People say wedding is a once in a lifetime event so its a lot of young couples dream to have a grand wedding. Or is it more about face, pride and ego where the more money you spend on your wedding, the greater pride you have?
No doubt our society has changed where we always want to have better material posessions than others. Better clothes, better phones, better houses, better cars and better weddings. Often, all these materialism seeking ends up in trouble for individuals as well as couples.
This particular couple spent $110k on their wedding. The result? The couple is still in debt since their wedding in October 2012. They lost sleep for many months as debtors keep hounding them to repay their debts. They live month to month just to meet ends meet. The wife suffered from depression six months after their wedding and quit her job. Is this all worth it?
This is a classic example of overleveraging on debt. Let me show you what debt they took just to have this grand wedding.
1) Borrowed $45,000 from a financial institution with a repayment period of 2 years
2) Borrowed $4000 from a licensed moneylender.
3) Borrowed $11,000 from a relative
4) Charged $30,000 to their individual credit cards
5) Emptied savings of $20,000
This couple accumulated a debt of $90,000. I do not know how much salary they get per month. It was only stated that the both the couple were insurance agents. They must have thought they could repay the debt easily by working harder and making more sales. It looks like the sales didn't come in the end.
This is a timely reminder for us that we should not over leverage on debt. Don't be too confident that your income will always be there. Even with a stable job, there will always be the possibility of retrenchment.
This couple greatly regretted their choice they made to borrow just to have a grand wedding. They have had more fights and quarrels after they got married more than the 6 years that they were dating.
Buying a house? Buying a car? Planning for a wedding? It is always wise not to overstretch yourself on debt. Always have extra savings in the form of an emergency fund so that when crisis strikes, you'll be able to live through it.
Read the full story here: http://news.asiaone.com/news/diva/dream-110k-wedding-ends-debt
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