GOLD DIGGER

One can only imagine the reasons why a mother would train her daughter to go after money, but it happens. There is a fierce pattern involved in why a mother would want her daughter to seek money over love. Seeking love and respect is what most mothers and fathers want their children to seek as they grow and mature into adults. However, when a mother is hoping her daughter hits the lottery, it is a very wicked web that both fall into. I have experienced gold-digging at its finest. You may not imagine that women behave like this, but think again.

If the Spanish Duchess of Alba teaches us anything, it's that you can find love at any age. At 85, the twice-married—let's take a deep breath!—Maria del Rosario Cayetana Alfonsa Victoria Eugenia Francisca Fitz-James Stuart y de Silva will give away her millions to marry Alfonso Diez, a civil servant 24 years her junior. She's giving the fortune to her children simply to prove to them that the love is genuine and Diez is no gold digger.

A new website allows members to bid on attractive users for a first date. If you're attractive, single, and broke, create a profile on WhatsYourPrice.com. Name your price, wait for the offers to come in, and negotiate with the bidder until you've reached a deal. The bidder will fork up the cash on your first date (if he's a guy, presumably after he's already paid for dinner). It's every girl's dream come true!

Post-recession, women are increasingly dating and marrying men who make less money than them. Welcome to the age of the sugar mama.

As documented in our piece, "The Rise Of The Sugar Mama," the age of the female gold digger is over. These days it's men who are dating women for their money. So how do you know if a man is after you or your wallet? The YourTango Experts sound in.

I'm not saying you're a gold digger, but maybe you should be, say the authors of "Smart Girls Marry Money." According to co-writers Elizabeth Ford and Daniela Drake, blindly following your passion for that guy at the coffee shop without considering other factors first could leave you single and not so well-off later in life.

As a general rule of thumb I feel it’s pretty safe to say that human beings enjoy a wide array of “stuff.” From the newest electronic gizmos to frozen pies, we are creatures of comfort who are also partial to picturesque living environments and holidays. But to what extreme will people go to acquire belongings or to create an exquisite lifestyle where relaxing for a week at a ritzy five-star resort becomes a life norm? I had a situation recently where a man with a fabulous job asked me out. Other than the fact that he was no George Clooney look-alike and was wearing expensive leather dress shoes in humid, 80 degree weather with no socks, he seemed like a decent man. And, based on his high-level title with a well-known corporation, I’d be willing to take a suckers’ bet that the night would be filled with VIP perks. Sucker-bet aside, in reality I was more enticed to go out with him for the possible “perks” rather than romance and his potentially smelly and sweaty feet.

An ophthalmologist from Ohio may have gotten in over his head. He was pressured to become engaged to a woman after a mere six weeks of dating. Naturally, the operation went sideways and the engagement ring is now in question. The woman claims that the $58,000 ring was a gift, while the guy accuses her of pulling the 'ol bait-and-switch. Is she just a gold digger?

The woman Jude Law impregnated last winter while shooting Sherlock Holmes, Samantha Burke, is due in October and expects to cash in on her famous little spawn.

Simone Dadoun-Cohen is an entrepreneur, former exotic dancer, wife, mother of three, and pot-stirrer. Her website, EstablishedMen.com, seems recession-proof, as it counts over 250,000 affluent men and beautiful young women among its members. One of the only "Sugar Daddy" sites with a female at the helm, Established Men was recently profiled on Nightline, which posed the question as to whether Dadoun-Cohen is a thinly veiled pimp of sorts.

Lots of people think a woman's "number" is a big deal. Most dudes don't really want to know. They do want to know if she has sexually transmitted diseases. Or if she's still friends with any of the famous guys she's had sex with. Or, exactly, how kinky is she.

In my own experience, money is easier to love, but sometimes, the man is worth much more than his bank account.

While you may know that love usually doesn't come with a guaranteed fairy-tale ending, you probably are still holding out for, or trying to have your marriage live up to, the idea of truly passionate and romantic love. Elizabeth Ford and Daniela Drake, M.D., authors of the new release Smart Girls Marry Money: How Women Have Been Duped Into the Romantic Dream -- And How They're Paying For It, are here to change your mind, or at least tell you why "happily ever after" hasn't quite happened to them. Read: Marrying "Up" AOL Health: Can you explain the theory that your book is based on -- the idea that women will be better off in the long run if they marry for money?

A poor sugar daddy has been used and abused by his ladies. We can overlook that he was philandering and allegedly had some odd fetishes, OK. Let's just concentrate on the fact that gold diggers stooped to extortion and blackmail like common gigolos in this case.

A few websites exist that want to put gold diggers and sugar daddies together. One of those sites, SeekingArrangements.com, was featured in the New York Times over the weekend. Finally, technology is doing something that older, rich men used to have to do manually.

Jennifer Aniston has had too many dating ups and downs to recount them properly. But someone wants to help her: Patti Stranger. The yenta starring in Millionaire Matchmaker wants to help Jen get over the Brad Pitts and past the John Mayers. Sounds... humiliating.