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Home > April 2015 - Planning my wedding while being unemployed

April 2015 - Planning my wedding while being unemployed

May 8th, 2015 at 06:01 am

Cash & Savings: $44,819 ==> $53,763 (19.96%)
Foreign Currency: $39,625 ==> $39,690 (0.16%)
US Brokerage: $296,068 ==> $303,577 (2.54%)
Overseas Brokerage: $247,942 ==> $251,943 (1.61%)
Retirement Accounts: $308,215==> $312,383 (1.35%)
Business Investment: $65,000 ==> $65,000 (0%)
Charitable Account: $11,774 ==> $11,900 (1.07%)
Total: $1,013,443 ==> $1,038,256 (2.45%)

Yes, it finally happened...after months of speculation I finally joined the millions of Americans who got laid off at least once in their career. In the consulting industry that I am in, you need to maintain a high billability by being on a client project as much as possible, unfortunately, there wasn't that much to do in the last six months so I got laid off for the first time in my career.

Clearly that isn't something I enjoy, especially when planning a wedding. In April I paid $3,700 to book vendors and venues for my wedding and also paid off the remaining payment of the engagement ring and wedding bands.

It did come as a surprise to me that my total asset increased by 2.45% after losing my job and made so many big payments. A few things were at play though: 1) I still got paid for the first half of April; 2) stock market appreciation and dividends; 3) I asked a friend to pay a $5,000 personal loan back to me; 4) I received a tax refund of close of $10,000.

Other strategies I deployed were: 1) cut my cable bill by $9 by using just one TV; 2) lower utility bill by using less power; 3) stopped contribution to my investment accounts; 4) paid off a few credit card bills using the cash back bonuses I accumulated; 5) sped up medical reimbursement; 6) sold one stock to boost my cash position and formed a strategy to sell a few more stocks that will only lead to little capital gains but increase my cash position by a potentially $17,000 (it will be throughout the year since my current cash position is very strong).

If there is time later this month I will talk about how I deal with job loss and the pressure from my fiance and the wedding.

4 Responses to “April 2015 - Planning my wedding while being unemployed”

  1. VS_ozgirl Says:
    1431081610

    Easy Cloud it sounds like you have done some very smart things following your job loss. I hope you find work again soon in a position that is suitable (or even better, wonderful) before using up too much of your money (unemployment can be beyond expensive). When my husband was off work for nearly four months around the last quarter of last year we used much less power, had a minimal food budget and cut all non-essential expenses as well as paying whatever bills we had as soon as we could so that we knew exactly what we had to outlay and when. So not fun but these things happen, right? Keep up your sensible approach Smile

  2. CB in the City Says:
    1431091171

    Would your fiance being amenable to scaling down the wedding now that you are unemployed? I know I sure would!

  3. Easy Cloud Says:
    1431148660

    Thank you, VS_ozgirl. In terms of non-essential items, the first thing I cut down is my monthly contribution to a mutual fund, which is also the biggest expense. Other items don't cost as much but I probably can cut a few hundreds from food and entertainment (last few months there were many visitors).

    CB, yes, my fiance has been trying to lower the cost of certain items in our wedding although we have different views on where to cut the cost.

  4. scfr Says:
    1431261006

    It sounds like you and your fiance are getting a lot of opportunity to hone your marital communication and compromise skills. I hope you are able to continue taking things in stride and find meaningful employment soon.

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