Women Who Stay Single and Don’t Have Kids Are Getting Richer

Forgoing marriage and parenthood has a bigger payoff for American women than men, according to new research.

Marrero

Photographer: Ben Sklar for Bloomberg Businessweek
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Ashley Marrero isn’t married and doesn’t have kids. And she has a message for women just like her: You can still have it all.

The 43-year-old feels a deep sense of satisfaction from her job as a sales representative for a maker of medical devices, which brings her into contact with patients. And she relishes all of the lifestyle and financial freedoms that come with being a single, child-free woman in a well-paying job. That includes an apartment in New York City, a new beach house on the Jersey Shore, and frequent travel for pleasure as well as work.