SavvySugar

Man Must Pay $150,000 For Breaking Engagement "Contract"

SavvySugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:00:02 -0700

Breaking up is rarely uncomplicated, but the stakes rise considerably when one person in the relationship has made financial sacrifices for the other. Rosemary Shell took a substantial pay-cut when she moved from Florida to Georgia to be with her then fiancé Wayne Gibbs. She earned $81,000 a year, plus a 15 percent bonus at her previous job and her new position in Georgia paid only $31,000 a year.

Three days before the wedding, Wayne left Rosemary a breakup note in the bathroom, and later she learned that he was unfaithful during their engagement. Her revenge? A lawsuit claiming breach of contract. The three day trial decided that Wayne must pay his ex-fiancée $150,000 for financial loss and humiliation.

Rosemary's lawyer focused on arguing the broken contract, which I'm assuming is the broken engagement. Are engagements contracts? Do you agree with the jury's decision to punish Wayne for his heartless ways?

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Your Two Cents: Is Any of Your Jewelry Insured?

SavvySugar — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:02:47 -0700

Insurance is available for most things that are valuable to us like health, homes, and vehicles, and it makes sense that you may consider protecting your jewelry. You can purchase additional insurance for jewelry as a rider through your current provider or through an insurer recommended to you by the appraiser. After your jewelry has been appraised you simply select the type, or how much coverage, you'd like for it.

Engagement rings and precious family heirlooms are often insured by their owners because of the sentimental and monetary value. Do you own any jewelry that's insured?

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Ask Savvy: Should Engagement Announcements Include School and Work Details?

SavvySugar — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:34:28 -0700

Dear Savvy,

I am looking ahead to engagement announcements in newspapers for my upcoming wedding. Is it necessary to list where both the bride and groom went to college and subsequently what each does for a living? I do not mind, but my soon-to-be fiancé says he doesn't want his place of work in the article. Also, is it still customary to put a picture of just the bride or of both bride and groom? I would love to see what fellow Sugars suggest about things like including education and work in the engagement announcements!

See my answer and then share your own opinion in the comments! Just read more.

What an exciting time in your life! I looked up several samples of engagement announcements from various newspapers online, and all of them were very similar because the information was derived from an announcement form that couples are required to complete. The form is relatively limited and asks for parents names, city of residence, educational background, and occupation.

I can't imagine a paper turning away your announcement because of an incomplete form. If your to-be groom is only concerned about listing his place of work, several of the announcements I read said things like "he is a research associate" without including a company name.

Unless your local paper is flexible about writing less formal pieces, it seems like an announcement without any education or occupation information would be pretty basic. But the point of announcements is to let everyone know about your engagement, which presumably has nothing to do with your school or work, so even without those personal details it will get your point across!

As for the photo, all of the pictures I saw were of couples. Some used what looked like engagement photos and others used casual pictures taken at random events.

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Maxed Out: Clean Slate Wedding

SavvySugar — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:09:40 -0700

This episode of Maxed Out features Tabetha and Greg, a couple in their mid-twenties planning to get married in exactly 14 months. The only problem is that the two of them together equal one big financial mess. Tabetha has a growing pile of debt that is currently at $34,000 on top of her mortgage, while Greg can't offer any advice because he knows absolutely nothing about managing money. He's a debt-free student living at home and gets an allowance from his parents, and he and Tabetha hadn't ever talked about money until recently. They don't want to start their lives together with old financial baggage, so in order to have a clean slate wedding they call in Allison Griffiths to work her magic. Find out how she helps the pair when you read more.

Tabetha admits that if she has money she spends it and is teetering on the edge of not being able to pay for anything anymore, but with this knowledge she still contributes $300 each month to a vacation timeshare. Allison takes a look at Tabetha's big money picture and concludes that she's spending 60 percent of her income on housing between her mortgage and timeshare, when the maximum that should be allotted to housing is 30 percent.

Allison also discovers that between the current $34,000 debt, the estimated $15,000 cost of their wedding, and the amount of debt plus interest they'll accrue during the 14 months until their planned wedding date, Tabetha and Greg will start their new marriage off with $67,500 in debt. She instructs Tabetha to get organized so that she never misses a payment, tells Greg to cut financial ties with his parents and get a $500 limit credit card to establish some credit, and encourages them to sell the timeshare so their debt would instantly be cut in half.

Tabetha and Greg are on their way to a clean-slate marriage and have a much better understanding of what life together will entail. They were lucky to get their reality check before the wedding instead of entering their new lives together with almost $70,000 in debt.

Your Two Cents: How Do You Feel About Prenups?

SavvySugar — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:12:27 -0700

Prenuptial agreements among Hollywood's couples awaiting the walk down the aisle generally don't cause much of a stir, but when it comes to engaged couples who aren't among the rich and famous prenups seem to have a thicker haze surrounding them. Those asked to sign tend to think their loved ones are asking them to put a value on themselves, and what's more, they're calling the future of the marriage into question. Some are more sensitive than others though, as there are some among the newly engaged who think a prenup is sensible with such high divorce rates as a reality. Where do you fall? How would you feel if your fiancé mentioned a prenup as part of the deal?

To see all of our wedding season coverage, check out IDoSugar.

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What Do You Think of This Wedding Fund-Raising Tradition?

SavvySugar — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:54:21 -0700

In the US, pre-wedding events can include an engagement party, a bridal shower, bachelorette and bachelor parties, and a rehearsal dinner. But engaged couples in Manitoba, Canada have one tradition that's unique to their community: Socials are pre-wedding parties thrown by engaged couples hoping to raise thousands of dollars for their weddings. These types of parties are held in other parts of Canada, too, but Manitoba considers the tradition to be a rite of passage.

