Feed items

I enjoy weddings. I’m just not sure how much I’d pay for one.

That thought was prompted by reading recently that the typical wedding in the United States costs around $30, 000 these days. Now, I’m a little skeptical about that number. After all, there is whole cross-section of businesses dedicated to promoting the idea of big weddings. I think of it as the wedding industrial complex. It is in their interest to promulgate figures that suggest it’s perfectly normal to spend a small fortune on a wedding.

Still, whether or not $30, 000 is an accurate figure, the fact remains that many people spend far too much on their wedding. It could be seen as a welcome sign of prosperity, except that these are not prosperous times. No, we are living with an epidemic of people struggling to pay their student loans and failing to save for retirement. So really, it is worrisome to see couples start their lives together by taking on a heaping helping of debt.

A very wealthy and successful guy I used to work for once mentioned something about his mortgage to me. I was a little taken aback, and asked why someone with his money would still have a mortgage. His thinking demonstrated that there are several dimensions involved in the decision of when to maintain debt rather than tap into savings.

Cash or charge?

This comes down to the question we’ve all been asked by sales clerks over the years: cash or charge? That choice is available not just when initially making a purchase, but also any time when you are paying off a loan. If you have some savings at your disposal, you could opt to use some of those savings to pay off your loan ahead of schedule.

I suppose it is bound to happen if you live in a wooden house in a semi-rural area. Our house has become besieged by woodpeckers.

The insistent, get-you-up-out-of-bed nagging of their rapping on the walls reminds me of the inescapable angst of having money worries. The problem is, I know what to do about financial doubts. Woodpeckers are another matter.

Whose house is this anyway?

I can assure you that my wife and I have a clear legal title to this house. The woodpeckers don’t have a hint of a claim on the property, yet here they are. They drill perfectly round holes in the siding for their homes, and then start building additions by clearing out the insulation and whatever else is in the interior walls. After all, what self-respecting woodpecker can live without a man cave and a gourmet kitchen?

How worried should I be?

That’s a question financial people get a lot when the market is as unstable as it has been over the past several weeks. Actually, it’s a question we ask ourselves in those environments.

Having both asked and answered that question several times recently, let me share some of the answers I’ve come up with.

Down 500 points? No big deal.

The stock market has hit some major downdrafts lately, including days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 500 points.

Inevitably when this happens, the media post pictures of Wall Street traders tearing their hair out. That’s okay. Baldness is an occupational hazard, and they are compensated well enough to afford Rogaine.