Money, marriage, and being “average”

On the Conglomerate Blog Gordon Smith has an interesting post on a recent WSJ article regarding a study on how much money people would need a potential mate to have if said potential mate was “average” looking.  Here’s an excerpt:

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?”

Fully two-thirds of women and half of the men said they were “very” or “extremely” willing to marry for money. The answers varied by age: Women in their 30s were the most likely to say they would marry for money (74%) while men in their 20s were the least likely (41%).

… In the Prince & Associates study, 61% of men in their 40s said they would marry for money….

The matrimonial price tag varies by gender and age. Asked how much a potential spouse would need to have to be money-marriage material, women in their 20s said $2.5 million. The going rate fell to $1.1 million for women in their 30s, and rose again to $2.2 million for women in their 40s….

Men have cheaper requirements. In the Prince survey, their asking price overall was $1.2 million, with men in their 20s asking $1 million and men in their 40s asking $1.4 million.

Frank calls the price tag “surprisingly low, given the new landscape of wealth.” He continues, “While $1 million or $2 million may sound like a lot to people making $30,000, it’s hardly enough to transform someone’s life or make them ‘rich’ by contemporary billionaire standards.”

First, Gordon is right when he notes later in his post that Frank is horribly out of touch with what it is like to earn 30k per year. Second, I’m guessing that a person’s price point may also be influenced by their personal definition of “average looking.” It has been my experience that this definition varies quite a bit from person to person. As usual, the “Seinfeld” show is instructive on this point. While I couldn’t find a Youtube video on this episode, here’s my very rough memory of a classic scene featuring Jerry and Elaine discussing this matter.

Jerry: So, what percentage of people would you say are really attractive?

Elaine: I don’t know, maybe 25 percent or so?

Jerry: Oh, no way! It’s maybe 4-6 percent, tops. There are really very few good looking people out there.

Elaine: Then what’s getting all of these average looking people together?

Jerry: Alcohol.