Is 30 the New Deadline for Marriage? | Love & Sex

My mom got married at twenty-three, bought a house at twenty-five and had her first child (me!) at the ripe old age of twenty-seven. (Which meant, time to give up the old nine-to-five for good.)

At twenty-seven, I was still dating, still working, still living in a rented apartment, and not even close to being ready for a kid. In fact, it took until age of thirty-six for me to marry Mr. Right, purchase a house and start trying for little ones. In the meantime, I worked my way up the ladder and became a national television producer in New York City and fulfilled my lifelong dream of publishing novels for teens.

Both Mom and I had many of the same goals: marriage, house, kids. I just took a little longer in getting there--and sought other more immediate pleasures along the way.  Building a career, traveling, socializing with friends, and, of course, a fair share of bar hopping, too.

And I'm not alone. A new study reportedly for Oxygen Media has gone and taken a closer look at this new generation of women who, in their twenties, live in what they call "lifestyle limbo"--taking a longer road to adulthood--and making a bunch of money on the way.  

Based on a set of in-home interviews and online surveys by Chicago based research group TRU, they found women still want all the same things their mothers did--but they're not in such a hurry to get them. Nowadays it's thirty as the soft deadline for marriage, home ownership, and career advancement. (Though I'd say, from personal experience in more urban areas like, New York City, many women consider forty the cut-off.)

But don't call these women slackers, says TRU's vice presidents, Scott Hess. “These transitional women [are] still trying to jump over the hurdles of career and marriage and motherhood, it’s just that their deadlines aren’t nearly as rigorous as their mothers’ deadlines. So, for marketers, the worst mistake you could make with this segment is to treat them as unconventional or aimless. That’s not the case. They’re just going about things at their own pace."

What do you think? Is 30 a deadline for marriage? What age did you get married or are you aiming to settle down? Is there a RIGHT time to settle down...to start a family? We want to hear from you!