She's an adult and I assume she's mentally capable. Just support her and when/if she ever regrets her decision, she'll have you around to lean on.

If you openly hate on her decision or shame her for it, you're only going to drive her away or make her even more firm in her choice.

I'll add one thing to other's responses. Make sure she, not they, but she is covered financially. If she spends 10 years with him, not developing her career, and he drops her, will she be OK?

I.E. its perfectly OK for them to have this arrangement, it's not OK for her to be in a situation where she feels trapped by money.

I'll be very blunt: it's her life and her decision. There is nothing to 'manage'. You either accept it or you don't, but if you don't, there's a good chance you will lose her.

She's not underage and the husband knows the deal. I would make sure she has a back up (a man is not a plan). Make sure she has a job/career to fall back on, and if she's stay-at-home, see if she gets any kind of money from her husband on a regular basis that she can put into her own savings. Other than that? Hopefully the wedding was bomb.

Adult people are entitled to make their own decisions under the FAFO maxim.

Your opinion on it is just that, an opinion. As far as idiotic shit to do, this is mid tier. You still got your daughter etc. focus on that.

I don’t know how I’d deal with it but I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing given the chance, at least at that age. Does she realise that 65 isn’t all that old? He could have decades left in him. Most of my grandparents have lived into their 90s.

My cynical view on this situation is the pros are 1) she's fast-tracking home ownership for a generation that generally expects to not own homes, 2) she's securing financial stability during the traditionally least financially stable era of adult life, 3) working as a paid live-in caregiver pays significantly little comparatively and it is damn hard work, 4) she may have plans on marrying for love later. She's still maturing, so having a starter marriage that's lucrative may not be a totally terrible idea.

Honestly at the end of the day, you want her to be happy, right? If she's walked into this with eyes wide open, considered all the cons and still found the arrangement preferable, is it really the end of the world? What would your feelings be if she had chosen some other non traditional relationship?

There's nothing wrong with prostitution. At least when her boss dies she gets a payout.

When my boss dies, I'll still be expected to drive across four cities to do a job that I could do 100% remote during the pandemic

How much money we talking? 65 and spritely could well mean 25 years or more of marriage

As long as both parties acknowledge what kind of relationship it is, and she gets what she wants out of it, I think I would be able to accept it. Doesn't mean I would like it, though.

It'll probably be a lot more than you were bargaining for, but it may be helpful to look into sugar daddy/baby and fin-dom (financial domination) relationships and how they work, as it sounds like this is likely the type of situation your daughter is in. I know that if I had kids, researching their kinks probably wouldn't be the most comfortable thing in the world, but it may help you get a better understanding of the dynamics of their relationship. Generally speaking, these are pretty healthy relationships as long as both parties are fully onboard and consenting, which it sounds like is the case here.

Relationships like this are actually fairly common, but because of the stigmas surrounding them, people tend not to be super open about it. The fact that your daughter and son-in-law both seem to be on the same page and don't mind letting you know about their arrangement, should probably be taken as a good sign.

how do you manage?

I'm relatively conservative, so probably a blend of bonds and market tracking index funds.

Reading the other comments it sounds like this might be a healthy relationship.

Idk if this is my own baggage talking but the only thing that comes to mind is has he been married before and how did that turn out?

If he marries women and divorces them and leaves them in a bad situation, then I guess she should be ready for him to do the same to her eventually. I wouldn't suggest she go asking a lot of questions in a short period of time because I feel like this stuff comes out naturally over time but as she learns about it she should be aware of it and be prepared. (Do things like save money, get a degree or some other means of being able to support herself just in case shit happens.) I know people change, but I also know people don't and can keep the same behavior from relationship to relationship.

I mean she married a rich guy she likes, at least if you take her word for it, and is basically set for life. Unless something goes wrong there's really nothing to get used to.

Tangent but how the fuck our we in a world where we can lock ourselves in with someone for financial gain, we have tiny computers in our pockets, we can travel the world in a matter of hours, we have set foot on the fucking moon. yet we are chained by capitalism.

We sell our buddies intimately, we give the largest chunk of our waking life to employers. We are fucking slaves. Knelt for our masters.

But the worst part is we accept it. Lion share of comments are praising her, a few are pointing towards a kink which if that the actual reason then what ever. I feel sorry for her, not pity but the fact she is potentially degrading herself/selling her intimacy for a the semblance of dignity in a world which should afford us all dignity.

Be sure to wring the old fart dry

She herself stated money was the main reason, and he knows it but it doesn’t bother him.

Well both you and your daughter are honest people and so is her husband. That's a pretty good foundation for a healthy relationship imo. Good knows people have married with worse :>

In this economy? Good on her.

Seems like a win/win for them.

Honestly, she's choosing (I'm assuming) to not have to work, get a free house to live in, and be set for the rest of her life after this dude dies. Those are the 2 biggest stressors in anyone's life right now. I'd be a liar if I hadn't thought about pursuing a cougar in my younger years for the same reasons. If she's fine with it, and he's not abusive, let her do her thing. Sure, it's frowned upon, and she'll be called a gold digger, etc. but that's her cross to bear, and she seems fine with it.

I’d work on processing my feelings and sorting them into helpful to express, necessary to express, and unhelpful and unnecessary to express

Do you trust your daughter’s ethics and willingness to prioritize her happiness? If not that should be your concern, otherwise learning to trust her to leave if anything goes as wrong as it likely will is something to focus on.

Regardless of everything, therapy is probably a good call for you. It’s not just for the mentally ill, it’s also a resource to help deal with it when life throws you a curveball.

I agree with many people here that it's up to her. It's her life and she's going to live it how she wants. How you feel about it doesn't matter. I think what she's doing is morally objectionable because it turns a relationship that should be about caring and mutual affection and all those flowery concepts and turns it into a financial transaction. He gets companionship and sex and she gets money and not having to work (I assume). But once again, this is her decision.

How do you manage this? You either accept that or you don't. You get to determine if you want to be part of her life or not. Perhaps this is too much for you. Perhaps not. But your only options are to accept the arrangement or not.

Do you trust your daughter judgment? If so, trust her even when you may disagree.

If she is happy with the guy (reading your other comments, that seems to be the case) and since this mariage will give her the means to do all she wants and not worry too much. Imho, wishing them both the best seems the best thing to do :)

If they're cool, they're cool.

You'll both have lots of time to get used to the idea. Sorry to hear that your daughter turned into a gold digger marrying out of financial convinence instead of love. Its kind of unsavory and understandable why its causing some cognitive dissonance. But well thats the kind of thing our society incentivises and she's an adult who can make her own choices. Its hard to judge too hard. Hope the husband is alright personality wise and even if this is dark to say, you can take some solice in that statistically speaking its probably not going to last too long and she will probably inherit some assets. If it all burns down it will be a hard but good lesson in not being with people just to extract value out of them.

Based on all the replies this seems both are getting what they want out of it, so I don't see an issue. Not every marriage needs to be a love match, but it does seem like there is some of that, so even better.

I do understand your moral reservations as it seems a bit cynical, but in the end it's her life and she and any kids they might have are basically set for life.

Pretty well, I got a rich kid.

How much money we talking about

Money is freedom. It feels a bit icky to attach your love life to that, but your daughter just unlocked a better life-in-general than most of us can have -any- hope for.

She weighed her options and made a decision. More power to her ...literally in this case.

Please encourage her to use that power for good.

It's certainly an odd situation to behold, and the thought of getting with someone twice my age makes me feel gross, but they're both legally adults and appear to be happy with the arrangement, so I guess there isn't all that much to do but wish her the best and get used to the new son-in-law.

Having said that, 65 isn't all that old for an OAP, so I hope for both their sakes that there is more to it than her being just his sugar baby - I can't imagine decades of loveless marriage to be good for anyone.

Depends, if my 35 year old marries a 65 year old then I chalk it up to different life goals and preferences for consenting adults and enjoy the lavish wedding.

If my 18 year old marries anyone over the age of lets say... 21? I start talking about power imbalances, finical abuse and grooming non-stop until they are divorced. Honestly, even if their spouse was a reasonable age, I would do my very best to talk ANY 18 year old out of marriage.