Money: Top Stories
Article from:





Want to marry a millionaire?

By Kate Perry April 24, 2008 12:22pm

• Email article
• Share article
  
  • Add to Digg
  • Add to del.icio.us
  • Post to NewsVine
  • Post to Facebook
  • Add to Kwoff
  • Post to MySpace
  • What are these?
• Printer friendly
• Text size + -

Have your say! Comments are open on this article - add yours

• Work out a savings plan so you can look after yourself
• Calculator: Work out a budget - then stick to it
• More personal finance news in our Money section

THE internet is making it easier for hot young things to hook up with wealthy older men, and thousands of Australian women are signing up for a shot.
Lindsay Lewis founded Millionairedating.com.au six months ago and says there’s been a steady stream of Australian women looking for a wealthy Mr Right – either as a short term sugar daddy or a long term partner.
After trawling the net and weeding out the dodgier sites Ms Lewis has put together a portal through to six millionaire dating websites. With names like sugardaddies.com and seekingmillionaire.com, the sites offer to match “those with beauty with those with wealth”.
On some of the featured sites it’s compulsory for men to verify their claims of riches – via pay slips or income tax forms – and on others it’s voluntary. Once they’ve been accredited as bona fide rich man they’re ripe for the picking.
"It's a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,” Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Good time vs long time
Ms Lewis said thousands of people – mainly women – visit her website. Women seem to look for different things depending on their age, with younger women tending to click through to sugar daddy sites and women aged 30 and above looking for successful executives with a view to forming long term relationships.
“Successful career women go online to find successful career man – someone their equal,” she says.
Another Australian business catering to women looking for a successful partner is Millionairematchmaker.com.au. The website is part of a personalised dating service, run by Nikki Wells, who says she is only interested in helping to create serious relationships, not finding wealthy husbands for good looking women.
Ms Wells says despite the company’s name Millionaire Matchmaker doesn’t cater exclusively for millionaires.
“However our branding attracts the market that we’re after and that is people with certain core traits – they are driven, ambitious, passionate. Generally that equals success and with success often comes financial security as well.”
Membership fees also weed out cash-strapped suitors. Basic registration starts at $165, while the entry level introduction service costs upwards of $1500. Success fees are also payable, with a newly engaged couple recently handing over $50,000.
The full dating service includes a minimum number of introductions and a range of services including grooming, wardrobe consultations and hair and make-up makeovers.
Time is money
Ms Wells says time is a factor for wealthy successful people, who don’t want to trawl through a bunch of people to find someone they want to date.
“They pass on to us to screen out the people they wouldn’t want to date and screen in the people they would like to date,” Ms Wells says.
There’s also a level of discretion for high-profile Australians who want to look for love away from public eye.
“We have clients on our books who are the best business people in the country and are regularly in the news, we have sporting personalities, we have media identities.”
Love and money
Money is one of the top three stress factors in a relationship, says Anne Hollonds of Relationships Australia.
Having plenty of money throws up a different set of pressure than not having enough money.
Ms Hollonds says it can cause arguments about how to spend the money, or how much time the main breadwinner is spending at work.
Money can also be used as a way to control a relationship.
"Where there are huge difference in the levels of wealth between partners, money can come to symbolise power and control in a very destructive way," Ms Hollonds says.
She says its important for couples to talk through money issues and work out how it might affect their relationship.
I don’t want your money, honey
Most Australians say they would rather follow their hearts than their purse strings when it comes to romance, according to research commissioned by HSBC Bank for Valentine’s Day this year.
Ninety per cent of Aussies said they put love and happiness ahead of financial stability in long term relationships. The survey showed that most people expected to look after themselves financially rather than hold out for a rich Prince (or Princess) Charming.