I read in the paper this weekend that more and more couples in their thirties are prioritising deposits for their homes over the expense of a wedding. It did cause a bit of a pang. I couldn’t help but think it was a little sad that white dresses and morning suits were giving way to bricks and mortar but, on the other hand, I completely get it.
A practical long-term investment v big party at your expense. A party that is a logistics nightmare that takes an immense amount of planning that inevitably swells the big day with such expectations that, like Christmas, it teeters on the edge of disappointment before it even starts.
I wonder if we can give romance a boost by recognising that there are some special tax concessions that only apply to married couples and civil partners? There are several allowances that can be shared between married people and civil partners that are not available to those cohabiting, so-called common-law partnerships or just plain living in proverbial sin.
These include a sharing of unused personal allowance, the ability to give assets to each other without causing capital gains tax liabilities and the inheritance tax laws are way more generous.
None of these benefits sound sexy or romantic I grant you, but over a lifetime they can amount to tens of thousands of pounds of benefit which should be enough to offset the cost of a modest wedding. I have never really considered myself to be a matchmaker before but, in the interest of economic sense, I invite the romantics amongst you to consider a marriage proposal and make your union official for richer rather than poorer tax outcomes!
#savvysam