Perhaps it is the natural evolution of things. All things pass away, save the love we allow back into the universe. And so the seemingly ever popular sugar daddy has not escaped this fate.

About 10 years ago my wife and I spent a week at a resort in Maui and I was struck by the preponderance of one particular demographic. I would say that at least half of the family units at the resort were comprised of silver haired white men with young women (early 30’s) and one to two children under the age of six. Affluent men of means, with stay at home moms nearly 20 years their junior. While the gentlemen might have had the title of husband, they were still largely sugar daddies. Oh, and there was nothing new about this arrangement. In fact, it’s downright biblical. But I think a resort in Maui is to sugar daddy households, what breadfruit is to flies. It makes for the perfect Petri dish to examine the species.

But alas, over the last 10 years I’ve noticed a shift in the wind. A combination of factors, which for perhaps the first time in history, are contributing to the decline of the sugar daddy. Consider these factors. First, the rising wages of women, which in effect is shrinking the percentage of men qualified to be deemed sugar daddies, thus reducing the supply. Second, the increasing acceptance of women that their life mates may not earn nearly as much as they do, thereby decreasing demand. Third, with more women adopting a healthy lifestyle, women as they age have a much more viable option of dating younger men, which also decreases the demand for sugar daddies (hello, sugar mama?).

Now, having said all of this, on a woman’s hierarchy of needs, if she’s over 25, financial security still rules the nest, and attractive young women will still be tempted to take the “easy way out” for some time to come. But the trend is true and a new paradigm is slowly revealing itself. But don’t cry for the sugar daddy, he’s had a nice long run in the story of human existence.

ADJ

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