How Much Money Should You Gift For A Wedding?

Does this question come up quite a bit in your house? Or every time you go to a wedding, do you discuss how much is the proper amount to give for a gift? We recently had this topic come up in my house, so I did some Googling. Here's what I came up to answer the question, "how much money should you gift for a wedding?"

There is no one answer, as you may have guessed. It depends upon the circumstances, the people and the relationships. However, according to US News & World Report the short answers is: Start with $100 and work up from there. Whew. I can go to bed now. No, wait, there's more...

The average person spends between $50-$100 on a wedding gift, according to an article in Vogue and citing the wedding website Zola. They also offer a really great suggestion for your various relationships, and they are as follows:

Another factor, I personally think you should consider is where you live. $75 goes a lot further in certain parts of the country. Here is New England, and specifically the Boston area, everything is more expensive. The article also recommends that if everything on the registry is over your budget, you could give the couple a gift card to one of the stores they are registered.

How much money should you gift for a wedding is a very tricky question. Is it for the bridal registry, is it for the wedding day? What I have done recently is buy a gift on the registry and also put some money in a card for the wedding day, or mail it to the couple. Weddings are expensive for everyone; the couple giving the wedding, the wedding party and the guests with their gifts. Do what you feel you can afford and what feels right.

Push comes to shove, everybody loves money and they couple can use it for their honeymoon. According to etiquette queen, Emily Post, cash gifts are perfectly acceptable. And the fact is most millennials are getting married later and already have the swag. They would likely prefer cash. ,

How much money do you need to make to be happy in Massachusetts? We now have the answer and we don't think you'll like it very much. But before we get there, let's take a look at what makes someone happy.

In a study by the website www.study.com, it's the quality of your relationships that is key. So when it comes to family, loved ones, partners, etc. Also, having a hobby and/or job that you love and enjoy also contributes to happiness. So what about money? It's very easy to believe that having lots of money will make you happy. And the simple answer is yes because having more money gives you more choices of how to live your life. You can live your live on your terms. When you're living paycheck to paycheck, there aren't as many choices. Now the next question would be, exactly how much money must one make in order to be happy? Then answer is not one general one. It varies from state to state depending on the cost of living. This is where this blog post comes in. We found an exact answer to this question and it came from the website wwww.gobankingrates.com. They took a look at how much it costs in each state for child care, schooling and other factors. Unemployment rates are also a factor.

For the purpose of this post, we are going to show you the difference in salaries to be happy in each of the New England states, Florida, California, New Jersey, Texas and New York. The difference may shock you. Then again, if you live in Massachusetts, it may not. But remember this. It is definitely a cliche but money does not buy happiness. According to the late great Notorious B.I.G., "Mo Money, Mo Problems." Let's begin.

So the saying "everything is big in Texas" seems to be true. NOT for spending however. Believe it or not, the cost of living there is over 7% below the national average.

https://www.sofi.com/cost-of-living-in-texas/

During the pandemic, the unemployment rate in Florida was pretty high. As of now however, it's 2.7%. It'll take 109k to be happy there however if you just want to maintain, making $62,700 will suffice. 

https://www.fox13news.com/news/this-is-how-much-money-you-need-to-make-to-be-happy-living-in-florida-study-finds

Just being in New England, the cost of living goes up. In RI, the cost of living is $11,760 higher than the national average.  RI actually ranks #29 for happy states in the country. Kinda right in the middle. 

https://wallethub.com/edu/happiest-states/6959

The cost of living in New Jersey is higher than you may think. It's actually 14 percent higher than the national average, though unemployment has come down to 3.4%.  

https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2023/09/13/happiest-states-wallethub-nj/70831356007/

Okay, this one surprises me. Maybe because when you think of Maine, you think of beautiful water, hiking, nature...things you can experience with no money at all. However, living on the coast of Maine is more than 14% over the national average. 

https://wanderingthroughmaine.com/living-in-maine/

New Hampshire is another place you'd think would take less money to be happy. But the simple fact that it's in New England brings the cost of living up big time. The cost of living is 14.5 percent higher than the national average. However, unemployment is relatively low at 2.7%. 

https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/wealth/minimum-salary-to-be-happy-state/

Another New England state so the cost of living is higher. This salary may surprise you but you can actually maintain motional well-being at just $$69,240.  Is that enough? Maybe, maybe not. 

https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticut/conn-named-third-happiest-state-in-u-s-study/

Yikes Vermont! Vermont has no business with this high salary...well, I guess the assumption of the state is "there's nothing to do there." Either way, unemployment is low, at just 2.6%.  But if you're working, you better make a lot of money. 

https://www.thehonestlocal.com/pros-cons-living-vermont-moving/

Wow! What kills me about this is that, you need to make more to be happy living in MA than New York. Unemployment in NY is relatively high right now at 4.3%.  If you ask any New Yorker, they'll 100% agree with these findings. 

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/nyc-is-one-of-the-most-expensive-cities-to-be-happy-in-the-u-s-090723

California has an unbelievably high unemployment rate at 16.3%. Now don't let this number fool you. Despite needing to make a lot of money to be happy, it appears that California is one of the happiest states in the country. 

https://www.ocregister.com/2023/05/06/californians-are-among-the-happiest-people-in-the-country-so-why-are-they-leaving-the-state/

This number is outrageous. The more shocking part is that MA is actually #2 in the entire country, only behind Hawaii. Despite this, MA keeps ranking one of if not the happiest state in the country.

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/massachusetts-ranked-happiest-state-in-the-country/2982189/