Men, time to marry up!
Posted by: "
adoptaowl@aol.com"
adoptaowl@aol.com ellis133186
Sat Jun 23, 2012 7:14 am (PDT)
Men,time to marry up!
The letterbelow was published as the lead letter in TheSouth Florida Sun-Sentinel on Saturday June 23, 2012 and is followed by thearticle to which it responded.
Gordon E.Finley, Ph.D.
Professor of PsychologyEmeritus, Florida International University, Miami
Men,time to marry up!
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/letters/fl-letters-0623-20120623,0,3008860.story Men,time to marry up!
Letters
June 23, 2012
Re "Single women earning moremoney, degrees" on June 17:
Heads up, men. For all youundereducated, underemployed, and unemployed hunks, here is the good news. Dowhat women have done for eons — marry up!
One sentence from this article saidit all: "But there is a downside to the economic advances women have made:they may have to pay alimony, child support or both if they divorce, accordingto a recently released survey by the American Academy of MatrimonialLawyers."
Men, if you want to cash in beforewomen wise up and decide that educational, occupational, and income equality isa good idea after all. Go to the following web site and learn how to live onyour ex's gravy train until you die:
http://www.floridaalimonyreform.com Hurry before word gets around andwomen join men in seeking to change Florida's alimony laws.
Gordon E. Finley, Miami
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-single-women-20120614,0,125305.story Single women earning more money, degrees
Single South Florida women are outperforming single men, recent studiesshow. They are getting better educations. They are buying twice as many homes.And they are out-earning their male counterparts.
Michelle Friedman, 28, exemplifies the new breed. The senior accountexecutive at a public relations firm already has received several promotionsafter graduating with honors from the University of Florida. Next up for her:buying a house and opening a retirement savings account.
Other South Florida single women — including widows and divorcees — areforging ahead with their careers and personal finances.
Young single women with no children earned more than their male counterpartsin most metro U.S. areas, including South Florida, according to a 2010 study byNew York-based Reach Advisors that analyzed U.S. Census Bureaudata. The medianannual income of unmarried childless women, ages 22 to 30, was 17 percent morethan what their single, childless male peers took home in Miami-Dade, Browardand Palm Beach counties, said Sally Johnstone, senior consultant at ReachAdvisors.
South Florida women are earning more because they are generally bettereducated than men, who have had to contend with job losses in male-dominatedindustries such as construction, Johnston said. The trend should continue as"women continue to go to and graduate from college at much higher ratesthan men," she said.
At Florida Atlantic University, 58 percent of the student body in the fallwill be women, while Florida International University will have 55 percentwomen. A record 36 percent of all U.S. women ages 25-29 have a college degree,compared with 28 percent of men that age, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Single women also have been moving ahead of their male counterparts on thehome front. They have been buying homes at almost double the rate of singlemen, according to the latest statistics from the National Board of Realtors.Single women are the second-biggest market behind married couples; they'reahead of single men and unmarried couples, board spokesman Walter Molony said.Almost one out of five home sales across the nation involve single womenbuyers, he said.
Sheila Austin, 37, bought her first house in Sunrise last month afterrenting for years. She said she would have bought sooner, but she couldn'tafford to until the housing bust caused prices to plummet.
"I got a three-bedroom house with a screened-in pool," she said.Her mortgage is hundreds of dollars a month less than her rent was at a Daviecomplex.
Lisa Green, a financial services coordinator, will have her oceanfront condoin South Palm Beach paid off in two years. She also has made it a point to fundretirement accounts and savings.
"It has worked out well," said Green, 53. "I feel stronglyabout living simply." She said she also didn't fall into the trap ofwaiting for a man to make financial decisions.
Women today have emerged from the tradition of putting their finances onhold until they are married, BocaRaton financial planner Mari Adam said.
Many South Florida women are realistic that they may not marry or they mayend up divorced, said Adam, herself a divorcee who counts herself lucky that shealways had a career.
So does Darran Blake, a divorced senior vice president of a bank who ran abathing suit manufacturing company by age 21.
"I've always worked hard; I started working at a young age," Blakesaid.
But there is a downside to the economic advances women have made: they mayhave to pay alimony, child support or both if they divorce, according to arecently released survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. About56 percent of surveyed divorce lawyers report a jump in the number of motherspaying child support in the last three years, while 47 percent say more womenare paying alimony.
"It's no longer assumed that the husband will be the top wageearner," Fort Lauderdale family law attorney Barry Finkel said.
One Broward Countydoctor was outraged when a judge ruled she had to pay alimony to her formerhusband, he said.
But the husband had sacrificed so his wife could go to medical school andbecome the big wage earner, Finkel said.
dgehrke@tribune.com, 954-536-4404or Twitter @donnagehrke
Copyright © 2012, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
