost twice as likely to hide purchases. When asked why they kept money secrets, the top answers for both sexes were they deserved to spend money they earned and they disagreed about what to buy. Considering “money talks”, we aren’t all listening.
A computer program can predict if a couple will date and if they will date for 3 months. The conversations between couples speed dating were fed into the program, along with information about how they perceived the speed dating - talking one-on-one to multiple people for short intervals of time to see if there’s mutual interest in dating. The more similarly the couples used filler words - pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, etc. - the likelier they were to date. This isn’t because similar people attract. It’s because when two people pay close attention to each other, they “speak the same language”.
More people are intermarrying. The 2010 Census showed among opposite-sex, married couples 10% (5.4 million couples) are racially mixed. That’s a 28% increase since 2000. Among unmarried, heterosexual couples 18% (1.2 million couples) were of different races and among same-sex couples it was 21% (133,477 couples). The Census also showed changes in household compositions. Non-family households increased by 5 million, unmarried-partner households increased by 2.2 million and households with 3 or more generations increased by 1.2 million. “Diversity is the one thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day.” is a quote from an unknown – but wise – person.
The number of people 50+ who are cohabitating has more than doubled from 1.2 million in 2000 to 2.57 million in 2010. That’s according to an analysis of government data by Bowling Green State University. Money is a major factor in couples not marrying. They may not want to share individual savings; give up a benefit – such as a pension or Social Security payment – dependent on their being divorced or widowed; or be financially responsible for their partner’s health care bills. However, considering 33% of the 7.5 million cohabiters are over age 50, the golden years can be golder.
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