While J-Lo’s love might not cost a thing…
A survey commissioned by Perth’s Millionaire Matchmaker reveals that love does cost a thing in Perth and that thing is quite a lot.
The survey has found Perth singles will spend a minimum of $9,630 on dating before they find love and note that Perth singles spend on average $107.50 on a first date.
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Read below for the full report
They say that ‘love doesn’t cost a thing’ but a new survey has revealed that over a quarter of Perth singles aged 30-59 are looking for love and will spend almost $10,000 before they find it.
Commissioned by Perth’s Millionaire Matchmaker, the survey found that the more dates you go with different people, the more likely you are to find love. Respondents currently in a relationship dated double the amount of people than those whose relationship/s didn’t work and are currently single.
“Those currently in a relationship found greater success in the love department as they went on more first dates prior to finding a compatible partner,” said dating expert and Perth’s Millionaire Matchmaker, Louanne Ward.
“These days people are busy and simply don’t have the time to go out on date after date only to end up back where they started. Many singles rely on computer algorithms to find their perfect match while others simply settle for someone who isn’t compatible, bound to be disappointed later.”
The survey confirmed people actively looking for love will need to spend the equivalent of almost a full working week to secure a first date and an average of 5.2 working weeks to reach relationship status.
With the majority of survey respondents registered with multiple online dating sites, Ms Ward said the time burden wasn’t the only issue associated with Perth’s digital dating landscape.
“There is also the element of disposability and instant gratification that goes hand in hand with online dating. If it doesn’t work out with the current person, the ‘swipe left’ mentality means we can always move onto the next option,” said Ms Ward.
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“Now daters have the ability to continually browse through an endless catalogue of potential partners, allowing them to keep their options open and encouraging a non-committal attitude.
“In addition, you end up wasting long periods of time (that you don’t have) talking to people, only to find that they’re not who they say they are or aren’t actually willing to invest in a long-term relationship.
Along with the time cost, the survey also identified a significant financial burden, with Perth singles forking out an average of $107.50 on the first date.
When adding this dating spend to the overall cost of time invested to find a relationship, this rounded out to a typical investment of $9,630 per single.
“When you take into consideration the money spent on a first date – travel, food, clothes and make-up etc., this cost could be considered quite moderate but multiplied by the time spent to find love, this actually represents a significant investment,” Ms Ward said.
“Time truly is money and must never be undervalued or overlooked when it comes to finding a life partner. It is worth putting in the time investment but if not careful a lot of time can be wasted without any return as evidenced by these findings.
“It’s so important for people seeking a relationship to invest the time to meet people face-to-face in order to have the best chance at finding, achieving and maintaining relationship success.”
