C'mon admit it, you've thought about it. Find yourself a nice rich guy, settle down, never cook again...
Well, if you think marrying rich is the easy way out, you should talk to Ginie Sayles. She's worked her whole life at it, though it's paid off, quite literally. Sayles has been happily married to a millionaire for 14 years and now makes a hefty living teaching the art of golddigging through her books and seminars, How to the Marry the Rich.
Sign me up, I say. Except I'd look ridiculous in an Ivana Trump-style power suit.
"You want a sophisticated, sexy look," advises Sayles over the phone in her friendly, straight-shooting Texan drawl. "Ivana-style outfits that are body conscious but not tight in solid, bright colours, rather than patterns. Also, dangly gold or silver earrings so they catch the light and draw attention to your face."
Guys can get away with a more unique look, says Sayles - long hair, maybe even an earring - but a conservative appearance works best to attract the rich babes.
Growing up poor in a small town in West Texas, Sayles first knew she wanted to live the good life at age nine, when a local rich girl befriended her and took her swimming at her parents' country club. "We ordered fried shrimp on her daddy's account," remembers Sayles. "I didn't even know what fried shrimp was. I felt inferior and I didn't like it. I realized then the only difference between me and this girl was the knowledge and experience money buys."
She wanted in. "Dating boys with money became my education system," she laughs. "I learned about being rich from them. I always made them take me to restaurants I hadn't eaten at, and I'd order things on the menu I hadn't tried just to learn about them."
After a failed marriage (not into money), a daughter and a college education she scraped together on welfare and student loans, she decided it was time to marry a doctor. That was when marrying a doctor still carried some weight. That didn't last either.
She was tired. A very wealthy, no, make that, an extremely wealthy, married man came to her rescue. As his mistress, he put her up in a beautiful, fully loaded ("I had a seven-foot suede couch") place. For someone determined to marry rich, Sayles describes her experience as a kept woman as "the perfect training ground."
Her family was appalled. But she was thrilled. "I never, ever felt bad about it," says Sayles. "This man was more than a lover and a Santa Claus, he was a mentor."
In fact, she learned enough about stocks and investments from him to later become a stockbroker.
"Becoming a stockbroker was the best dating service for rich men I ever had," she laughs again. But you don't have to become a stockbroker to meet rich men. "Go to lunch in the financial districts," Sayles advises. "But go early. The rich control their time, and do lunch at 11:30 to avoid the rush."
Or find a job that will put you in contact with rich people. Like a receptionist at a brokerage firm for example. Or a journalist. "That's the best job for meeting rich people," Sayles tells me a little too enthusiastically. "Pick your person, find out if they're single and do a story on them so you can interview them. Ernest Hemingway divorced his wife to marry a magazine journalist who interviewed him. And Clint Eastwood is married to a TV journalist."
She's obviously egging me on.
