I can envision a decent proportion of men, at least myself and a few I know, who would find it preferable to have a redundant source of income in the household.
Even if a woman ends up becoming a non income earning partner temporarily or permanently, having one who is capable of earning more can be a desirable trait for multiple reasons.
Attributes like physical attractiveness and traditional positive feminine qualities are generally what men list as what they seek.
Of course, we all know of exceptions but the general patterns of what men/women look for in a partner is quite well known at this point.
Higher IQs are correlated with higher incomes, too: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230208125113.h...
Anecdata source of one - but most of my friends from college who could've ended up with many many women ended up with women that had super rich parents, and most of the women that everyone was crazy about ended up with men with rich parents.
None of them claim to have married for money - but from the outside - the odds seem to be that at least some of them probably did.
Men. You know any?
> I can envision a decent proportion of men
You can envision it? Anyone can envision anything.
> at least myself and a few I know, who would find it preferable to have a redundant source of income in the household.
"Myself and a few I know"? Are you a man? Then you should know. What's with the awkward response?
> having one who is capable of earning more can be a desirable trait for multiple reasons.
As the OP stated, men are attracted by youth, beauty and physical traits. Women put more focus on money and status. Men are biologically programmed to want women they can breed with. Women are biologically programmed to want men who can provide for them and their offspring. It's why women want men who are taller than them and also who make more money than them.
Sure, it would be nice for a woman to have youth/beauty and money. But given a choice of a woman with youth/beauty + no money and no youth/beauty + money, most guys would choose youth/beauty + no money. I don't remember a single time anyone ever wondered about "how much a woman makes" when it comes to dating.
If you are a man, ask yourself, would you rather have an old ugly female doctor or a young attractive homeless woman. If you are a man, your lived experience should be source enough.
that may correlate with it being considered uncouth to have such considerations in mind.
Well, generally men do the proposing, and as far as I am aware, most proposals are successful. So if the number of marriages are declining, then it means men are not proposing—either they are uninterested in getting married, or they are but don’t reach a point in their relationships where they believe a proposal would be successful. Not sure what the distribution of those is.