The socials are thrown at an inexpensive venue and the couple makes money from the admission fee guests pay and the no-host bar. Businesses and sports teams are asked to make donations that are raffled off at the social, and the couple makes money from the raffle proceeds as well.

To see all of our wedding season coverage, check out IDoSugar.
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Don't Let Your Wedding Budget Get You Down

SavvySugar — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 11:05:42 -0700

The vendors at the New York magazine Weddings Showcase in Manhattan said their businesses are in full bloom as wedding season inches nearer. While many brides are busy toning up for their stroll down the aisle, there's no sign of them toning down their budgets in the midst of the poor credit and housing markets. As one planner pointed out, people will still get married during recessions. What caught my attention was the quote from one bride who told CNBC, "I had a very small budget in mind so the financial situation isn't playing such a big role. It's quite conservative at $20,000."

But "very small" and "conservative" compared to what? It's important for brides to stay focused on their own wedding - without letting their friends' wedding plans and budgets skew how great your wedding will be. So what if their save the dates look like actual wedding invitations? It doesn't mean people will be any less excited to receive your sliver of paper announcing your special day - and it will only take up one magnet on their refrigerators! Your wedding will be a beautiful occasion no matter how many dollars it took to make it happen.

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Would You Be Offended If Asked About Your Wedding Costs?

SavvySugar — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:32:13 -0700

Much of your busy engagement revolves around finding vendors and securing each of their services with a deposit, representing a percentage of the total cost. Your upcoming wedding is likely a source of small talk when you're sharing an elevator ride with a coworker, and surely you share the status of how your wedding is coming along and the corresponding details with close friends. So how have you responded or how would you respond to questions about specific wedding vendor costs, the price tag on your dress, or about the overall cost of your wedding?

To see all of our wedding coverage, check out IDoSugar.

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Maxed Out: Engaged to be Married, But Wedded in Debt

SavvySugar — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:36:10 -0700

Since we just finished up Engagement Week here on the Sugar Network, this episode of Maxed Out especially stood out to me. It featured Valerie and Jason, an engaged couple in their 20s whose existing combined debt and additional wedding debt was making them frantic. They say that their goal is to start their marriage off on the right foot, but they're pushing themselves even further into debt with a $25,000 wedding and no budget to speak of - Jason says they're winging the wedding expenses and hoping that their guests will be generous with cash gifts. To see how financial guru Allison Griffiths helps the couple overcome their money-related stresses and live happily-ever-after just read more.

Since Valerie and Jason didn't approach Alison for help until very close to their wedding date, it was too late for her to help them establish a budget for their big day. Their money issues consisted of much more than the new debt from their wedding, in fact they had $54,000 combined debt, so she had plenty of problems to tackle. Their most expensive problem was their so-called income property that wasn't actually profitable. They rented out a house in hope that the house would pay for itself, but didn't account for property tax payments and owe $8,000 in back-taxes alone. On top of that, the tenants were constantly defaulting on rent payments, which left Valerie and Jason liable for those monthly payments.

Alison makes a plan for the couple to evict the current tenants and turn the rental property into their own home, builds them a budget, and tells them they must find a way to make more money. In the end, they're on their way to being debt free and having a monthly surplus instead of a monthly shortfall.

My biggest takeaway from this episode was Valerie and Jason's nonchalant attitude about their wedding costs. Valerie had said that there's an "unspoken rule that wedding guests should pay for the value of their own plate," so in effect she was hoping the wedding, just like their rental property, would pay for itself. That didn't turn out to be the case and they had $13,000 of debt from their wedding day. Instead of winging the wedding costs like they did, come up with a hard number for your budget and do you best to save up for your wedding day.

To see all of our wedding coverage, check out IDoSugar.com.

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Talking About Money As an Engaged Couple

SavvySugar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:17:08 -0700

For many couples, handling a wedding budget is the first big money conversation of the relationship. Sure, a lot of couples live together pre-engagement and have household expenses to pay, but there's a big difference between splitting the cable bill and considering both yours and his priorities in terms of shared money. He wants to arrive in the stretch Hummer with his boys, but you want the wedding day Jimmy Choos and your wedding budget can't handle both - these are just smaller versions of what you'll have to tackle together financially in the near future. To see which money topics you should cover before saying "I Do" just read more.

Whether you plan on waiting until you're married to combine bank accounts, get a joint credit card, or if you intend on keeping all income separate, these issues needs to be addressed before the wedding. These topics aren't always easy to discuss, especially if the two of you have differing opinions, or if one of you has a much higher income, but this is one conversation that can't wait until you're a Mrs. Because whether or not you'll be combining funds, at least to some extent, you'll definitely be making financial decisions together throughout your marriage. Step one is figuring out how to organize the money that will be used in these decisions.

Talk about the state of your money. You owe it to your fiancé to be honest about any outstanding debt and he has the same responsibility to you. Figure out where you stand creditwise as a couple and make a plan to pay off the debt. It's especially important to decide how you'll handle any debt that you've acquired before marriage - will you pay it off together or should you keep enough in a separate account to make your own personal debt payments?

The third topic to cover before walking down the aisle is setting expectations for the future. While for some couples this may be common sense, for others it seems like it doesn't need to be talked about because the answers are simply understood. But assumptions can be very wrong, so you need to have an open discussion about where both of you see yourselves careerwise and if one of you wants to stay home with any future children. Get this stuff out of the way now and your newlywed selves will start off on the right feet.

To see all of our wedding coverage, check out IDoSugar.com.

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