A BMO holiday outlook suggests Canadians’ spending spirits have improved this season, with the bank projecting an average 15% jump in holiday spending over last Christmas.
The Bank of Montreal’s 2012 Holiday Spending Outlook finds that survey respondents plan to spend an average of $1,610 this holiday season, up from $1,397 in 2011.
Shoppers surveyed say they plan to shell out an average of $674 for gifts this year, compared to an average of $583 last year.
For an canadian earning $20/hr full time that means they will have to work an extra 7 days to be able to cover that expense- almost a third of a month!
If they don’t then that $700 on a credit card may actually cost over double or triple as most Canadians can’t make up the time, this was a snowball effect harder to get rid of than christmas pounds.
Angela Calla’s Tips to save this Christmas
1. Do a draw- so your buying for one instead of everyone and everyone in your family will get a gift with a 50-100 limit- saving $500 plus each family
2. Give a memory, a framed picture of a special time or experience.
3. Create an experience-make dates to spend time together, hiking, ice skating, volunteer together. Better to spend time together than money on a material item that fades and looses its luster and helps work off some xmas pounds!
4. Consider this, tell your family and friends not to get you anything this year that their holiday present to them is showing them that they support your goals to live a better life. Instead of becoming a statistic and spending you have decided to put an $1800 pre-payment ($150 a month) on your 200k mortgage as an example and as a result you will be mortgage free 5.5 years sooner (over 60k) which is the gift they have gave you to show that they really care about helping you get ahead. (See the Special Report in The Globe & Mail with Angela Calla) http://www.angelacalla.ca/blog_post?id=8306
If all else fails put yourself on a plan to save approx $50-$100 a month for your gift giving fun in a no fee high interest earning account to get your savings working for you. Remember you will get your mortgage statement in the mail in the next few months and it’s never too early to start planning for next year. Once you see the difference a small change as noted above would make for you and your family you may easily decide ypu can reallocate the money you are currently spending to get it working for you.
Angela Calla, AMP
Dominion Lending Centres-Angela Calla
Host of ” The Mortgage Show” Saturdays @ 7pm on CKNW AM980 Phone : 604-802-3983
Email: acalla@dominionlending.ca www.angelacalla.ca