wedding/honey moon/house down payment

[Magic Johnson]

I’ve already touched on this in other threads, but thought this was deserving of its own.

I’m broke, but I’m saving UP TO $200/mo. for an October 2023 wedding, February 2023 honeymoon (I realize that’s in the wrong order), and down payment on a house with my betrothed.

Why UP TO $200? I will match my fiancé dollar for dollar, each month into a joint saving account, not to exceed $200, on my part. If she got a windfall, or income tax refund, or whatever, and chose to put that in, so be it.

Why honeymoon before wedding? I have an aunt who is loaded. Seriously. She made six figures while she was working, her husband had a good job, and they did a good job saving for retirement. My uncle is 13 years older than my aunt (he’s 80), and he’s seriously I’ll.

My aunt and uncle own a timeshare. My aunt can’t use it while her husband is sick (and he will be sick for the rest of his life). Their only son has three young kids, and they can’t use the timeshare either. So my aunt has offered the timeshare to my fiancé and me. She said that the transfer of ownership will be around $120.

So my fiancé and I are planning on a trip to St. Maartens (a Caribbean island) next February. The room we’ll be staying in for free goes for around $500 per night, and includes a kitchen. We have to buy plane tickets and food.

When we get married in October 2023, it will be my second, her first. I’ll be 50, and she’ll be 54. My fiancé has two requests.

She wants our pastor to marry us. Our pastor is around our age, and is very good. Her sermons are very intellectually stimulating, and we both like her a lot. We will not be getting married by a Justice of the Peace.

My fiancé also wants a reputable photographer to capture the very simple ceremony. Oh, and she wants a nice bouquet of flowers, so I guess three requests. And we won’t be dressed like slobs, so probably a new suit for me, and new dress for her.

We’re also saving for a house. Decent houses go for $120K - $200K in my neck of the woods.

The current balance in our saving account is $250.03.

What say you Saving Advice?

[Like2Plan]

Your room is not exactly free. How much are the maintenance fees for the timeshare? (I don't see that in your budget anywhere.) Are you familiar with the rules with using the timeshare? Sometimes there are miscellaneous fees to use the timeshare at locations other than your home resort, etc (or for various other transactions). I would actually consider the timeshare ownership a liability because of the ongoing expenses.

[Magic Johnson]

I could have been more clear. It’s a timeshare with Marriot. It’s just a luxury hotel room. As I understand it, no maintenance fees, or annual fees or anything. Just the $120 transfer. I can ask more questions of my aunt, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the $120 transfer.

[disneysteve]

My aunt and uncle own a timeshare. So my aunt has offered the timeshare to my fiancé and me. She said that the transfer of ownership will be around $120.

She is letting you use the timeshare, or she is selling it to you?

You ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY should not take ownership of the timeshare. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER! Have I emphasized that enough?

It's great if she'll let you use it for the week and just pay her fee. We've done that before and it's a good deal but under no circumstances would we ever consider buying a timeshare.

[Magic Johnson]

Ok, I have clarification questions for my aunt. I’ll be seeing her over Memorial Day weekend. I did write “transfer of ownership” in this post. That probably wasn’t the right wording.

I know some things for certain.

1. I haven’t given her a dime yet.
2. I haven’t signed anything yet.
3. My aunt isn’t trying to offload anything, or she isn’t trying to screw me. She’s a generous person, and I am her favorite nephew.

[Jluke]

To be able to use the timeshare one time with no strings attached is an awesome deal.

taking ownership - horrible idea

your goal right now should be as few financial transactions as possible.

hell I am a millionaire on paper but couldn’t bring myself to buy a $3 bag of jelly beans.

[disneysteve]

Ok, I have clarification questions for my aunt. I’ll be seeing her over Memorial Day weekend. I did write “transfer of ownership” in this post. That probably wasn’t the right wording.

I know some things for certain.

1. I haven’t given her a dime yet.
2. I haven’t signed anything yet.
3. My aunt isn’t trying to offload anything, or she isn’t trying to screw me. She’s a generous person, and I am her favorite nephew.

