Cost of living out life's grand events
Maybe the best things in life are free, but most of us pay a considerable amount of money to experience our biggest milestones, both good and bad.
The rewards of owning a home, having children and being your own boss, for example, require a substantial financial investment. From landing your first job to retiring, from celebrating the start of a marriage to coping with its end, some of life's most poignant moments come with a large bill.
If you're approaching one of these milestones, don't skip your own cost research, advises Marc Henn, president of Harvest Financial Advisors in West Chester, Ohio.
"They have to put some work and time into it," Henn says. "Unpreparedness leads to financial surprise."
We can't put a dollar amount on the value of these seven big events to you personally. Nevertheless, we've dug up some information to give you an idea of how much they cost.