Tip #6

Love isn't all you need. And that's OKAY.

"Aren’t you funny? Don’t you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You might not marry a girl because she’s pretty, but my goodness, doesn’t it help? And if you had a daughter, wouldn’t you rather she didn’t marry a poor man? You’d want her to have the most wonderful things in the world and be very happy. Oh, why is it wrong for ME to want those things?"

This is my favourite quote by Marilyn Monroe’s character Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which is one of my favourite movies. To date I’ve watched it in New York, New Jersey, Ireland, and India.

Marilyn hated being typecast as the dumb blonde in movies so when her character—who acts ditzy but is actually pretty clever—makes this speech at the end, it’s almost as though Marilyn herself is shining through and revealing the layers beneath her own appearance.

It also makes a damn good point. People are so often pigeon-holed as shallow for wanting to marry someone wealthy, but face the facts: if two men have the same personalities but one has a comfortable lifestyle and monetary security while the other doesn’t, Mr Steady Income IS more attractive.

I think it might be pervasive religious guilt that tells people not to take money into consideration when judging prospective partners, but in reality, money issues tear people apart. We all want to be taken care of and no one wants to tie themselves to dead weight.

Part of the reason I'm so willing to spend the rest of my life with my fiance is because he has ambition. He intends to make money and to earn prestige, which is excellent as I plan to do the same thing.