Fall Finance: 5 Ways To Avoid Getting Behind Financially After the Holidays
Written by
J. Arky
Edited by
Gary Dudak
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Can you believe that the holiday season is almost here? Everywhere you look, people seem to be jumping over the autumn season and heading straight into the Christmas celebration time on the calendar, right on through New Year’s Eve. Still, you don’t have to wait for January 1 to roll around to start making some smart financial resolutions.
GOBankingRates asked some personal money management experts about what you should put on your fall checklist to avoid falling behind financially after the holidays. Here are their top five tips.
Set Financial Goals
Revisiting your goals — short-term and long-term — ahead of the holiday season is the best way to refocus on saving and building a successful financial future, according to Mary Hines Droesch, head of product for consumer, business and wealth management banking and lending at Bank of America.
“Prioritize your goals based on your needs and create a financial plan to ensure your aim is realistic,” she suggested. “Setting additional milestone goals will also keep you motivated as you track your progress.”
Automate Your Savings
Many consumers fall behind on saving during the holidays because they prioritize spending on seasonal expenses, gifts, travel and other purchases, according to consumer expert Andrea Woroch.
“However, this can make it hard to catch up in the new year,” Woroch said. “Instead, automate small amounts of money you won’t miss to stick to your savings plan so you don’t completely derail it.”
Go on a ‘No Spend’ Cleanse
“A ‘no spend’ cleanse over the next few weeks can be helpful if you know your spending will increase during the holidays,” said Droesch. “Implementing a self-imposed, ‘no-spend’ period is the equivalent of putting your spending on an elimination diet to see what you can truly live without.”
Droesch highlighted that this strategy can help you balance out increased spending during the holidays and serve as a mental reset to avoid impulse purchases.
Transfer Your Credit Card Debt
“Going into the holiday season with credit card debt will likely result in you taking on a heftier balance that becomes increasingly harder to pay off as interest fees accumulate,” explained Woroch. Instead, she urged everyone to focus on paying off as much of this balance as they can now without depleting your holiday savings.
“Since this can be hard to juggle with holiday purchases, take advantage of balance transfer card promotions that offer up to 21 months with no interest, which you can compare at sites like CardRates.com,” she added. “This will give you some time to make smaller payments through December so you can afford gifts and other seasonal expenses without feeling overwhelmed and without interest fees piling up.”
Live Within Your Means
The number one piece of advice for everyone this fall, right before the holidays kick into high gear, is to practice mindfulness around spending.
“Ahead of the holidays, you may see sales and tempting deals to persuade you to spend more money, but just remind yourself that the holidays come annually, and great deals happen year-round, so you don’t need to buy everything right away,” Droesch cautioned.
She concluded, “Spending within your means will ultimately leave more money in your account at the end of the year and give you the flexibility to reduce debt, increase your retirement contributions and even treat yourself to something special when it’s financially feasible.”
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