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| New to the newsletter? Subscribe to The Daily Money to get the best consumer and financial news from USA TODAY delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. And give our news-inspired Spotify playlist a listen. It features every song quoted here. |
| Good morning and happy Thursday. Jayme Deerwester back with you. Thanks to Brett Molina for taking the reins Wednesday so I could keep an eye on my hound after she came home from having surgery. |
🗞 Inflation makes it harder to say, 'I do' 🗞 |
| 2022 is projected to be the busiest wedding year since 1984 as couples who postponed their 2020 nuptials compete for venues and dates with others who've gotten engaged since. |
| Prices are also up. Experts noted that both inflation (the consumer price index rose 7.9% annually in February, the fastest pace since January 1982) and high demand – driven by COVID-19 disruptions – are causing wedding prices to surge this year. |
| With the national average price tag of a wedding roughly $34,000 as of 2021, couples are having to put in extra work to cover costs. |
| "When I was first looking for venues, I was silly. I was trying to find somewhere that would be about $100 per plate," recalls Kristen Kluin, a social worker who is putting in extra hours every week to afford her October wedding in New Jersey, one of the country's most expensive wedding markets. "I would go and reach out to that venue, and what was $100 (a year ago) was now easily $180 for that same service, for that same day of the week, for that same tier. It's just really defeating." |
🚨 More headlines you shouldn't miss 🚨 |
| TIKTOK TICS: What are they and are they real? Doctors debate whether social media is to blame for new "pandemic within the pandemic." |
| DUNKIN' DONUTS MAKEUP? Just don't drink too much coffee before applying eye shadow from new Dunkin' x e.l.f collab. |
| JUST HOW DIVERSE IS THE FINANCE INDUSTRY? One Black college student's quest for employment offers a glimpse. |
| CARL ICAHN VS. KROGER: Investor Carl Icahn targets grocer's pay gap, pig treatment. |
| GREAT RESIGNATION: Job openings, quits hovered near record highs in February. |
🤪 Origin story: How April Fools' Day tricks became a thing 🤪 |
| April Fools' Day is Friday. As you brace for pranks, you may wonder how all of this tomfoolery started in the first place. |
| While there are similar holidays in ancient Rome and Britain, the eldest – and tidiest – historical reference comes in a Flemish poem from 1561 in which a nobleman sends his servant on "fool's errands" on April 1, according to a history of the holiday written by Stephen Winick of the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center. |
| During roughly the same era in France, people slow to adopt the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar – which moved the start of the year from the last week of March to Jan. 1 – were called "April fools," and were the victims of tricks, according to History.com. |
| The Catholic Church may have also played a role via its carnival-like "Feast of Fools," originally held in medieval France and England on Jan. 1. While it was banned by the 15th century, celebrations continued for hundreds of years, explains folklorist Jack Santino, the author of "All Around the Year: Holidays and Celebrations in American Life." |
| By the 19th century, April Fools' Day had become a mainstay of American culture. "The first of April is the day we remember what we are the other 364 days of the year," Mark Twain is credited with saying, according to the Encyclopedia of American Folklore. |
| Tomorrow, we'll look back at corporate April Fools' Day jokes gone awry. |
💵 Made a mistake on your taxes? Here's your next move. 💵 |
| Filing taxes isn't necessarily complicated – but in some cases, it can be. In the course of your filing, you could end up making a mistake that renders your return inaccurate. Here are your options: |
| GET A DO-OVER: It's possible to file an amended or superseding tax return if you made an error on your initial return. If the deadline hasn't passed, you can file a superseding return, which lets the IRS know you want your new return to replace the one you just sent in. If the deadline has passed, you'll submit an amended return. |
| CORRECT MISTAKES FROM PAST YEARS: The IRS allows filers to submit an amended tax return up to three years after the original return was filed. For this reason that it's wise to hang onto old tax documents for at least three years. That way, if you need to file an amendment, you'll have the right information on hand. |
🎧 Mood music 🎧 |
| In honor of April Fools' Day, I'm going back 30 years (man, it hurts to type that) to quote Social Distortion's "King of Fools": |
| "I was born the King of Fools. At any other game, I never lose. But when it comes around to love, that's when I realize I was born the king of fools." |
| LISTEN WHILE YOU WORK: Remember, you can listen to this song and every track I've quoted in the newsletter in the Daily Money Mood Music playlist on Spotify. |
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