AK responds to wedding advice given by an IFA. (Financially prepared to be married?)

I might be putting my head on the chopping board with this blog post but this is not something I have not said before: 

"If there is not enough money for a wedding, the two people do not have enough money to be married."

So, when I saw this topic being discussed in Facebook and, shortly after, read an article on how to prepare financially for marriage, the writing bug bit me.






The article written by an independent financial adviser (IFA) is titled "10 Tips on What to Prepare Financially for Your Upcoming Marriage".

The first line in the article: 

IFA:
"If you have finished school, worked for a few years and is attached, your most likely plan next in the agenda is to get married."

This is like someone who translated his emotional needs into action without sending his emotions through a mental filter first! 

A more prudent thing for the couple to do is to ensure that they are financially stable and have the financial capability to be married.

IFA:
"It is OK to rent (a flat) when you get married."

My response:
No, it is not. I don't think I need to say why. (Unless you do not qualify for a BTO flat, why can't you wait for a BTO flat? Why are you in such a rush to get your own place? OK, you don't need to answer that. Think Rule of 15.)

IFA:
"If you are going to borrow to pay that renovation, try to borrow from your own parents first (hopefully they can lend you interest free!)."

My response:
Forget the renovation. If you do not have the money to renovate your home (unless there is a safety issue), don't. You think parents are ATMs?

IFA:
"You may wish to postpone investments until you have fully satisfied that you have set aside sufficient budget for your marriage."

My response:
This is like putting the cart in front of the horse! Consumption before investment? OMG! Whatever happened to delaying gratification? OMG! This is like... er... OMG!

IFA:
"Finally, do spend some amount of money engaging a good professional wedding photographer. Years later, the only way your kids can know about your wedding is through photographs. Make sure you have both hard and softcopies of these photographs."

My response:
I am not curious about my parents' wedding and they do not see the need to tell me anything about it too. I wonder how many are curious about their parents' weddings or how many people would see it as important to educate their children about theirs?




If you ask me, true love does not need a marriage certificate. Of course, if you want to have kids, then, please get married. 

Marriage, in my opinion, is to give the children legitimacy. Unless the family is not part of mainstream society, children born out of wedlock will have many issues growing up.

Two people planning to get married and thinking of borrowing money for everything in the process should not be getting married. 

Obviously, at least to me, they are not financially prepared for it.

"Once you get into debt, it's hell to get out." Charlie Munger.

Related post:
Not enough money to be married.

Think you cannot reduce your spending?

I am always blogging about how we can reduce our expenses. A dollar saved is a dollar earned, isn't it? 

Well, sometimes people say it is difficult or even impossible to reduce expenses. Is it really difficult or is it too difficult to try?

Michelle Morton, age 43, is married and a mother of three. She took up a challenge to cut her spending and here is her story:

She started logging all her expenses on a daily basis. 






"It’s $4 here, $10 here and it doesn’t seem like that much but then when you go to put the receipts in it’s like Oh my God!"

“Really what needs to happen is to say ‘This is what we’re going to spend on groceries this week’ and when it’s gone, it’s gone,” she says. 

“And ‘This is what we’re going to have to spend on eating out,’ the same kind of thing. I have to stop telling myself that although we really won’t save any money this month we’ll make it up next month because that never happens.”






If you are in your 20s and if you have an active social life, well, you might want to learn from Meieli Sawyer who said:

“I understand being thrifty, but you walk a fine line, and you don't want people to talk about you and say you're cheap,” Meieli says. 

“So I’m just going to try to say, ‘Look, things are tight for me right now.’ I’m going to try and not be embarrassed about it.”

Read the full article: here.






Stop putting it off. Take up the challenge today.

Related posts:
1. How to tell if you are rich?
2. The very first step to becoming richer.
3. Retiring a millionaire is not a dream.
4. A fast track to wealth building.
5. Financial freedom.