Aha! Just listened to a TorahAnytime shiur and the rabbi gave another reason why kids were married off early!
Because if you don’t do it now then the next pogrom may come in and leave you broke and unable to marry off your kids!
At least in East Europe, it happened before when someone [insert Rabbi’s name] saved up for his kid’s wedding and then the pogrom hit and then he couldn’t afford it.
He wasn’t saying that this had anything to do with halacha, but I thought that this was an excellent point for this thread.
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See Rabbi Yosef Viener on TorahAnytime:
Hilchot Kibbud Av V’Em: Part 14 – Marriage Choice and Parents Part 2 ☺