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Curb Wedding Spending
By LIZ PULLIAM WESTON
Los Angeles Times
Q: My fiance and I are getting married and we have to pay for the wedding ourselves. It is going to cost us in the neighborhood of $20,000. We also have combined credit card debt of about $18,000. We are confident that we can save $20,000 by the wedding, but should we put that money in the bank or start using it to make some large payments on the credit cards?
A: You're already deeply in debt before you've even started your life together. Why in the world are you considering spending another small fortune for a one-day blowout?
Pay off your credit cards and either postpone your wedding or have a small affair that you can pay for upfront. You can find suggestions about having a great, affordable wedding on the Dollar Stretcher Web site at
www.stretcher.com.
If you've really got your heart set on a bash and you don't want to postpone the nuptials, have an affordable wedding now and save up your shekels for a big party on one of your anniversaries.
Your creditors, by the way, generally don't care whether you pay more than the minimum on your credit cards. In fact, they would prefer you didn't -- that's how they make their money and keep you in financial chains.
Consider that you're paying about $3,000 a year just to carry that debt -- $3,000 that's eating away at your financial health. If you were to invest that money each year instead, you could have more than $400,000 in 30 years, assuming a 9 percent annual return.
Give each other the best wedding present possible: Pay off your debt and pare down your spending. Remember, if you have to pay for something with credit -- and it's not something that will appreciate in value, such as a house -- then you can't afford it.
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