Page 12 - aruba-today-20221201

A12 BUSINESS
Thursday 1 december 2022
Holiday survival tips from 5 financial pros

By KIMBERLY PALMER
of NerdWallet
For Ryan Decker, surviving
the holiday shopping sea-
son is all about planning
ahead. In fact, if he sees a
gift for one of his two young
sons in March, he’ll go
ahead and buy it, instead
of rushing through his shop-
ping list in December.
“It very much eases the
burden,” he says, making
his December bills more In this Nov. 30, 2020 file photo, a shopper walks by a holiday
manageable because window display in New York.
he spreads holiday costs Associated Press
throughout the year. debt, Whelan says. “One to give coupons for in-kind
Decker, a certified finan- of the ways we can use our gifts instead of things. Kids
cial planner and director limited resources to maxi- can give a card for walking
of the Center for Financial mize our happiness is to the dog or other chores,
Literacy at North Central pay now, rather than get cooking dinner for the fam-
College in Naperville, Illi- socked with a credit card ily, even if it’s just pasta or
nois, says that without that bill in February, which un- babysitting. It trains kids to
kind of advance planning, dermines our financial and think about other people
the costs this time of year emotional well-being.” rather than just buy their
can quickly overwhelm GIVE (AND RECEIVE) MORE way out of a gift.”
budgets. “Inflation is eat- CREATIVE GIFTS THINK BEYOND THE HOLI-
ing away at our purchase Jerry Graham, Atlanta- DAY SEASON
power, so once you throw based co-founder of the The holiday season is the
in the holiday season, it’s a website KindaFrugal.com, perfect time to make fi-
very stressful time.” mentioned to his brother nancial plans for the up-
Financial educators like that he’d prefer a hand- coming year, says Bruce
Decker are often busy dur- made gift this year. “He McClary, spokesperson
ing the holiday shopping is so talented at art and for the National Founda-
season, sharing tips with woodworking, I told him I tion for Credit Counseling.
their audiences about how would appreciate a cut- “Right now, I’m putting to-
to avoid debt and save ting board or something. gether a rough outline of fi-
money while still being fes- A DIY gift is more memo- nancial goals and priorities
tive. We asked five of them rable and comes from the for 2023,” he says. Focusing
how they personally navi- heart,” he says. It can of- on things like travel plans
gate the season with their ten save money, too, and or savings goals helps put
finances intact. Graham knows his brother holiday expenses in per-
MAKE A LIST AND STICK TO is on a budget. Similarly, spective. “You can tune
IT Felipe Arevalo, community out a lot of the advertising
“I know I’m going to be outreach coordinator for and emails related to the
setting a budget so I don’t the San Diego Financial sales,” he says, and instead
suffer after the holidays,” Literacy Center, collects zero in on what’s most im-
says Christine Whelan, clini- family photos throughout portant to you.
cal professor of consumer the year, then, as soon as One of the biggest ob-
science at the University he sees a promo code pop stacles to achieving finan-
of Wisconsin-Madison. She up, creates a photo cal- cial goals is debt, which is
makes a list of those she endar for family members. easy to accrue during the
needs to buy gifts for and Not only does it save mon- holiday season. In fact, the
assigns a spending cap for ey, but it also helps family 2022 Holiday Shopping Re-
each person’s gift. members stay in touch and port from NerdWallet found
Part of that strategy means see how his sons, ages 4 that almost one-third of last
limiting purchases to what and 9, are growing. year’s holiday shoppers
she can comfortably af- The DIY strategy also ap- who used a credit card to
ford out of savings instead plies to kids. Says Whelan: buy gifts (31%) are still pay-
of turning to credit card “I’m encouraging my kids ing off their credit card bal-
ances.
Given the current eco-
nomic climate and rising
interest rates, McClary
says, “It’s probably a bet-
ter idea than ever to avoid
relying on loans and lines
of credit to get through the
holiday season, and to be
as resourceful as possible
about how you spend the
money you have.” q