Letters to the Editor
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Single... Good and Bad
I'm pleased to see that someone is addressing the good things about single life - as a single, childless woman, it seems like all I get is either dating advice or warnings about how my life must be empty and meaningless. No one seems to consider that I might be happy alone. There are some practical things that frustrate me (so many people and businesses just assume you must have a spouse) but overall, I'm very happy being single.
But I think Trimberger glosses over the financial issues of being single. (At least in this article - I haven't read the book.) It's true that women are less financially dependent than they were in the past, but living on one income in a two-income world can be difficult, especially in the more expensive parts of the country where housing prices are skyrocketing. It's hard for everyone, but I look at my co-workers, and I see the married ones being able to buy houses and become financially secure, while many of the single ones just can't get there, no matter how frugal they are. I think about being single at 40, at 50, at 60, at 70, at 80, and it makes me very nervous.
I wish I'd considered these financial issues from the point of view of "you might be single all your life", especially when I was making decisions about career, etc. It's not that I was expecting a man to come and "save me", but when I was growing up it was just assumed that everyone would get married - and that does make a financial difference in your life. I'm doing it now, but it would have been easier 10-20 years ago.
Karen