She might think giving you the timeshare is a gift. But it’s not at all. It’s a horrible idea. If that’s her intent, very graciously thank her but say you really can’t accept it.

[james.hendrickson]

I could have been more clear. It’s a timeshare with Marriot. It’s just a luxury hotel room. As I understand it, no maintenance fees, or annual fees or anything. Just the $120 transfer. I can ask more questions of my aunt, but I’m pretty sure it’s just the $120 transfer.

I'm with the other posters on this thread - DON'T BUY A TIMESHARE. They're notoriously lousy investments. If your aunt is letting you stay in her timeshare, its cool but don't accept ownership of one. You'll regret it for years.

[Magic Johnson]

Ok, the time share thing is covered. I won’t do anything stupid, or sign my name to anything.

What about the other stuff?

[james.hendrickson]

Magic Johnson My one thought is that you've got a lot going on. Instead of trying to tackle them all at once, have you considered focusing one maybe one or two high impact activities?

If you sequence what you want to get done thoughtfully, you might actually get ahead faster than if you're focusing on achieving several things at the same time.

[Jluke]

$200 per month is a good idea.

I would be sure to have adequate extra funds after buying a place for all of the house things you will need.

flowers: we got our flowers from the florist at our grocery store. Highly encourage you to look there at least.

photographer: we just had family photos taken and it was $300 for an hour. Consider where and when you want pictures taken. Depending on how you plan to use the photographer (only an hour, the whole time), that could help with costs.

we own the rights to the photos so we can print them anywhere. That is something else to keep in mind when choosing a photographer

[disneysteve]

What about the other stuff?

I don’t think you need to be blowing money on a random Caribbean vacation in February. Maybe a modest honeymoon after you get married. Somewhere in driving distance to keep costs down.

As for the wedding, will there be any sort of party/reception? You didn’t mention that. The pastor, someone to take some pictures, a bouquet, that all sounds reasonable. If you already own a suit, I don’t know that you need a new one but it depends what you have. A reasonably priced dress for her is fine.

As for buying a house at some point, it’s really hard to say right now until you’ve got your debt cleaned up more. That’s where all extra money should be going right now.

[Magic Johnson]

I don’t think you need to be blowing money on a random Caribbean vacation in February. Maybe a modest honeymoon after you get married. Somewhere in driving distance to keep costs down.

As for the wedding, will there be any sort of party/reception? You didn’t mention that. The pastor, someone to take some pictures, a bouquet, that all sounds reasonable. If you already own a suit, I don’t know that you need a new one but it depends what you have. A reasonably priced dress for her is fine.

As for buying a house at some point, it’s really hard to say right now until you’ve got your debt cleaned up more. That’s where all extra money should be going right now.

I bought my $300 suit 35 pounds ago. Maybe I’ll buy a nice pair of khakis, polo shirt, and dress shoes that I’ll wear regularly after the wedding.

[Magic Johnson]

Magic Johnson My one thought is that you've got a lot going on. Instead of trying to tackle them all at once, have you considered focusing one maybe one or two high impact activities?

If you sequence what you want to get done thoughtfully, you might actually get ahead faster than if you're focusing on achieving several things at the same time.

You’re right. Unfortunately life happens all at once.

[kork13]

Why the delay of 18 months to get married? Especially if you want to do a simple, no frills ceremony, it's not hard to do that for just $3k-$5k (or less). I think our wedding budget (in 2014) was about $3k, including photographer, dress & suit, homemade 3-level cake, simple flowers, and all the rest.

Otherwise, I agree that you should focus on one thing at a time. The home purchase can be prioritized after you're married. Personally, I'd also delay the honeymoon if it meant not waiting so long to get married. Understand that her timeshare may only be available during that specific period in February (aren't timeshares just the greatest? ), but is the use of it really much cheaper than going somewhere else some other time? When you're more financially ready to take the trip? Considering airfare, food, and the timeshare fees you're covering, I rather doubt that it saves you more than a couple hundred dollars.