Can Celebrating Valentines’s Day “Save our Economy?” Forbes Magazine Thinks So!

According to the "smarty-mcsmart" folks at Forbes Magazine,  celebrating Valentines Day actually helps the economy!

Writer Steve Cooper noted last week that couples who are married and stay that way generally see an annual growth of their overall wealth by about 4% annually.  Conversely, couples who divorce see a decline beginning a few years prior to the actual split.

The Ohio State University Center for Human Resource Research also found the following information, according to Cooper:

  "In terms of hard numbers, people who remained single had a steady, but slow growth in wealth over the course of 15 years to an average of about $11,000. Conversely, those “who got married and stayed married showed a sharp increase in wealth accumulation after marriage, growing to an average of about $43,000 by the 10th year of marriage.” Getting a divorce decreased a person’s wealth by roughly 77 percent. So far this sounds like a little Valentine’s Day effort is worth it, right?"

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau backs up similar economic findings.   And besides the "cold" financial statistics,  British researchers doing work for their healthcare system found that people who are happy - and this included those in successful marriages and relationships - had a 35% reduced risk of dying.   That being opposed to mortality rates among people who deemed themselves as "unhappy."

And from all this information about financial growth and rewards, that in turn stimulates the economy.  Get it?

The article goes on to list other examples of how happiness (celebrating Valentine's Day?) contributes to a more productive and financially rewarding life.   So if Forbes tells us to celebrate the holiday, how can we say no?