Should Parents Create Savings Plans for Kids’ Weddings?

Featured Article, Finance, Home & Family
on June 3, 2013

Dear Dave,
We have three daughters under the age of 5. Do you have a Baby Step for weddings? If not, during which Baby Step do you recommend setting aside money for their weddings?
—Carrie via email

Dave Says: I don’t have a Baby Step for weddings, but it would probably come after Baby Step 5, which is putting aside a college fund for your children. Once you have education savings, retirement and extra house payments underway, then you could start putting aside a little extra for weddings. This may not make me popular with some little girls or their moms, but an education is more important than a wedding. Maybe this is the dad in me coming out, but if I had to choose between paying for college educations and paying for big weddings, I’m going to pay for school. In my mind, anyone who disagrees with this is kind of a twit. Weddings are wonderful, and you should mark these kinds of milestones with celebration. But a wedding is only a one-day event. Plus, there is absolutely no correlation between the size and expense of the wedding and the success of the marriage!