More than ever, young women have become smarter and wiser when it comes to marriage.

They are marrying, not for love, nor companionship, nor even looks- but money. They seem to be taking a more practical approach to marriage- choosing to exchange their youth for financial security via older, wealthy men. For them, a college degree (or two or three) is not necessarily the path to personal fulfillment and financial independence.

People have been marrying for money since the beginning of time. And some men do this as well. But it's becoming more wide-spread.

A recent survey of 20,000 male and female respondents, conducted by T.M. Helleger & Associates Survey Group yielded the following results:

*Fewer women are getting married due to the fact that more men are unemployed, making them less desirable to marry.

*There are now more women deciding that being single is just fine with them due to what they see as slim pickings.

*75 percent of women would not marry someone who is unemployed, while 65 percent would not marry someone if they themselves were unemployed.

*Women marry for money, not because they are necessarily materialistic, but because they want to have a solid foundation for their marriage which they can fill with love.

*Women who marry for money marry partners who share the same or a similar 'money style' as they do- both know the importance of money in their marriage and how to manage it.

*Women who marry for money marry partners who have short-term or long-term financial plans-it doesn't matter which- long as he has a plan.

*One-quarter of educated urban women, earning an annual salary above $40,000, say they would marry for money.

*Two-thirds of women and half of the men said they were very or extremely willing to marry for money.

*61% of men in their 40s said they would marry for money.

*The average income that would persuade single men and women to marry for money these days is $1.5 million.

*71% of women in their twenties who said they would marry for money also said they expected to "get divorced"- the highest of any demographic.

*Only 27% of men in their 40s expected to divorce.

Most would judge women marrying for money as being shallow and gold-digging, but how is marrying for money any different than marrying for looks or other things?

Imagine the following scenario:

A beautiful, young woman grows up in an impoverished home where there wasn't an abundance of food, clothing or financial resources for herself or her family. When it came time to choose a mate, she chose “wisely” for herself. She didn’t choose for friendship. She didn’t even choose for looks. She chose for money, for security, and for a better life than she had experienced growing up- vowing never to be poor again. Years later and three kids, she's still married. And while her husband doesn't have one foot in the grave, he's boring, uninteresting and intimacy with him is barely tolerable. However, he gives her stability and even times friendship, and she is not going anywhere fast. So you could argue, her marrying for money was not about gold-digging, it was about survival.

Now imagine the following scenario:

A beautiful, young woman grows up in a wealthy home where she lacked nothing and was doted on by her parents. She met a poor student, juggling college and a job to help his parents out financially. He had very little to offer her, but he won her over with his personality, charm and goodness. She married for all the "right" reasons. And so, today, 35 years later, the struggles are long gone, and they are still very much in love with each other. She married for love and still deeply respects him, and is happy she ignored well-meaning family and friends who saw him as a male gold-digger.

So, do we have the right to judge someone who marries for money?

Do we know what their motives were?

Where are we so different if the opportunity presented itself?

Could you live with someone you had nothing in common with and weren’t really attracted to, for the sake of financial security?

What are the other downsides (if any) of marrying for money?