For the lovelorn with lofty assets seeking the perfect romantic fit, Janis Spindel Serious Matchmaking in Manhattan is taking on marriage-minded male clients and boasting a high success rate--and equally high matching price tag. Spindel signs on clients at a minimum of $25,000 and upwards, based on age, salary, address and effort it will take to get the job done. The scale moves up as high as $100,000 into “elite” if he is very wealthy or very old, as this is a pickier client and trickier to match, respectively.
Spindel works only with men, and doesn’t mince words when explaining why she doesn’t deal with the dolls. “Women are high-maintenance, needy and annoying,” she said. Spindel, who has been in the biz for 14 years, prides herself on her keen sixth sense, and combs the globe to find the right wife based on group cattle calls that she calls a bachelorette search. But being a rich resident in the right zip code is not enough for Serious Matchmaking, which throws clients into her version of concierge--a grooming session to review skin, nails, hair, teeth and clothes and a debriefing on the best restaurants to wine and dine your prospective spouse.
While she is solid on her male-only client policy, she does throw the ladies a bone and provides a 30-minute session for $1,000 wherein she interviews them to join her short list for large parties, lectures and workshops. Perhaps wealth management firms should consider adding this to their holistic platforms menu--along with pre-nuptial advisory services. But Spindel is proud to back up her claims of clairvoyance with some numbers, saying that 84% of clients form long-lasting relationships by their third introduction and she just closed the deal on her 760th married couple.