Wedding loan or credit cards?

System

Mogley- no guarantees especially over 3 years but long term probability of is in my favour, with 0% cards & repayment from wages the investment isn't marked to market and is practically no different than buying with money I had already earned. A loan with interest would up the stakes and short term real losses possible even if long term profit.
Ultimately I can't guarantee I would even be alive by then anyway, risks on the road etc

David - I don't claim to be and I'm asking questions to learn more about credit. I sometimes field ideas on here to test them before I do them, it's how I learn. The reason for borrowing is because borrowing is cheaper....

pjcox2005

Probably would work out, but it's a high risk on S&S.


If going that route, i'd do normal stoozing with 0% credit cards keeping money in higher interest current accounts until they are required to be paid off.


If you use the credit cards for payments towards wedding items then you'll also get higher protection than just cash paying so a double benefit.

System

Good idea, alternative to wedding insurance perhaps?

System

I reckon VLS20 is safe enough for less than 3 years - I've read that 20% equity is a sweet spot for risk Vs return as the volatility of bonds and equities somewhat cancels out and the typical crash loss would be 5% - VLS 20 gaining say 6% a year ish

Mogley

pjcox2005 wrote: »

If going that route, i'd do normal stoozing with 0% credit cards keeping money in higher interest current accounts until they are required to be paid off.


If you use the credit cards for payments towards wedding items then you'll also get higher protection than just cash paying so a double benefit.

I agree with this as a good option if you are disciplined enough to stooze. It's high risk stoozing in S&S.


Question: If all the payments for the wedding were next month, could you afford to pay for it out of your savings?

System

I would've done nationwide 5% but when I closed a current account before my credit score improved quite notably so I'm wary of another one

I think VLS20 shouldn't lose much in a crash, something I could easily compensate for as a calculated risk, and I have small caps and property in there to give a little less correlation
And ultimately it's better to pay 20% credit card interest than to sell an investment that fell by more than 20% (if you expected recovery or repayment in a year)

I don't have the funds already, but I will certainly by that time assuming I stay employed and alive

enthusiasticsaver

I would save in a regular saver for it. Too much risk of it going down in three years in s and s. At a pinch a 0% credit card if you don't mind going into debt for it. Personally I avoid debt like the plague so would rather save up. Your circumstances may change i.e. New baby or moving house which means you may need to liquidate just at the wrong time. There is no guarantee VLS20 will have performed any better than current accounts or regular savers. If your credit rating is not good enough to get a 0% credit card you are stuffed anyway.

I think you are making this way more complicated than it needs to be. Whatever happened to deciding on how much you want to spend and save up monthly to get that in the required time period in readily accessible funds. You will need to pay out along the way for deposits etc.

Mogley

The biggest saving when it comes to weddings is getting the wedding you can afford but negotiate hard on the prices. You could save thousands doing this but possibly only hundreds by stoozing. Stoozing also gives you the false sense that you have more money available than you actually have so it will be a battle of the mind.

Stooze if you are disciplined and want to potentially earn that little bit of profit, but I wouldn't do it for the sole purpose of the wedding fund. Concentrate your efforts on budget and negotiation.

Applying for a nationwide current account will hit your credit report but should not adversely effect your ability to get other credit too much as long as you reject the option for an overdraft.

System

Negotiation definitely, we need to do a bit more homework on deciding what we actually want, which is hard to do with childcare and work, at the moment I've made worst case scenario budgets, I feel it's not really my right to ask the WiFi for too much compromise. I think we would save a lot by not inviting & accommodating extended family, and I think we can delay the honeymoon a few years

Enthusiastic - I accept not guaranteed, I don't rely on breaking even, it's a calculated risk. Circumstances - new baby likely and plan to partition lounge up so don't have to move, job loss unlikely but could live off tax credits. Am ultimately prepared to sacrifice wedding quality if we had to use up funds

dresdendave

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Am ultimately prepared to sacrifice wedding quality if we had to use up funds

The cost of a wedding and the quality of a wedding are not necessarily related.