Until very recently, aside from a small emergency fund, I’d never saved any cash. Instead, I carved out a certain portion of my income to put toward my long-term investments, made sure I paid off my student loan every month and spent the rest as I saw fit.
But a couple of months ago, my boyfriend and I got engaged. So we’ve begun setting aside money each month to put toward what promises to be a very well attended and very pricey wedding.
I’ll be honest — I’ve been feeling pretty crappy about it. Not the wedding — I couldn’t be more delighted to marry this man. Rather, I’ve had a lot of guilt and anxiety over how I made room in my budget for the wedding fund.
Up to now, I was contributing 18% of my salary, plus a 6% company match, directly into retirement and investment accounts. After talking with an advisor at my company’s benefits manager, I decided to reduce my contributions to 9%, with the 9 percentage point difference going toward the wedding.
So what’s the problem? For one thing, I’ve written enough stories about compounding interest to know that every dollar I put into my investments now is worth much, much more down the line. I feel like I’m stealing from my future self to pay for a DJ and flowers and crab cake sliders.
