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Meet a woman from Guelph, Ont., who is looking for cash donations and corporation sponsors for her wedding. Estimates of the average wedding cost in Canada are in the range of $30,000 to $40,000, which is a huge financial burden for a young couple that hasn't saved a bundle or received help from family. No wonder there's a trend of couples trying to crowdsource their weddings.
I'm all for any wedding arrangements that keep the happy couple out of debt. But the idea of crowdsourcing a wedding seems to bug people. One personal finance blogger says there are three essential ingredients to pulling off a crowd-funded wedding "without having all of your invitees hate your guts…"
- It must be a bare-bones wedding
- You should have zero ability to pay for the wedding yourself
- Make it clear that contributions are in place of a wedding gift
A blog called The Knot is flat-out opposed to crowdsourced weddings and offers this bit of simple, smart advice: "Plan the wedding you can afford." For help on that, try this guide to planning a wedding on a budget.
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Rob's personal finance reading list…
In retirement planning, 100 is the new 80
A kick in the butt to start considering the possibility that your retirement savings will need to carry you to age 100. How do you get to 100? Not smoking and watching your weight are important, but so is your level of education.
Seven habits of women who have done well financially
A financial planner lists the habits she sees in financially successful women. One I particularly like is making financial health a top priority. That means prioritizing finances above entertainment and other expenses.
She'll never go apartment hunting in Toronto again
All about the soul-destroying process of finding an affordable rental in Toronto.
The staggering cost of a long-distance relationship
Couples living in different cities talk about how much they spend to see each other regularly. Ouch.
Today's featured financial tool
The Ontario Securities Commission's investor education arm produced this explainer on investing in the marijuana industry.
Older Canadians - we want to hear from you
The Globe is looking at when the various generations reached life's milestones - like buy a house, get married, have kids and retire. If you have the time, please fill out our survey
Ask Rob
The question: ""How do you feel about market-linked GICs?"
The answer: I don't like 'em. There is no reliable way to get stock market returns with GIC-level security. True, you won't lose money with these GICs. But returns are often disappointingly lame as a result of the way the GIC issuer calculates your gains. Buy regular GICs instead and maybe put a bit of money in an equity fund.
Do you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can't answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length.
What I've been writing about
– Why long-term care insurance is slow to catch on with Canadians
– Why squeezing first-time home buyers is a smart housing policy
– How dividend growth can push your stocks higher in price (for Globe Unlimited subscribers)
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