Originally Posted by
rfchisholm
Here are a couple ideas I have. I welcome input from others:
1. Teach them about CCd and Miles, so they can have points built up for honeymoon travel. (i.e. Chase Sapph Reserve 100,000). In other words, let them maximize their own points from their spend.
2. Buy VGCs and let her spend these.
3. Cherry pick specific expense items (i.e. tuxedos) that will take my CCd.
4. Use my CCd for as much as I can ... and have them pay me back for portion(s) greater than my commitment.
My thoughts on these approaches:
1) Depends on how sophisticated your daughter already is with credit cards. Maximizing CC rewards is an advanced topic that few people overall care about. Don't make this the primary lesson if she's not eager to learn it.
2) Buying, keeping track of, and getting various vendors to take a stack of VGCs is potentially a hassle.
3) Simply putting down your credit card for expenses is a simple solution, especially if your daughter cares little about CC rewards (see #1). But do include all expenses on the spreadsheet regardless of whose card they go on. Overall budget planning is a valid lesson to be teaching here.
4) I don't know your personal relationship with your daughter and her fiance, but my approach would NOT be to hand them a pile of money. Instead I would a) set my limit and describe it to them, b) advise them as they make decisions on how to budget their expenses whether they stay under my limit or choose to supplement it with their own money, and c) directly pay for agreed-upon items up to my limit.