Dad spends daughter’s wedding fund on car and holiday
After posting about his situation on Reddit, a father has been questioning whether it was wrong of him to spend the $35,000 (AUD $45,045) he had saved for his daughter’s wedding on gifts for himself instead.
In the post, he explained his daughter’s wedding had been postponed for more than a year, ending with her choosing to elope rather than going through with the ceremony.
Having saved the cash for the wedding fund, the man said he was ‘thrilled’ that his daughter was still able to get married, but also that he could ‘put [the money] to other use’.
He revealed that he used the money to treat himself to a new car and take his wife on a holiday.
‘I didn’t think this was controversial,’ the man said.
But, his decision has caused major controversy.
Just weeks after the daughter had eloped, she asked whether she could dip into the fund of savings to put a down payment on a property.
After learning that he had spent the cash, his daughter and ex-wife called him out as ‘selfish’.
Her dad defended himself, saying, ‘I never told her it was a wedding or whatever she wanted fund, so I didn’t think I did anything wrong.’ But he’s questioning whether his opinion was biased.
‘I’m a blue collar guy. She knew that I had money put aside for her wedding,’ he added.
‘I never told her it was a fund for her to use on whatever. I paid for her [university] and planned on paying for her wedding but beyond that didn’t plan on paying her way through life.’
The Reddit post received over 1,000 comments, many sided with him and supported his decision to spend the money he’d earned on himself.
‘[This man] paid for his daughter’s entire [university] tuition and living expenses so she’s starting out in life with zero debt,’ one user replied. ‘Isn’t that gift enough?’
Another said, ‘[Your] daughter is allowed to be disappointed, but not an ungrateful, entitled brat.’
Offering a more neutral view, a third commenter said, ‘At the end of the day, it is your money and adult children are not owed houses, cars or weddings by their parents’, claiming they ‘personally’ would have ‘at least given her some of the money as a wedding present.’