Heart pounding, palms sweaty, legs unstable as you slowly lower onto one knee to ask a special someone a very important question. They say yes, there are tears (of joy) and then the fun stuff. Champagne, telling family and of course your social media announcement of choice (hello Gen Y).
But hold up a minute.
How did you pay for that ring? And how did you do it in such a way that your loved one was none-the-wiser? *insert thinking emoji*As an adviser, this is something that puzzles us on the regular. We have many awesome members who share the goal of saving for a wedding or honeymoon. However, none to date that said “oh yeah, I need to save $ for an engagement ring”. As a happily partnered female, this double intrigues me. I know my boyfriend and I have a banking structure in place that not even the smallest of dollars could slip through.
Unless he plans to propose with a two-dollar shop ring, I am fascinated to know what kind of wizarding magic he is putting on our finances.The PW team have heard many stories of financial wizarding success, but an equal number of stories sharing the stress of an engagement ring purchase. I mean, hell, it’s a lot of pressure to find the right ring, hide it and plan your proposal without also needing to be a financial mastermind.
So to that end, we will share with you the sneaky financial strategies we have seen employed over the years….
- Secret cash savings – look I’ll be honest, I think this only works if you don’t have joint bank accounts or a strict budget in place.
- Applying for a secret credit card and then gifting this to your new-fiancé with the ring (not a recommended strategy)
- Having annual leave paid out in cash so it does not appear in a bank account (love this, kudos to this genius)
- Short-term loan from a family member or friend which was repaid after the proposal
- Withdrawal from an investment account – if you have an investment account that your partner can’t see, increasing funds into this is a sneaky way to stockpile some cash
- Using money they didn’t know about in the first place – to avoid questions, best to use such funds on an engagement ring 😛
- Working over-time or getting bonuses that aren’t included in the banking structure
