The start of the holiday season often brings increased demands on both time and financial resources. From buying decorations and gifts to attending celebrations with family and friends, the responsibilities can accumulate quickly. To help you navigate the 2025 season with greater ease and enjoyment, consider these planning tips designed to reduce stress and enhance your holiday experience.
Create a holiday spending plan and track your expenses. The final months of the year offer many opportunities to splurge. Prevent unfettered spending by setting a “do-not-exceed” dollar amount for holiday-related expenses. Include all purchases tied to the season, from gift giving to refreshing your holiday wardrobe, buying decorations, entertaining and more. Your holiday budget does not have to be exact but having a ballpark idea of how much you want to spend can help provide more intentionality when making purchases. A budget is only useful when you track your expenses against it. Keep an ongoing estimate of how much you spend after each shopping excursion and adjust if necessary.
Shop early. This year you may want to give yourself plenty of time to do your holiday shopping and be flexible if substitutions on your shopping list need to be made. Economic uncertainty, market volatility and changes to trade policies may raise the price of goods as well as impact shipping times. If you have a specific item on your shopping list, this might mean you have to spend more time shopping or waiting for your goods to arrive. Plan to pad in some extra time in case uncertainty impacts the items on your family and friend’s wish list.
Give differently. If the gifts you want to buy are in short supply or “things” aren’t your thing, consider ticking off your gift list by giving experiences. Provide a gift card or cash gift for a loved one to dine at a local restaurant or attend an event at a theatre or sports stadium. You could also consider giving financial gifts to your loved ones such as a partially funded savings account, Roth IRA, savings bond or an appointment with a financial advisor. And finally, charitable donations are an impactful holiday gift, particularly if the donation is to a non-profit that is meaningful to the recipient.
The holidays are best enjoyed in the company of loved ones – not burdened by financial stress if it can be avoided. Consider taking the proactive steps above to make the most of the holiday season. A financial advisor can help create a plan that makes sense for your festive affairs and financial goals.
Josh Smith, CRPC® is a Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial Services, LLC. in Radford, VA. To contact him, visit https://www.ameripriseadvisors.com/joshua.1.smith/, call 540-639-5153 or visit 202 Third Ave. in Radford. He specializes in fee-based financial planning and asset management strategies and has been in practice for four years.
