The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year, however, it’s also an expensive time of year.
A study of U.S. households conducted by Fortunly showed 22% of Americans believe that their Christmas spending will leave them in debt and that 46% of people have lied about liking a gift. With this in mind, could some of your holiday expenses put a strain on you or be a waste of your hard-earned money?
There are ways of ensuring every $1 you spend this holiday season is of value to you.
Five ways you can protect your wealth during the holiday season
1. Ensure that they get what they want with gift cards
If 46% of people have lied about liking a gift, why take your chances? While gift cards aren’t the most imaginative gift to bestow on your loved ones, it ensures that they’ll eventually purchase something that they want.
Gift card platforms, such as Raise, CardCash, and GiftCardGranny, sell discount cards to customers from a variety of retailers. Raise currently has Adidas $15 gift cards for up to 10.7% off, meaning you’re paying $13.40 for the $15 gift card.
Plus, with $65 billion of gifts at stake due to supply chain shortages, according to Quincus and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, going the gift card route can ensure you’re not anxiously waiting on a gift to arrive before December 25.
2. Save up each month in the 12-months leading up to Christmas
On average, Fortunly found US households spend $1,536 during the holiday season. When you break this down over 12 months, you need to save $128 per month, which is more manageable than a large lump sum of $1,536. Breaking up large purchases monthly is also a generally wise savings tip to follow.
3. Spend using your Save Debit Invest card
Once you have saved up for your favorite time of the year in your Save® account, use your Save Debit Invest card for your holiday shopping. For every $1 you spend on qualifying purchases, Save® will match and invest $1 of equivalent investments¹ on your behalf. This means that your $1,536 of qualified spending will also be matched and invested and that you have the chance of earning returns from the matched investments.
Assuming that you have chosen Save’s moderate investment profile, in a little longer than 12-months’ time, if the average annual return of 2.95%² is achieved, you will earn an investment return of $45.31, which will be deposited back into your Save account.
An extra bonus to this product is the current promotion Save is running, where every qualified $1 spent is matched by Save with $2 of equivalent investments¹. This way, you can turn your holiday spending in December into your future savings.
4. Plan ahead for Christmas
If you can set aside a lump sum for future Christmas spending, open Save’s soon-to-be-launched Market Savings account. Deposit $1,536 for a 12-month term, and your money has the chance of generating an average annual return of 1.03%³ with the Core bundle and 1.45%³ with the Premium bundle, giving you a potential $15.82 extra for you to spend. Learn more about the Market Savings account here.
5. Set a realistic gift budget and stick to it
Leading up to the holiday season, realistically look at your expenses and decide on what you can afford for gifts and holiday travel.
Then, when you have your budget, make a gift list and do research on potential price ranges so you’re able to know when you’ve found a good deal.
No spending is worth the cost of post-holiday debt or financial woes due to overextending your finances during the holidays. You work hard to make your money, so make it count with smart financial strategies and utilizing Save accounts.
¹For each qualified spend using the Save Debit Invest card, Save buys a strategy-linked security whose investment value is equivalent to the dollar spent.
²Average annual returns are based on hypothetical back-tested performance. Hypothetical back-tested performance is no guarantee of future performance and actual results will vary. Returns are subject to change daily. Minimum return will always be at least 0%. The return figures shown are for informational purposes only and are not actual customer returns. Returns shown are reflective of being invested in the Save Moderate Portfolio from 2006 to present. For more detailed information please see Hypothetical Back-testing.
³Average annual returns are based on hypothetical back-tested performance. Hypothetical back-tested performance is no guarantee of future performance and actual results will vary. Returns are subject to change daily. Minimum return will always be at least 0%. Return on Savings Calculation: We assumed that the Core Bundle would appeal to the 60-79.9% percentile of the income distribution and the Premium Bundle would appeal to the 80-99.9% percentile. We then assumed that they would have the average savings account balance for that income bracket on the Market Savings account and the median transaction account balance as debit spend on the Debit Invest Card every month. From the Survey of Consumer Finance, 2019 – Core Inputs: Debit Invest Spending $2,500 per month; Savings balance $28,690. Premium Inputs: Debit Invest Spending $5,000 per month; Savings Balance $51,940. We calculated the returns on each of those products and used that to calculate the return on savings: return on debit in dollars plus return on savings in dollars divided by savings balance in dollars equals Return on Savings. All return figures shown are for informational purposes only and are not actual customer returns. For more detailed information please see Hypothetical Back-testing. Source: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm
