Money123: Watch for these red flags when planning a wedding

What to do when the big day blows up

If you or someone you know is in the midst of planning a wedding, there are some lessons to be learned from a recent shock affecting some engaged couples in Ottawa.

Courtyard Restaurant, a popular downtown eatery and wedding venue in the heart of the country’s capital, announced on social media this week that it was shutting down for good after more than 40 years.

Many couples who had their wedding booked at the location were informed by the restaurant in an email that Tuesday was its last evening of service and all future weddings were cancelled.

Wedding planners say it’s a nerve-wracking experience to lose a venue days or weeks before the big day, but there are steps you can take to protect your money.

One obvious red flag is when verbal promises are made that are not put into writing. This could result in miscommunication and those promises ultimately not being kept.

Couples should make sure they have “ironclad contracts” with their vendors, with language on cancellation policies, refunds and deposit transfers included in them, Shannon Kennedy, owner of an Ottawa-based wedding planning agency, tells Global News.

Read on to find out what you can do in advance to ensure your big day goes off without a hitch.

A ‘non-traditional’ path to homeownership

Persistent unaffordability in the housing market has nearly a third of Canadians getting creative about how they might own a home one day, according to new polling from Re/Max Canada.

Some 32 per cent of respondents to the survey said they’re considering “non-traditional” ways to own a home, namely forgoing individual ownership or buying with a partner.

For those considering a non-traditional purchase, the most popular paths were listed as rent-to-own models (22 per cent) and co-owning with a family member who’s not a spouse (21 per cent). Also included in that category was owning a home with plans to rent out a portion of the property (17 per cent).

Others hard-pressed to qualify for a mortgage are waiting for the Bank of Canada to cut interest rates before jumping into the housing market, according to separate polling released this week.

Royal LePage’s survey shows that 10 per cent of sidelined buyers said a drop of even a quarter of a percentage point would get them to resume their housing search. Nearly one in five (18 per cent) of respondents said they’re waiting for cuts of between 50 and 100 basis points, while 23 per cent said they need to see a steeper drop than that before getting back into the market.

Signs of resilience in Canada’s economy have economists timing rate cuts for late spring or early summer.

Read more on why the CEO of Royal LePage says this coming spring could be a “pivotal moment” for the housing market.

Pay equity gaps are wider depending on where you work

Immigrants and women working in the public sector are experiencing narrower pay gaps compared with their private sector counterparts.

That’s according to a new Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report released this week tracking hourly pay in 2023 via Statistics Canada’s jobs report.

The report found that men make almost 10 per cent more per hour on average than women in the private sector. By comparison, the hourly gender pay gap in the public sector is five per cent.

With private sector work, the report found that immigrants who came to Canada more than 10 years ago are paid nearly eight per cent less in hourly wages than non-immigrants. In the public sector, the immigration pay gap is smaller, with immigrants earning five per cent less than non-immigrants.

“What’s clear even in 2023 is that wage discrimination is alive and well in Canada, but that wage discrimination is a lot smaller in the public sector, even though it still exists,” said David Macdonald, senior economist with CCPA and the report author.

Read more about what’s working better in the public sector and how the private sector might hope to catch up.

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– THE QUESTION –

“I would like to know the pros and cons of moving an RRSP with a bank into a company pension plan. Other than keeping it simple to have the majority of retirement savings in one account, are there any other advantages or disadvantages?“

— A Money123 reader 

“I assume that the reader is asking about moving their RRSP to their company’s defined contribution pension plan. The main advantages are that there can be a significantly lower fee for the investment management because of institutional pricing for pension funds. In addition, there’s often a high degree of governance and oversight on the selection of asset strategies in the fund lineup chosen by the employer’s pension plan, which will often have an investment committee to oversee fund manager selection.

The main disadvantage is that the lower fees will often disappear should you leave your employer. In addition, you won’t be able to customize the asset allocation strategy to the degree possible when using a financial advisor via a financial institution, with a wide selection of investment options.”

–  Jamie Golombek, managing director and head, tax and estate planning, CIBC Private Wealth

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