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Thanksgiving is only two short weeks away, and the air is filled with anticipation of the official start of the holiday shopping season.
I’m obviously talking about Black Friday, when people stay up all night to get a shot at (self-proclaimed) once-a-year door-buster sales. I’ve heard people brag how large a percentage of their gift shopping they complete on that one magical day of sales.
But I honestly do not get it.
Black Friday is the pinnacle of impulse shopping. Huge crowds storm through the doors of countless retailers with the lure of getting their hands on a handful of unbelievable sales. While in the rush of the moment, people grab everything and anything that seems like a good sale in fear of missing out.
Sounds like a recipe for overspending, and buying a bunch of stuff we don’t need. I take a different approach to shopping for my Christmas gifts, and choose to enjoy my Thanksgiving holiday differently.
Welcome to our newest reader question series where we feature an inquiry submitted by the MoneyNing community, along with our answers. Today’s question relates to Flexible Spending Accounts and dependent daycare expenses.
The surveys are in, and although holiday shoppers plan to spend roughly 5% more than last year, the money they spend will be more strictly spent on gifts for others, and not gifts for themselves (a fact that retailers count on for high-ticket items).
Although more people are shopping early to more accurately budget their spending, the percentage of those polled who plan to capitalize on Thanksgiving weekend deals, increased significantly this year. This shows that most consumers are still feeling the need, and desire, to get the most out of their holiday spending in light of a the still-recovering economy.
Lastly, online shopping is slated to increase by about 50% from last year, representing the largest gain of all.* These trends represent the average shopper, but do they represent your personal spending strategy this holiday? Let’s discuss.
With the holidays quickly approaching we all have spending on our minds. Then when January rolls around, we calculate the aftermath of our spending habits and create New Year’s Resolutions to get out of debt and build an emergency fund.
But I have a better solution! Let’s not fall into this same habit this year. The holidays shouldn’t be an excuse to stop saving and go into debt. In fact, you can have a much more peaceful and relaxing holiday if you aren’t stressing about money.
Today I want to encourage you to make saving a priority and put money away in an emergency fund if you haven’t already done so. Here are two powerfully effective tips you can use to jumpstart your savings habit.
Every year, the IRS evaluates inflation and other items and decides how much savers can sock away in tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Coming in 2015, there will be higher limits for 401(k) accounts, and the income level for IRA phaseouts will also increase.*
This means you have the chance to put away more for retirement, even if you’re already maxing out your retirement contributions. Here are the details on how you can save more money for your future.
Alexa wrote a great article last week, on Why Saving for My Kids’ College Education Is Not My Priority, and I thought she made excellent points. It’s my belief that as a whole, parents are bringing up their children to be self-entitled and have everything come easy to them.
I have many friends whose parents paid an outrageous amount of money for a private four-year university, only to have those same kids needing their parents’ financial help after they graduate, then buy houses and have children.
Even though I don’t want to just hand my child $100,000 and tell them to get a good education, I do want to make saving for their future college fund a priority. Here’s why I plan on giving my children $20,000 to put towards their college education.
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