Happiness = Marriage + Money

So says an article posted yesterday on WebMD. According to a recent Gallup poll, 64% of married people say they are very satisfied with their personal lives; only 43% of single people felt the same way. Money helps, too--a large majority of those with high incomes reported being very happy with their personal lives. Safe to say that good marriage and good money will lead to happiness. It's an interesting article, and WebMD is a great resource. But they did leave one thing out: good marriage leads to good money.

Married life lie of the day

"Majority of women would reconsider their spouses" screams a news release put forth today from Woman's Day magazine and AOL.com. Their joint survey of more than 3,000 women found 36% would not remarry their husbands if they had it to do over again, and another 20% weren't sure.

Don't take it too seriously.

The survey was a voluntary, online poll, which means it hardly represents a cross-section of American wives. Those who are discontent with their married lives would likely take more interest in the poll --and be far more likely to respond to it -- than those who are content.

When surveys like this have been done using accurate scientific methods, including a random, representative sample, results are consistent: An overwhelming majority of both husbands and wives would remarry their spouses if they had the chance to do it all again.

All this leads to a question: Why are Woman's Day and AOL so eager to portray wives as miserable? I don't have a good answer for that. If you do, I'd love to hear your thoughts.