Personal Loan: 5 ways to fund your wedding; see details | Mint

If you have a wedding scheduled in a few months, chances are that you have already accumulated enough money to organise the celebration for the big day. However, if the wedding is still some years away, then you are supposed to have a well-organised plan for saving funds for the same.

Here, we share a number of ways (aka financial instruments) which you can bank upon in order to accumulate sufficient funds ahead of the wedding.

Ideally, you can start investing several years before the wedding. And the investment can, and should, happen in multiple instruments ranging from fixed deposits (FDs) to hybrid funds. And in case you still fall short of money even after putting your best foot forward, then the last resort is to raise a personal loan.

Here we give a lowdown on what all you can do to fund your wedding celebration.

5 Key options to accumulate money for a wedding:

1. Personal loan: If you are falling short of money to organise a wedding, you can simply raise a personal loan. But it is important to note that one can raise a personal loan to meet a part of the expenses.

For instance, if the total wedding expenditure is ₹10 lakh, it is alright to raise a personal loan for ₹2-3 lakh. However, if you are compelled to raise the entire wedding cost as a loan then you need to first rethink about the budget of the wedding.

2. Hybrid funds: These are the funds with exposure to both equity and debts. When the wedding is some time away, you can invest your savings in the hybrid mutual funds e.g.. conservative or balanced hybrid funds in order to accumulate the right corpus.

However, it is important to realise that this investment should continue for a number of years before you can arrange sufficient funds.

“When you start earning, you need to create a fund for the short term goals which include wedding. One can invest in the large hybrid funds in order to save for the wedding. Also, if the savings are not sufficient, you can raise a personal loan as the last resort,” says Sridharan Sundaram, founder of Wealth Ladder Direct.

3. Equity funds: Another option is to invest in the equity-oriented mutual funds. These could be large cap, mid cap, small caps, flexi cap, large & mid cap and multi cap. In order to keep the money safe and secure, it is recommended to invest in large caps only.

4. Fixed deposits: Alternatively, one can also invest in the fixed deposits. Any large bank’s term deposit can fetch you anywhere between 6-7 percent a year. If you invest money in the name of a senior citizen, you stand to earn an extra 50 basis points on it.

5. Recurring deposit: Another option to save for your wedding is to invest in a recurring deposit, or an RD. The interest rate on RD is typically anywhere between 6-7 percent per annum.

To sum up, you can choose any one of the above, or the mix of these options in order to accumulate enough money to organise your wedding.