For love or money?

"I'm tired of beating around the bush. I'm a beautiful 25-year-old and I want to marry a guy who makes £500,000 a year. Any ideas?" Beckysharp1848

Relax - that's not my posting - but it was the subject of much discussion in the Sunday Times yesterday. It was based on a posting on a New York website and an anglicised version was written to see what response an ad like that would bring in England.

The results were varied but 'Becky' - named after the gold-digging heroine of Vanity Fair - got lots of helpful advice including one proposal. Some of the responses were urging Becky to work for her own living and dignity.

Lots of the richest women around have won their wealth in the divorce courts and not by their own efforts. No wonder people are beginning to push for pre-nups! However, anyone who has organised a pre-nuptual agreement can't legitimately marry in church as the vows state "All that I am I give to you, and all that I have I share with you"

The article was interesting reading but I felt sad that money was such an important issue to so many people when selecting a partner for marriage. We've had enough crashes in the financial markets to warn us not to put our trust in money and, as the Beatles helpfully pointed out, money can't buy love. And love is the thing that will see us all through when (literally) the chips are down.