What happen next once after your girlfriend has accepted your proposal? Of course it is time to plan your wedding unless you are planning to short-change her of this once a lifetime experience.

However, do you have enough money for your wedding? Some will say “yes”, others will say “no”. Some may even reply “not sure”.

Wedding is a mega project which needs lots of money to pay for lots of expenses. You will need at least S$4000 for your bridal package (including your wedding gowns, bridal car, make-up and so on), another $2000 for your wedding videographer, another $2000 for your wedding photographer, at least several tens of thousands as deposit for your new home plus renovation and so on.

Wow, I can take a day to list down all the wedding expenses till all the nitty gritty stuff!

Congratulation if you are born with a silver spoon or you are earning at least S$5000 a month and you can easily tide over with the add-on from your wife-to-be’s salary.

However for most of us who are from the middle-income strata and do not have much savings, what can we do?

So how do you earn more money within a period of time while not losing your job:

1. The easiest way is you can give home tuition. This is going to be very draining of your energy and mind.

I remember I took up tuition 7 days a week and I rushed for tuition once after work. Each tuition would last from 6pm to 8pm and another one from 8pm to 10pm.
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Planning a wedding had been a big headache for me. It was not just the amount of expenses I had forked out for my wedding, but also how much of my savings had depleted for this one-time mega wedding project.

from trianglecondos.com

If your savings for your wedding is alot, there is no need to fear. However, if your saving is limited or may not even be enough, then you ought to do something about it.

In Asian culture, man is the sole bread-winner of the house. Though time has improved, this traditional belief is still valid and holds true in Chinese families especially.

I know right now you may be thinking how you can earn more money for my wedding. Or you can be thinking what can you beside holding a full-time job. Or you can be thinking that let’s use up your savings and see what happens next.

I have friends who are like earning S$2,500 per hour and I have known those who earn much more. How did they do that?
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Money is the root to all evil. Most of the time, money issue is the root to married couple’s worries.

Before married, our finance matters do not overlap. I took charge of mine, she took charge of hers.

from nhmortgage.com

After married, we have to plan for our family. There are other issues to look into such as saving part of our salary, having joint account, saving for a new flat and for our children.

Looking at all these commitments, we seriously have to sit down and discuss our financial road map.

Wedding planning is a mega-project. It not only take up lots of energy, man-power but also lots of financial resources.

Those wedding couples who have average salaries and have been saving for a few years for their weddings, may find their bank account completely dried up by the end of their weddings.

I have shared earlier planning a wedding does not start after proposal. It comes way before proposal. I took two years to save up for my wedding before I popped the question to my wife on wedding proposal day.

I find that one needs to be financial savvy to save up for wedding. Some who had much better salary will park aside part of their money each month. Others may take up tuition and save up what they have earned. The rest who are even smarter invested what they have saved and their money pond grows bigger.

I know there are some friends of mine neve got married even though they wanted to as they have no idea where their money has gone to.
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If your hubby is earning enough to support both of you even if you are not working, I want to send you my congratulation.

Normally after a wedding, the savings of the newly-wed depletes (or even in deificit) so much that it may take a few years for them to recover.

from njoyschool.net

Traditionally, the role of a husband has always been the bread winner of the family. However, the role of a wife has evolved over the years as families nowadays can have two sources of income. One is from the the man, the other is from the woman.

The earning power of women have increased dramatically such that some women are earning as much as their husbands, if not more.

However, deep down inside, most women have the natural instinct of mothering a child still lie deeply in their subconscious.

Many women, if given a choice, will still choose taking care of their children full-time over keeping a job even if it is a highly-paid one.

Many times, such decision is not easy to make as there are other factors to be taken into consideration such as the earning power of the other significant half.

I remembered my mother wanted to quit her job soon after I was born so as to take care of me. She doesn’t believe in entrusting her own child into some domestic helper.

She rather trust herself.
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During courtship, money is never a problem among dating couples.

One of my friends (in her teens) is dating too and her boy-friend splurged on her (just as if there is no tomorrow), satisfying every bit of her material needs’ desire…buying her the latest mobile phones and life-size soft toys (which need to pay for 1 person bus fare when the boy came to her house by bus).

For youngsters, they can afford to pay for their fast-food meals or at most some expensive toys they purchased during birthdays or Valentine’s day.

For older guys who are working, they can afford to spend more such as paying for a dinner in restaurants, paying for oversea trips’ expenses or even buying a car for their girl-friends (these are for those who are ultra-rich)

Once after marriage, things differ. THERE IS TOMORROW!!! Fiancial priorities shift enourmously. Money and savings have to be set aside for household maintenance, food, insurance policies, emergencies, child-rearing, child’s education, child’s holidays…

Debts have to be cut down or reduced to the minimal, couples have to sit together to discuss about investment in securities and bonds or even properties (if they can afford)…and achieving common dreams such as setting up a family business together and supporting each other’s dreams… and many many many more…

In addition, couples have to save for possible retrenchment (at least 6 months of saving) and retirement (assuming not working for 10 – 20 years of couple’s monthly expenditure of about $5000.)…that would amount to $1.2 million or more…

our goal is to hit at least $10 million for retirement. Any unused money will be donated to charity.

As for us, these are our plans…there are still many more things to be done…>.< There are always many more Tomorrows and tomorrows of our children...