A recent survey conducted by Seventy Thirty the exclusive matchmaking agency for the well-heeled, asked 1000 randomly picked women if they would marry or date an unsuitable man just because he is wealthy. The results were: 32% said “yes”, 28% said “no”, and 40% said “maybe”. When asked if they consider themselves a ‘Gold-Digger’ only 7% said “yes”, 82% said “no”, and 11% said “maybe”.
With recent divorce statistics showing that the number of divorces in the UK continues to rise, the issues of large financial settlements etc. following separation are a real concern for many people. Some relationship break-ups are, of course, genuine loving marriages, which have sadly fallen apart, but some relationships are never meant to succeed, as they were doomed from the start. Today, as never before, we are faced with a growing number of people ready to ‘fake love’ for the sake of good old cash. Some individuals are so materialistic and driven by the monetary reward that they will enter into intimate, romantic relationships with people purely for financial purposes. They are often referred to as ‘Gold-Diggers’ and will associate with, or marry, a rich partner in order to get valuables from them through gifts or, eventually, a divorce settlement.
We have all heard of the terms “Gold-Diggers” and “Office Piranhas” but whatever you want to call them they all have one thing in common: they want to get hold of rich people’s money. Typically it is ‘Gold-Digging’ women who dupe unsuspecting men.
So are British ladies becoming an army of ‘Gold-Diggers’? We asked Dr Georgina Barnett, the Head of Membership at Seventy Thirty who explained that “here in our company it is very important that we understand people’s overall opinion and value of marriage. These types of survey give us valuable information about people’s attitudes and opinions so they help us to safeguard our members from ‘Gold-Diggers’. In recent years the difference between the very rich and the very poor has expanded greatly and we now hardly have a middle class. This has inevitably created a nation of envious and aspiring people and some of them see ‘gold digging’ as a reasonable and very lucrative option”, says Dr Barnett.
Gold-Diggers have a very strong desire for material things: they are very unfulfilled personally and this temporary but tangible ‘reward’ alleviates their feelings of dissatisfaction and emptiness. Also, the modern media emphasises the importance of wealth and creates the illusion that all one needs to be happy in life is money. Insecure people who compare their own situation with those of celebrities etc. are very susceptible to these messages and come to the conclusion that money is all they need in order to feel fulfilled, happy and content.
