I do’s and IOUs (2005)

plus cheap Champagne

͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌  October 31, 2022 • Issue #21 Money is turning 50! To celebrate, we’ve combed through decades of our print magazines to uncover hidden gems, fascinating stories and vintage personal finance tips that have (surprisingly) withstood the test of time. Throughout 2022, we’ll be sharing our favorite finds in this special newsletter. Ready to dive into the archive?   You can’t buy friends, but they’re not exactly free, either. That’s the tagline from a June 2005 story that offered readers strategies on how to be popular — aka attend wedding events, baby showers and more — without going broke or loading up on credit card debt. The story may be 17 years old, but it’s advice many of us could have probably used recently in a year dubbed “a boom year for brides and grooms.” About 2.5 million couples are expected to tie the knot in 2022, making it the busiest year for weddings in nearly four decades. (I have a friend who attended seven weddings this year — six requiring out-of-state travel — which makes my two out-of-town weddings sound downright cheap.) Guests spend, on average, $460 to attend a wedding, according to The Knot, though that varies quite a lot based on the type of ceremony and proximity. For guests who fly, for instance, the average wedding spend jumps to $1,270. As then-senior writer Jeanne Sahadi pointed out in 2005, it’s easy to see how your budget line for other people’s wedding festivities can balloon fast. So how can you celebrate your friends without having to subsist off ramen noodles? Sahadi suggested politely saying no to more events. Maybe that means passing up an old college buddy’s wedding across the country or declining to be a bridesmaid. (We’ve got advice in this 2015 story on what to say if you need to do that.) And feel free to get creative with gifts by trying something homemade or going in with a group to purchase a big-ticket item on the registry. For destination weddings, consider making a vacation out of it — “budgetwise, that’s two birds with one buck,” Sahadi wrote. Read our 2005 piece “The High Cost of Being Popular” here. Then get some more recent tips on how to save as a wedding guest in this 2022 story. — Kaitlin Mulhere, education editor   IN OTHER NEWS… 💰 Gimme, gimme more (money): Corporate budgets for salary increases were on a multi-year decline in the mid-80s when Money published a special report on careers titled “Who Earns the Most — and Why.” Salaries were projected to grow 5.5% in 1987, down from 6.4% two years earlier. Workers today would be lucky to get an annual raise that size. Although raises this year were forecast to be the largest in a decade, they still hovered around 4% on average. 💰 Paying a pretty penny for Pikachu: Don’t mistake trading Pokémon cards for child’s play, we warned in an August 1999 story on a trading show in New Jersey that drew up to 13,000 parents and kids. The average collector at the time spent $660 annually trading cards. If they held onto some valuable ones, those kiddie collectors could net a big payout now that they’re adults. There are several types of Pikachu cards today that can fetch thousands of dollars. 💰 I’ll teach you the electric slide: In March 1980, “The Glories and Glitches of Electronic Banking” brought readers inside the “electronic wonderland” that was bill pay via telephone, automatic paycheck deposit and a piece of plastic called a “debit card.” Reading the piece in the era of online banking makes me feel a bit like these kids who were shocked to discover land-line phones actually work.   SHOW ME THE MONEY   Forty-five years later, divorce is still a financial headache, big inflation came back, bargain vacations in Mexico abound, and many Americans indeed want to be their own bosses. Are we in a time warp?   TEST YOUR MONEY MEMORY In April 1976, Money provided some serious service journalism with a guide to buying Champagne. Our pick for a “top of the line” premium bottle, Moët & Chandon’s Dom Perignon, cost how much at the time? $39.95 $15.99 $25.95 $11.99   Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this edition of Money Classic, please forward it to a friend or tell them to sign up at money.com/subscribe. And don't forget to check out Money.com for up-to-date news and advice. Recent stories include You Can Soon Use Venmo to Make Purchases on Amazon, 5 New Money Etiquette Rules You Should Follow and 7 Expert Tips for Managing Stock Market Volatility.

This newsletter is free because Money earns a commission when you click or make purchases from the links in this email and on our site. We also receive compensation for some of the products and services featured in this message. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Learn more about how we make money. Privacy Policy • Advertise With Us • We're Hiring! To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Copyright ©2022 Money Group, LLC. All rights reserved. Metro Office Park Calle 1, Building 7 Suite 204, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico 00968, USA