A decade ago, it seemed every wedding invitation I received came with a handy little slip of paper detailing where the bride and groom were registered. Those registries were full of all the traditional requests — china place settings, crystal goblets, silver candlesticks, salad bowls, everything the happy coupled needed, right down to the placemats. In other words, wedding registries really hadn’t changed that much in the last 50 years. But the change is finally upon us — millennials (who are also credited with killing the paper napkin industry and Applebees) have now set their sights on traditional wedding registries, writes Abha Bhattarai in this week’s Washington Post.
Today’s couples are registering not for home goods, but for practical items including home down payments, fertility treatments, even contributions towards student loan debt. They’re also asking for experiences and consumables via gift cards to retailers including Airbnb, Domino’s Pizza, Uber and SoulCycle. Why the switch? For starters, more Americans are living together before marriage. Today 66% of all married couples cohabitate before they walk down the aisle, and this means they’ve probably already invested in a decent set of silverware, and may even find themselves with too many coffee mugs and wine glasses in the cupboard once they combine their individual stashes. Also, millennial couples are in no hurry to walk down the aisle, according to a report from eHarmony. They know each other for an average of six and a half years before marrying, compared with an average of five years for all other age groups. By the time these couples marry, they likely have a good sense of what kinds of things they really need, and what they can live without. So to all those who are requesting the things that will truly make their lives together more joyous and less stressful — mazel tov! There’s nothing else I’d rather get you.
Hand Me The Remote
Good news: If you’ve been looking for a new gig with benefits beyond just traditional salary, retirement and health, you may find more employers willing to offer work-from-home flexibility. According to FlexJobs, there’s been a greater-than 50% increase in the number of remote jobs in the past year, and today 4 million employees — slightly more than 3% of the U.S. workforce — work from home at least half the time, according to Global Workplace Analytics. This is great news for everyone, even those who already work from home. Over the years, I’ve heard many remote workers talk about their flexibility as if it was the rarest of circumstances, and how they’d put up with almost anything from their manager in order to maintain their status. Well, guess what? More companies are catching on to the fact that remote workers are not only happy workers, they’re actually more productive workers, as well as the fact that companies can save literally millions of dollars on office space when they offer work-from-home options. If working remotely is a goal for you, check out some tips from HerMoney for work-from-home moms, and for freelancers.
Summer Budgets, Happened So Fast
What will you be spending money on this summer? Vacation, perhaps? What about childcare? Sadly, 33% of parents are on track to accumulate debt due to childcare costs this summer, according to a Bankrate report. The average cost of childcare during the summer hovers around $1,000, but depending on where you live, costs can be much greater — 12% of parents plan to spend $3,000 or more. But there are ways to budget for additional childcare costs for the whole year, on a week-by-week basis, and one mom even has strategies that have saved her thousands.
As for that vacation, if you’re putting off travel this year, you’re not alone. 39 million adults won’t be getting away this year because they can’t afford the travel costs, per data from Bankrate. Even so, the majority of us — 52% — are planning to sneak in a getaway. If you’re looking to make room in your budget for a little R&R, check out these 5 budget vacation ideas for anywhere you want to go, or look to plan an affordable weekend getaway with these three deals.
On The Cover Of The Rolling Stone
As you may have heard, HerMoney launched an exclusive Rolling Stones ticket contest this week, in partnership with The Alliance for Lifetime Income. We’re giving away two floor seats to almost every stop on the Rolling Stones’ No Filter Tour this summer, and we want you to win! Enter at https://hermoney.com/rolling-stones/, then share your link with friends and family— the more you share, the more chances you’ll have to win.
Have a great week,
Jean
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