3 Tips for Easing the Financial Burdens of Christmas
Read Time / 2 Minutes
Theme / Financial Planning
The Christmas season brings joy, love, and celebration, but it also brings financial pressures and burdens. In navigating the holiday season’s expenses, biblical teachings offer timeless wisdom. Today, I’m going to walk through a few tips to help ease the financial burdens of Christmas.
Start saving early
Proverbs 21:20 advises,
“Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.”
This is a verse I go back to time-and-time again when stressing the Biblical precedence, and importance, of saving. The average American spends just under $1,000 every year just on Christmas gifts. That alone can be enough to put serious financial strain on families - include travel costs, generosity and any other unexpected Christmas costs, and the burden can be overwhelming for some. Personally, to combat this financial burden come the Holidays, my Wife and I begin saving for Christmas in July. That gives us six months to build up a savings so that we can travel and give with financial freedom come Christmas time.
Plan ahead and track your spending
Saving is only as useful as the budget it’s applied to. You can save $2,000 for Christmas, but if you spend $4,000 on gifts, your saving isn’t going to relieve all of your financial burdens. Proverbs 21:5 tells us to be diligent, and not hasty with our money:
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
Generally, my wife and I like to have as many gifts as possible bought before Thanksgiving. So, in October, we sit down and create an outline for about how much we want to spend for each family member. We take count of how much we have saved, and list out all the people we’re buying gifts for and budget roughly how much to spend on each gift. Doing this does two things:
1. Ensures that we don’t overspend what we have been saving for.
2. Gives us true understanding of our financial situation, so that we can give as freely as possible. Often, we’ve found that we’re able to give more than we initially expected.
Be joyful, and remember the reason for the season
At the end of the day, this is a season meant for joy and remembrance. If the financial expectations are too stressful, re-focus how you’re spending your resources. This is about celebrating the birth of our savior and our redeemer. As one of my High School teachers always used to say, keep the main thing, the main thing.
Merry Christmas, everyone! Thanks for being a part of the Christian Wealth Management family. We look forward to meeting with you in the new year!
"But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.'" - Luke 2:10-11
Nathan Carroll
Registered Assistant
208-918-8655
nathan.carroll@christianwm.com
