Personals and Love up during Recession

SEX - Love and sex are recession proof, so says business owners.

Sex and condom shops, fetish shops and personals websites are making huge profits right now. Why? Because when people want to save money and have fun, they go for the basics: Good Ol' Fashioned Sex.

Personals websites (ie. Goth Personals Canada) are seeing a huge boost in profits and some companies are seeing their best year ever.

Alcohol sales are also up.

But don't think for an instant that this will result in a skyrocketing marriage and birth rate, quite the opposite. Birth control sales are up dramatically, and many young adults are holding back from getting married and/or having kids until they can afford to do so.

CREDIT SCORE DATING

Those who are thinking about marriage are starting to be cautious about it... some of them are even doing credit checks of potential partners.

A recent survey of singles shows that 80% are being more selective about partners because they don't want to get involved with someone in debt (often because their ex had money troubles).

Usually people don't like to discuss money on a first date. Its considered too superficial and serious.

"Money thing, that's serious stuff. I'll worry about that later," says one participant at a speed dating event, but admits he's worried about financial stability.

"I know a lot of my friends, their financial situations are difficult right now," adds another participant.

A lot of people are in financial trouble right now, so for those that don't have a lot of money keeping things casual seems to be the better option.

"I met a few female lawyers who told me that they had extreme -- like $240,000 -- debt and yes, that would be an impediment," says one man. Checking credit ratings might also be a good way to check if a person is a liar when it comes to finance issues.

"Before you get involved in a relationship or anything, FICO first, then sex," says finance guru Suze Orman. There are plenty of websites out there that can check a person's credit rating, and even an online dating site called CreditScoreDating.com, where singles look for love and weed out low-credit scores.

But credit score dating is a double-edged sword.

It means you're limiting yourself to people with lots of cash and a good record of paying off their debts, but will they be attractive and compatible? You're still taking a chance.

Also credit scores don't mean a person doesn't have lots of debt, it just means they're good at paying their bills on time. For all you know they could be swimming in debt and are barely managing to pay their bills...

84% of singles admitted in a Match.com survey they are more selective about who they date during a recession. As it stands online dating websites are reporting a surge in business, because it is cheaper to find a date online then going to the bar scene.

Just remember, it was greed that got us into this financial mess in the first place. Will love and caring about people get us out of it?