4 Benefits of Getting Married in My 30s Vs 20s

I got married at 34, which is a little later than the statistical average in Malaysia, which is around 26 to 28 years of age.

After the dust settles after the wedding, here’s what I think are the 4 Pros & 1 Con of getting married in my 30-s compared to if I were to do it in my 20-s:

This article is based on my observations

Pros #1: Developed Character

This is a big one, at around 30 years of age, even if you don’t have your life figured out (let’s be honest, who has), you’d at the very least have a somewhat developed character.

A developed character, to me, means:

• You have shaped your own style and personality.
• You know who and what to prioritize.
• You’d know what you’re good at & roughly what you want out of life.
• Know what you don’t want.

It’s hard to think if I were to get married in my 20s because I don’t even know who I am at that age.

I can’t imagine adding the responsibility of a spouse & kid on top of still figuring out who I am.

I respect those who did get married in their 20s and grew together as a family.

Pros #2: More Disposable Income

If you stuck to the same career from graduation, chances are, you’d probably be mid to upper level management by the time you hit your 30s.

Being good at what you do, and progressing up the career ladder often means that you typically would earn enough to have disposable income and savings.

The first thing that my wife and I noticed, is that we both had enough savings to pay for our wedding expenses without going into debt or borrowing from family members:

• Gifts for one another (hadiah hantaran).
• Wang hantaran (dowry) for my wife.
• All the ring(s) to my wife

I wouldn’t be able to afford most of the stuff I did during our wedding if it weren’t for consistent savings and some attempts in investing & running a business in my 20s.

Pros #3: Housing & Car Sorted

I bought a small studio apartment in Kuala Lumpur while I was still working as an Engineer back in the days.

When I quit engineering, I rented that studio out to tourists through Airbnb & business was good back in 2016.

When COVID-19 broke loose, my Airbnb business collapsed & I resorted to stay in it because it was hard to sell or rent out.

Things worked out well for my wife & I, as we decided to stay in the studio for the first 1 or 2 years of marriage until we have kids, and need to move in to somewhere bigger.

I decided to invest a sum of money to renovate & decor the place up for her to move into my apartment in comfort.

After marriage, all she had to do was to pack her stuff in a bag and move in.

In comparison, if we were to get married in our 20s, we might not have a place of our own, and would most likely either rent, or stay with one of our parents until we figured out where to live together.

We both also have our own car. We both are very grateful that our home & transportation were sorted.

Pros #4: Better Wedding Gifts From Friends

This is my favorite. If you get married in your 30s, chances are, your circle of friends are also in their 30s and somewhat financially stable as well.

What this means is, you’d generally get higher quality and thought after wedding gifts.

Some of the wedding gifts that we received that we absolutely love & appreciated:

• Robot vacuum
• Coffee machine
• Cast iron pans
• Fancy dining wear & chopping boards
• Decorative luxury vase
• Food processors
• Pressure cooker

These are stuff that we originally thought we didn’t need, but after owning and using it, we learned to appreciate how it improved our quality of life.

I remembered during 20s, I had to buy a wedding gift for my friend who was the same age, but I had no idea what to get him, nor did I have enough disposable income.

I wasn’t alone. After the wedding, my friend told me that he got 4 toasters and 3 cheap irons as last-minute wedding gifts from our circle of friends who were clueless like me.

Con of Getting Married in Later than 20s

There’s only 1 con that I can think of for marrying a late in life, but it’s a big one.

I am no doctor, but biologically speaking, women tend to be less fertile the older they get.

So if both of you want to have kids, you’d have to factor the possibility of a slightly lower chance of conceiving.

Talk it out amongst yourself and consult a professional, so you can plan things out properly.

Key Takeaway

Overall, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with getting married later in your 30s than the Malaysian statistical average.

Ultimately, getting married is a choice. It’s better to take it easy and find someone you’re most compatible with rather than rushing into a marriage due to societal pressure with someone you’re not compatible with.

In fact, I’d recommend all of my friends to get married after they hit their 30s for all the reasons I listed above.