(An unfiltered truth many won’t tell you)
By Tade Makinwa
One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a child from a modest or struggling background is basing your life plan on being rescued, waiting, hoping, or praying that marriage into wealth will pull you out of poverty. You’ll do yourself a world of good by creating your own path, making your own money, and becoming self-sufficient.
Yes, people marry into wealth, it happens. But if your entire life strategy rests on “bagging the son of the rich” or “catching the daughter of the wealthy” so that your story changes overnight, I need you to pause and hear me out.
About three weeks ago, I was in a closed-door session with one of the most seasoned female entrepreneurs in this country, a powerhouse in her industry, deeply respected, highly strategic, and unapologetically successful. No cameras, no recordings, no filters. Raw, unedited truths were shared in that room, the kind of conversations that shape destinies.
During her talk, she narrated an incident: a close friend reached out to her, inquiring about her eldest son’s relationship status. When she said, “To the best of my knowledge, he isn’t seeing anyone,” the friend immediately proposed introducing one of her daughters to him(not her biological daughter but she’s a sister to the mother).
But it didn’t stop there. This woman I was with didn’t just accept the suggestion blindly. She asked for the girl’s pictures, made discreet inquiries about her upbringing, family, values, social class, and overall mindset. She investigated carefully, and only after satisfying herself with the answers did she leave the conversation open, waiting for the “right time” to revisit it.
And as I sat there, something clicked. The wealthy and powerful do not leave the marriage of their children to chance. They don’t “wing it.” They don’t simply wait for fate or feelings to decide who their heirs will marry. Why? Because one wrong marriage can undo decades, sometimes generations of work. A single mismatch can compromise an empire.
It is part of their parental duty to strategically curate alliances, often silently, behind the scenes. While you’re crushing on a billionaire’s son or daughter because you’ve “seen them around,” unaware, two parents are already mapping out a future you’re not a part of.
Here’s where many people misunderstand how power, wealth, and legacy operate. The poor often see marriage as a purely emotional decision, “Does he love me?” “Does she make me happy?” But for the wealthy, marriage is also a business merger, a legacy decision, and a power consolidation move. It’s about families, not just individuals. It’s about preserving systems, not just securing feelings.
Of course, you may argue “But the children may not like each other!” True. Feelings can’t be forced. But wealthy parents are masters of influence. They don’t command, they curate environments, and they’ll “accidentally” place their children in the same social spaces, subtly build friendship bridges, and patiently allow bonds to form naturally. When wealth and influence want something, they rarely push, they position.
Let me say this clearly, no one gets to the top, not power, not wealth, not influence by being unintentional. If you’re strategic enough to build an empire, you’ll be strategic enough to protect it. And one of the biggest safeguards is controlling who has access to it through marriage.
This is why, more often than not, the wealthy marry within their class, not because they’re arrogant, not because they look down on others. But because shared realities create compatibility. Someone raised in wealth understands unspoken codes, discretion, legacy, responsibility, risk management, the weight of a name.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Many women desire to marry into wealth, but very few have the capacity to thrive in it. Many men dream of marrying powerful, successful women, but few can handle the weight of her world without feeling diminished.
This isn’t about money. It’s about alignment, adaptability, and emotional bandwidth. The rich know this, that’s why they rarely gamble with marriage.
Does this mean no rich person ever marries someone from a humble background? No. But those cases are exceptions, and exceptions don’t define the rule. For every one Meghan Markle, there are a thousand matches within the same socio-economic circles. And even Meghan’s case teaches us something critical, if you marry into a world you don’t fully understand, you may spend the rest of your life fighting it instead of thriving in it.
History is full of empires brought down because someone “married wrong.” One ill-fitting union can bring in conflicting values, entitlement, chaos, and, ultimately, destruction. The rich know this, and they act accordingly.
This is why I always advise, build your own path. Make your own money. Create your own options. That way, you approach relationships from a place of strength, and not desperation. If you marry wealthy, it’s by choice, not dependence, and if you stay in your lane, you’ll be fulfilled, not bitter.
Because here’s the bottom line, you cannot plan your life around being someone’s shortcut. The rules of wealth, power, and influence are different. And in that world, marriage is not just about love, it’s strategy, legacy, and survival.
Post a Comment