Five connections between $$$ and sex.

Five connections between love and money.

BETTER SEX & RICH PEOPLE As if the lives of the 1 percent weren’t enviable enough, several recent surveys link wealth to increased sexual satisfaction. Spanish researchers analyzed the country’s first sexual-health survey and discovered that people from less-prosperous socioeconomic groups are less happy with their sex lives. The survey found that, for women in particular, those who make more money have a greater awareness of their needs and capacity for developing their sexuality.

A similar survey of Chinese women found that those with richer partners reported more frequent orgasms—and this was after ruling out factors like age and the length of the relationship. Of course, there’s Bay Street-financier rich and then there’s Trump-level excess. Wealth-consulting firm Prince & Associates, Inc., recently released a survey of 600 independently well-off men and women, all with a net worth of at least $30 million. Both genders claimed that having money made their sex lives better (63 percent for the men and 88 percent for the women), but each defined “better sex” differently. Men saw it as “more frequent sex with more partners” while women focused on quality over quantity (no surprise there). Over h

twice as many female respondents reported having adventurous sex: 72 percent of the women belonged to the mile-high club. But does that really count if you have 24-7 access to a private jet? a “hotter” date & a posh penthouse We’d like to think that love at first sight has nothing to do with how stylish his (or our) crib is, but studies show that signs of wealth influence how attracted we are to others. Researchers at Cardiff Metropolitan University in the U.K. asked undergrads to rate photos of a member of the opposite sex. The photos were of the same female or male model in either a luxury or standard apartment. While men thought the woman in the photo was equally attractive in both settings, female participants judged the male model to be significantly more appealing when he was standing in the high-status flat. A sexy outfit & high- flying spending dreams If your date seems extra-obsessed with the Bentley you spotted outside the restaurant, it might have to do with your risqué outfit. A study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology tested whether men use conspicuous consumption as a mating strategy. Male research participants were greeted by a female experimenter dressed either provocatively—tight shirt, short skirt—or plainly (the control group). The experimenter then showed them pictures of different objects, from functional (toilet paper) to the not-so-practical (a Maserati). Each image flashed on the screen for one second, and the respondents had 25 seconds to jot down as many as they could remember. Single guys recalled more of the luxury products after chatting up the “sexy” experimenter (43 percent) than when they talked her modest counterpart (33 percent). The girlfriends of the men in committed relationships were probably happy to know that a short skirt and heels did nothing for their boyfriends’ sports-car-inclined memories: They recalled the same proportion of luxury products regardless. sex appeal & a tightwad attitude There’s no need to drain your bank account in the name of love. Researchers at the University of Michigan claim that savers are sexier. They ran experiments in which participants were asked to view fictional dating profiles and rate them for compatibility and attractiveness. Each potential match was identified as either a spender or a saver. With everything else on the profile remaining the same, including the headshot, savers were deemed to be significantly more physically attractive than spenders. Not surprisingly, participants also saw them as having more long-term dating potential. living together & accumulated wealth Moving in together—in addition to being slightly terrifying—can have a huge financial impact. Studies show that couples who shack up before tying the knot accumulate less wealth than couples who wait. (And they are more likely to divorce— another costly endeavour.) A recent article published in Demography, however, finds an upside to shacking up: While couples who move in only with the person they eventually wed start off their marriage with 5 percent less wealth than those who have never lived together, they also accumulate wealth—savings and assets, such as a house—twice as fast as the waiting-for-marriage-to-move-in pairs. The authors consider cohabitation “laying the groundwork” for future financial success. n