The oldest, most tried-and-true get-rich-quick strategy in history: Marrying rich

[gravity]

With This Ring I Thee Wed ... for Money
By Cliff Mason
TheStreet.com Staff Reporter

You can max out your 401(k), you can max out your IRA, but I've got another retirement plan: Marry rich.

Find an heir, an heiress or the rare self-made multimillionaire, and set yourself up for a life of luxury and perpetual idleness. I don't mean marrying into mere comfort, with a six-figure spouse and a nice house in the suburbs, although as a fallback plan you could do a lot worse for yourself.

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Not everybody can snag an obscenely wealthy spouse, but if you don't believe marrying rich is a viable strategy you could be fooling yourself out of a fortune. In fact, marrying money is the oldest, most tried-and-true get-rich-quick strategy in history. It's one of the few paths to wealth where your youth is an asset and not a liability. Use it while you've got it.

You don't have to think too hard to come up with people who've pulled this one off. Jacqueline Onassis did it twice -- who cares that she had to marry a guy named Aristotle? John Kerry, whose craggy face doesn't quite exude charm, nevertheless hit the jackpot when he married Teresa Heinz, the widow heiress of the Heinz ketchup fortune. Ed Shlossberg got in on the Kennedy action when he married Caroline; you think anyone would even know his name if that hadn't happened?

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Are you one of those old-fashioned types who believes in marrying for love? There's nothing wrong with being a romantic, but the numbers are on my side. According to the best statistics available from the Census Bureau, about 30% of marriages end in divorce. According to the best sound bites available, it's 50%.

Even using the legitimate, smaller figures, there's a solid chance your love match won't last, and if you're not prepared, the divorce could leave you destitute. When you marry for money, there's none of the disappointment or heartbreak, and the divorce ought to leave you a small fortune, especially if you bare those pearly-whites and charm your way out of a pre-nup.

More: http://www.thestreet.com/funds/saving-money/10363842.html

[WinkyDink]

1. I thought it was inheriting!

[gravity]

2. True, but you can't choose your parents

[pitohui]

3. you do not have to be young

i know several people who did this, and you don't have to be young, what you have to be is younger

for instance once of my relatives married a boytoy in his 50s, she much older, and he did get millions

i don't think i have the type of "sales" personality that could do this and be "on" all the time, even in my home, but if you can do it, and you are bringing companionship to someone who otherwise because of their age would not get any, i don't know if it's entirely evil

what IS evil are the creeps who seduce, steal the money, and then run w.out providing the companionship, end of life care, etc. -- i know of this happening too

[WildEyedLiberal]

4. Nice RW slur against Kerry in that article

It's awfully insulting to both John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry to imply that he married her for money (as if he needed it), or that she would allow herself to be used in such a way. Not to mention that I think the author is a wee bit jealous - I'm a woman and I think John Kerry is drop-dead sexy. I guarantee he's easier on the eyes than "Cliff Mason."

[idgiehkt]

7. that sigline of yours is really powerful

wow. I love it. So very, very true.

[WildEyedLiberal]

13. Thanks - it's from V for Vendetta

Awesome movie, you should check it out.

[CBHagman]

14. I saw Teresa Heinz Kerry during the 2004 campaign.

A fair number of people in the media were so cruel to that woman; they made her into a cartoon.

When I saw her speak, she was fairly low-key but able to think on her feet. And her sense of humor was fully operational (Some people crack jokes, and others see the inherent humor in things. She is apparently in the latter group.).

From what I've read, THK is the good parent Republicans supposedly want to support. She was apparently a strict but wholesome mother (limiting TV, keeping a healthy kitchen), and it would seem all her beautiful sons turned out well, while we all know what devilment the various generations of Bushes get up to.

It makes me sick to see people spreading rumors about her or putting her down for having married a wealthy man. I think the viciousness of the approach to her says more about the media than it does about her.

[Withywindle]

5. Nothing wrong it, I s'pose

being a prostitute on the long-term plan instead of the rental market. The big difference is in the interest rates I guess. :evilgrin:


(I have a phobia of financial dependence. I can't ever see willingly walking into it as long as I have full use of my brain and all my limbs. Just not trusting enough, I guess.)

[Nikia]

6. Bad idea

Our mother married a richer man (my evil step father) less tham a year after meeting him because she had trouble making her house payments and maintaining her professional image. That was a bad idea as he turned into a really mean guy soon after they married. He was abusive to my sister and I and fought with my mother all the time. The money thing did not work so well either as he made her pay her half of the bills, leaving him with plenty of spending money and her with less discrecenary income than before she married. When their child was born, he spoiled their child, while giving my mother a hard time if she spent any of her money on anything for my sister and I, including the money my father gave for child support. The child support paid for us living in their nice house in our cold room (because we weren't allowed to turn on the base board heat). She did not divorce him until 10 years later because he kept on reminding her that he left his previous ex wife poorer than dirt. When they divorced, the marriage was heavily in debt, much of which he racked up during their separation. Despite this, the debt was split 50/50. He promptly declared brankruptcy despite having a high income job and a few years later was living in a nice house on a lake and bought a boat.
My sister and I realized that marrying for money was a bad strategy. We both had oppurtunities to marry wealthy but didn't.

[pitohui]

8. well it's always a bad idea to marry a shithead

i'm not aware of any law that says you have to marry a shithead for money, why not marry a nice person instead?

[Nikia]

10. He seemed nice

After all, he had to be good at playing the part to climb the hiearchy of his business organization. When my mother was divorcing him, people could not that my evil step father wasn't as he appeared in public. I think that my mother would have discovered more about his true character if she had known him longer before getting married.

[pitohui]

12. yeah, i'm a firm believer in getting to know/pre nup/investigate

the true con artist has a pleasant face or he would be out of business

[idgiehkt]

9. all that glitters most definitely is not gold.

It's always amazing to me how many of these 'desirable' attributes such as money, personality, charm, or what-have-you have a completely despicable person hiding behind them.

[pitohui]

11. true, look behind the mask, but keep in mind, open shitheads never get any better

if i have to choose between the person who looks good on the outside and the person who just plain STINKS from the get-go, then there's no choice, the person who openly stinks and doesn't care about playing to my feelings even from the first day will never be any better, your loved one will never treat you any better than he did in the first moments of infatuation

but you are both right about the dangers of the con artist wearing a mask

as a result of my family member's experiences i am a STRONG believer in 1) getting to know the person before you marry, and 2) an investigator to be sure they have the money/ lack of criminal record they represent, it's cheap at the price

in an ideal world all of our sweeties would be rich and beautiful as well as sweethearts but in the real world, hmm, yeah, you gotta make choices sometimes

[barb162]

15. that's a bad, bad story. whew