Personal Finance Carnival #2: Weddings, Marriages, & Divorces

For this personal finance carnival I have gathered together articles about marriage and weddings since well... I'll be getting married soon.

SmartMoney has a column about five mistakes married women make. It has a practical look at what happens many times when wives let their husbands take over all the financial decisions with some worst case scenarios thrown in.

Weddings cost a small fortune. I have read figures that say the average wedding is running around $20,000 these days. If you are brave maybe you can pull off a sub-$3,000 wedding like this couple did over at Getting Green.

Attending a wedding? The Simple Dollar has a great article about gifts you can give the happy couple to get them started down the road to financial independence. Check out the frugal wedding registry.

So you're newlyweds and need some savings advice? Kiplinger's has an article about common mistakes newlyweds make. To sum it up, it says most newlyweds don't save enough and are too conservative. Nothing earth shattering, but a decent read.

Have kids? If you have gotten over your fear of all things germ related you might be interested in this article - Are cloth diapers worth it? The Simple Dollar has an analysis of whether cloth diapers are cost effective from a purely fiscal standpoint.

Looking at the dark side of marriage just under 50% end in divorce. SmartMoney also has an article about how divorces are becoming increasingly complex with pensions, stock options and retirement accounts.