 It’s that time of year again. The holiday season is almost here, and that means spending time with friends and family. It also means it’s time to head out and start finding the perfect gifts for the people who mean the most to you. If you’re like most people, you want to be able to share your prosperity as much as possible. But it is also important to make sure you don’t overspend during this holiday season. This can be especially true if you have recently retired. While it might be tempting to shower kids and grandkids with presents, you might want to consider that you may have many more holiday seasons ahead of you. If you don’t plan for your holiday spending, you might find yourself eating into your savings, hindering your ability to buy presents in the future. Below are a few tips to help you through your holiday spending this year:
Develop a budget. It might be tempting to spend money on holiday gifts on the fly. This could be a big mistake, though. It can be difficult to keep track of impulse spending and, if you’re not careful, you could easily find yourself overspending. So before you go holiday shopping, it might be a good idea to develop a spending plan. One way to do this is to come up with a total spending amount. You can then divide that amount among your loved ones. And that’s not to say you need to split up the spending evenly. Maybe you want to spend a little more on your grandkids and a little less on your nieces and nephews. Whatever your plan, developing a budget can be a great way to keep your holiday expenditures under control. Use cash. As you come up with a budget, you may want to consider using cash for your purchases. While credit cards may offer you more flexibility and a greater spending allowance, this may also come with high interest rates. This interest can accumulate over time and destabilize your financial future. Using cash only can help you resist the urge to overspend and can help you stick to your holiday budget. And if you don’t have enough cash to fund your purchases, you may want to think about lowering your spending amount. Get creative. Sometimes the gifts that don’t cost anything mean the most. For instance, maybe there is a family heirloom you’d like to pass on to your adult children. Or you could give them a coupon book with things like baby-sitting coupons, house-sitting coupons or other things they could use. Also, you might not have to get everyone on your list a gift. People like cousins, friends, nieces and nephews might be just as happy with a card and a kind note. After all, they wouldn’t want to bring you financial difficulties because you felt like you needed to buy a gift for them. Need help developing your retirement spending budget? Let’s talk about it. Contact us at Sprouse Financial Group. We can help you analyze your spending needs and develop a strategy. Let’s connect soon and start the conversation. This information is designed to provide a general overview with regard to the subject matter covered and is not state specific. The authors, publisher and host are not providing legal, accounting or specific advice for your situation. By providing your information, you give consent to be contacted about the possible sale of an insurance or annuity product. This information has been provided by a Licensed Insurance Professional and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting insurance professional. The statements and opinions expressed are those of the author and are subject to change at any time. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, presenting insurance professional makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. This material has been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide, and should not be relied upon for, accounting, legal, tax or investment advice. 16239 - 2016/11/15
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