Almost all people would agree that when we talk of being poor we normally mean living without enough money to buy basic materials and comforts. However, many of us in the West have exchanged material wealth for spiritual poverty. In the drive to achieve riches spurred on by a culture obsessed with consumerism, we have lost much that those in developing-world countries have in abundance. This introduction is not a pseudo-Marxist call-to-arms; far from it. It is worthy to want to better yourself and provide financially for your family. But we have, in the European cities at least, largely left behind the sense of close community and tight-knit families that existed a mere two generations ago. How many of us see our extended families as much as we want? Do we meet friends enough and in groups, or does your work too often get in the way? Have you, or has everyone else, moved away from the area you grew up in?

We are cash-rich and time-poor and this also makes us poor in our relationships. Several of our contributing aunts and uncles have travelled extensively and have concluded that it is generally true that money does not buy happiness.  This is so principally not because money is an evil (we think it is a blessing) but because the time and energy expended building wealth leaves very little room for meaningful personal relationships. Please ask us if you would like some personal guidance specific to your circumstances and we'll help you make your relationships stronger.

The 'Relationships' section is split into two parts - one for those who wish to improve existing relationships or rekindle old ones, and one for those who wish to meet new people, whether for love or for friendship.

We can advise you if you want to know how to improve existing relationships, but what do you do if you've lost contact with the person or people you once knew and would like to know again? Well, there are a few sites out there which you can use to try and trace people.

The most popular, and oldest, is 'Friends Reunited', a website dedicated to getting old school and university friends back together again. You can search by place you knew them or by name and it has a very large membership, making it a useful tool for those from your childhood. The only real downsides are that it has a complex, convoluted interface with too many unrelated adverts and the fact that it places heavy emphasis on finding schoolmates.

Another site, newer and much less established but growing quickly worldwide (over 185; members mostly in the UK and US) is Who-Remembers-Me.com. Significantly less members then Friends Reunited but more personal, cheaper and easier to use. We like the fact that it does not concentrate mainly on schoolfriends like Friends Reunited but has a simple interface to allow you to contact people from all stages and areas of your life. Although a big downside is the relative lack of members, we feel the wide scope of contact areas will cause it to overtake all the other 'find each other' sites within two or three years.

You may ask, "Ah, but what if the person I am trying to find is not listed on any of the 'find me' sites?" A good question and the answer is that you have to be more proactive. We can thoroughly recommend an excellent company that will find absolutely anyone or your money back. Much cheaper than a conventional private detective agency, their average fee is less than £40. If you have a long-lost or estranged child or parent, or there's an old flame that circumstances caused you to lose contact with, try 1st Locate for a quick result. Please note that we don't recommend this service if you are looking for an ex and broke up acrimoniously - here it is better to let sleeping dogs lie!

For those of us still looking to meet that special someone, or someone just for fun, there are a multitude of agencies and online services vying for your trade. We'll recommend a few here, depending on your tastes. All are mainstream, established sites, but each offers a different flavour of dating, from young and hip social sites to the more traditional 'looking for love' match-making service.

For the young, urban professional, UrbanSocial provides not only a stylish dating service but also information on the latest dating events, charity parties, club nights and other exclusive events. Designed for those with the means and the inclination to party but not the time, it markets itself as an online wine bar where sociable singletons can hang out before hopefully hooking up in the real world. Click here for more details.

For those with perhaps even less time on their hands, or a shorter attention span, we reckon speed dating to be one of the most fun, and productive, ways of meeting people there is. Members of our team who have tried it say that it's a bit nerve-racking at first, but that it does wonders for your confidence with the opposite sex! Meeting so many people can provide not just more dates than following traditional dating routes, but can quickly build you a network of like-minded friends. There are quite a few good sites out there, but we reckon those below are among the very best.

DatingDirect.com, the UK's number one online dating service, is the ultimate destination for people seeking a genuine, serious relationship. This popular site, with over 2.5 million UK members, has a simple concept, easy-to-use design and reasonable fees. Probably the best all-round choice for smart, attractive and successful singles.

Then there is one of our absolute favourites, LoveAndFriends. This site attracts a slightly different type of member from the ones above by offering a more personal and intimate service. It can boast, with good reason, that its clientele are of a higher calibre than other sites, with more professionals and what it calls 'thinking people'. It requires members to fill out a more in-depth questionaire, which allows personalities to come across better, and has lot's of fun features, with no adult content. The site comes across as sincere and unpretentious, and claims a higher success rate than most others at matching people up. Aimed squarely at nice, regular people of all ages who will probably be looking for love but maybe friendship too.