Fifteen years of data just dropped, and it's saying something nobody expected.
The Kinsey Institute and Match just released their 15th annual Singles in America survey, and the headline number stopped me cold: 45% of singles say they want to get married someday — up from just 33% back in 2010. Marriage is back on the vision board.
But here's the twist. Money is the gatekeeper. 52% of singles say the difficult economy has made them MORE interested in finding someone to share life with — nearly double the 27% who said that in 2013. Read that again. The worse the economy gets, the more people want a partner. Love on layaway: everybody wants it, everybody's watching the price tag.
It makes a strange kind of sense. When rent is absurd and groceries cost a car payment, doing life alone stops feeling like independence and starts feeling like a surcharge. A partner isn't just romance anymore — it's someone to split the bills with, someone in your corner when the world feels expensive. Practical? Sure. But there's something deeply human about it too: hard times make us reach for each other.
So what does that mean for dating right now?
It means the money conversation can't wait until date six anymore. The couples who make it are the ones who can talk about the awkward stuff early — debt, spending habits, what "we can't afford that" sounds like without it sounding like rejection. If you can't talk about money with someone, you can't build a life with them. Full stop.
And honestly? That's what the first few dates are for. Not the highlight reel — the real stuff. What do you want? What are you afraid of? What does your actual life look like when nobody's performing?
Ask the bold questions early
That's exactly why I made Dating Assassins. It's a 150-question card game for new daters — brand-new couples who don't know each other well yet. You draw a card, you answer honestly, and if you hesitate, your date yells "You have been assassinated! Game over!" No app, no screen, no small talk about the weather. Just the boldest first-date conversations, the kind that tell you who someone actually is before you've split three dinner bills.
It's $15.99 — less than the appetizers on that first date — and it makes a perfect stocking stuffer for the single friend in your life this holiday season.
The economy might be on layaway, but your love life doesn't have to be. Go ask the bold questions.
— Siquoyia Blue
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