In your opinion, is money important in a relationship? Consider the 'transactional' element observed in the relationships between the couples. Do you think there is an upward trend of relationships and marriages valuing money over other qualities? Provide examples for your responses.
In my opinion, I believe that money is indeed quite important in a relationship. True love may conquer all, but I've never seen it conquer starvation and disease.
However, I do not feel that there is an upward trend of relationships and marriages valuing money over other qualities. As countries become more and more developed, money becomes less of an issue. In the past and even now in less developed countries, poor parents would often forcibly marry their daughters to richer (or older) men in hopes that they have a better life. Now, in the more developed and "richer" countries (i.e. Singapore) bachelors and bachelorettes often already have solid financial backgrounds. As such, they are able to choose a partner based on other qualities and not out of sheer desperation. Perhaps Singapore's declining birth rate may also be partially due to this as singles are no longer rushing to get engaged and instead slowly picking and choosing their life mates.
However, I do not feel that there is an upward trend of relationships and marriages valuing money over other qualities. As countries become more and more developed, money becomes less of an issue. In the past and even now in less developed countries, poor parents would often forcibly marry their daughters to richer (or older) men in hopes that they have a better life. Now, in the more developed and "richer" countries (i.e. Singapore) bachelors and bachelorettes often already have solid financial backgrounds. As such, they are able to choose a partner based on other qualities and not out of sheer desperation. Perhaps Singapore's declining birth rate may also be partially due to this as singles are no longer rushing to get engaged and instead slowly picking and choosing their life mates.
9 comments:
Yes, I agree that we are becoming more developed and have more money. But the price of living is rising just as fast. Because of a higher quality of life, couples need to maintain a certain standard of living and thus money is important. As for whether there is an upward trend, I would say there aren't more marriages where money is very important, because they never last anyway, the couple will divorce soon enough. If there are monetary difficulties the couple should try and work them out. But there may be more people marrying for money. This would probably translate into upward trend of divorce valuing money over other qualities.
Haha, good choice of song for this topic. It certainly has brightened my day (in some way)...
Joke aside, what you are actually pointing out is a good way to looking at this situation. However, one cannot deny the fact that there are people who go after the rich. Take our 1st impression of Bassanio for example, whom we thought that he was marrying Portia for money. Real life examples would be ladies offering to marry someone young or old, as long as he is rich.
Besides the fact that singles are taking their time to look for their Mr. Right, couples also do not have the TIME, not resources, to look after a child. Money is not an issue in Singapore since most people hold rather high-ranking jobs.
Hi Sean, this is Darrel. I think you have not addressed the part on trasactional element in relationship but provided really good points of both side as you believe money is important, you provided the point that people nowadays are richer or financially more stable and thus choose their partners based on their values. I also agree with Timothy's comment that as you state that countries become more developed, do not forget that the living costs are rising as fast. Thanks for the marvellous post!
Well, you certainly have opened up another point of view for me. Certainly, as our world is developing and there are more rich people, there will be less occurrences of poor parents marrying their children to rich families. However, one must remember that although there are bachelors in our world, not everyone are bachelors. When there is the rich, there is also the poor. Hence, poor people may still consider money as their first priority when they find their partners. Thank you for the post in any case.
Hey Sean! The second line on money cannot conquer cracked me up. Of course, this is in fact true. I cannot say that relationships do no need money at all. However, how much is actually needed is the question to be asked. We all need food and water to survive and the only way to have these supplements is buy, using the money we have. Thus, to an extent we do need money to have a relationship. What about after marriage? After a couple marries each other and settle down, they would start a family and starting a family in today's context is rather expensive. Prices of everything is soaring, education is getting more expensive and even essential items like textbooks costs a sum. Thus, the scenario of a relationship matters, whether it is before or after marriage.
I do not quite agree with your first sentence. Love is important and is no doubt the most important thing in a relationship. You love till you go to your grave, be it disease or what. Money is only secondary.
Though money is important, as you have stated, I feel that true love is more important. The whole basis of a long-lasting relationship is true love. If one embarks on a relationship with other only for money, the results can never be complimentary.
Yes, I agree with you that true love in a relationship is very important. However, without money, the couples will not be able to live off, due to the fact that they are unable to survive in this harsh world. So, I believe both are necessary in a relationship
- Hao Ming
Hi Sean, good post. I feel that whether love or money or more important depends on who you are. for example if you are consider financially stable or wealthy, money would be secondary and love would be more important. However, if you are not financially stable and you do not want to be a burden to the person you love, to avoid any problems, I feel that they should not get married. In this case, money is more important and love should be secondary. Anyway, in case 2 we can also say that love come first and thus we should just leave the person we love alone as we are poor
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