How the Wealthy Get What They Want Even in Love

By Juliette FairleyThursday, 25 Aug 2016 07:00 PMMore Posts by Juliette Fairley

0
inShare

Matchmaking is the second oldest profession in the world and has not been spared the impact of Google, technology or online dating.

“When I have a clairvoyant premonition about a woman for one of my men clients, they want to know her name right away,” said Janis Spindel, founder of Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking. “Before I can even send the woman’s picture to my client, they’re either researching who she is on Google, Facebook or Wikipedia.”

It used to be that women could lie about their age or their past to potential matches but with the growth of matchmaking and the internet, not anymore.

“The internet is deadly because you can’t hide,” Spindel told Newsmax Finance. “If there’s one unattractive picture of the lovely lady that exists on the internet, the match is doomed.”

Online reputation management can be costly so instead Spindel tries not to divulge the lady’s full name when pitching to a client.

“I have to work extra hard to find women that are a little more private,” Spindel said. “I’m a very big networker and matchmaking is all about networking. If you work hard enough you eventually and naturally find the right women.”

A rise in the divorce rate and the influx of millennials reaching adulthood is fueling interest in matchmaking services among Americans.

According to the Matchmaking Institute, there are upwards of 1,500 independent matchmakers in the U.S. reporting sales of more than $250 million. But if love seems more elusive today than ever, blame the internet.

“People in major cosmopolitan cities are very career driven and career focused and because of the lifestyle that they lead and where they live, love can get put on the back burner,” said Spindel.

For those upwardly mobile men who had the foresight to get married early but realize they’ve made a mistake, matchmakers are on speed dial.

“Divorce has created an endless inventory of single people,” Spindel said. “As fast as I get couples married, two times as many come to me that are divorced.”

The marriage breakup rate in America for first marriage is 41% to 50%; the rate after second marriage is from 60% to 67% and the rate for 3rd marriage are from 73% to 74%, according to DivorceStatistics.Info.

The right women for men using matchmaking services tend to be well-educated, well-groomed, upscale, professional, nonsmoking and athletically inclined, according to Spindel. But Kim Kardashian lookalikes need not apply.

“She’s a very big curvy kind of girl with a very definitive body and most of the men that hire me are not into that body type,” she said.

Instead, their celebrity crushes tend to be Natalie Portman, Penelope Cruz, Mila Kunis, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Anniston and Cameron Diaz.

“Men seem to love the no makeup, natural look,” Spindel said.

Matchmakers are increasingly cashing in on customers disillusioned with online dating sites like Match.com and PlentyofFish.com and mobile dating apps like Tinder. That’s because not every potential mate’s photo that’s posted online is authentic or even recent.

“It has made these men more skeptical than they were in the past and caused them to outsource the process to a professional matchmaker,” Spindel said.

Although they are popular, only 5% of Americans who are in a marriage or committed relationship say they met their significant other online, according to a Pew Research Center survey.

“A lot of ultra high net worth men have been pushed to the matchmaking platform by dating online because it becomes a job and you have to literally be online 24/7,” said Spindel.

When she is not out and about networking events, Spindel spends time with her ultra high net worth male clients, getting to know their likes and dislikes.

“I see a lot of Salvatore Ferragamo slip on suede loafers,” she said. “Tod’s are common and so are the slip on leather Van’s sneakers.”

After awhile, however, even the jet set lifestyle can become monotonous.

"Their vacation destinations trend in the same places," Spindel said. "Everybody was in Greece this summer. There's also Capri and of course St. Bart's, Aspen and Telluride in the winter."

Juliette Fairley is an author, lecturer and TV host based in New York. To read more of her work, Click Here Now.