Get Married For Money, How Does $1.5 Million Sound?

Marrying for money isn't just grist for television plot lines. With the wealth boom creating unprecedented riches -- and greater opportunities for gold-digging by both genders -- price-tag partnerships and checkbook breakups are increasingly making headlines. Even more surprising, according to a new survey, are the going rates for today's mercenary unions. [...]

According to a survey by Prince & Associates, a
Connecticut-based wealth-research firm, the average "price" that men
and women demand to marry for money these days is $1.5 million.

The survey polled 1,134 people nationwide with incomes
ranging between $30,000 to $60,000 (squarely in the median range for
nationwide incomes). The survey asked: "How willing are you to marry an
average-looking person that you liked, if they had money?"

"I'm a little shocked at the numbers," said sociologist Pamela Smock of the results of a recent survey of 1,134 median-income Americans, among whom "two-thirds of women and half of the men said they were 'very' or 'extremely' willing to marry for money." Mmm? "It's kind of against the notion of love and soul mates and the main motivations to marry in our culture." Oh, those are the main motivations to marry in our culture?