Sometimes, the holiday season is not full of wonder and merriment. The gift-giving culture associated with the holidays can be a source of stress and frustration, especially with the ongoing pandemic, economic downfall. Here is how you can keep your finances in check to cap off 2020 by being financially aware.

Holiday Questions

It is no secret that the ongoing pandemic has affected the economic lives of people. While the holiday season promises a short relief from the doom and gloom of the pandemic, more and more individuals are located on opposite sides of the spectrum when handling finances during the holidays. Others want to go all out to celebrate the hardships that 2020 brought, while others are more practical and tend to be more frugal in their holiday spending.

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about how to manage money during the end-of-year season to have a balance between sharing your love and care to the people you love while not breaking the bank.

How Do I Keep from Overspending during the Holidays?

Give the gift of your time and talents.

Gifts come in many shapes and forms, and while the gift-giving culture primarily revolves around how much money you have spent on a gift… Gifts can also come in the form of time and talents! For example, if one of your friends desperately need time for self-care activities or a date with her husband, you can volunteer to babysit their kids in one evening! If you know your friend is getting married and you have an amazing voice, you can ease up their burden of looking for a wedding band and volunteer to become a wedding singer free of charge!

Make your wish list before going shopping online.

While shopping online is becoming more efficient, it can be distracting to put more in your cart than earlier anticipated. One way to not spend more on your holiday gift list is to make a wish list first and, most importantly, stick to it!

Spend within your means.

Yes, with the pandemic, money may be tight, and it is more practical to let go of luxury items (because who needs a $5000 designer bag if you are not a Kardashian, right?) and make do with practical and useful gift items.

I Will Be Using My Credit Cards for All My Holiday Shopping. What Are Your Thoughts on Best Practices?  

With cashless payments slowly becoming a trend, more and more people are attracted to pay using credit cards. Credit cards are a great way to pay for bulk holiday items because most credit card holders provide a generous cash-back system that can pay you back from 1% to 5% of your purchase fees. You have to look out for sure that your chosen credit card has no annual fees, which means you will not pay any interest in your purchases. Another word of caution is to again spend within your means so that your credit card debt will not be carried out through the spring season.

People generally have varying opinions on handling finances and assets, but one thing is for sure: there are blind spots we need to avoid to prevent future regrets.

Almost every person has doubts when it comes to money management. At the end of the day, we’d all just like to know if we’re doing the right thing. There are people who are quite frugal in pursuit of saving every penny, while there are the happy-spenders who rack up on purchases.

According to Morgan Housel, author of “The Psychology of Money,” people tend to do crazy things with their money. However, opinions on the best practices in financial and asset management will always vary. There may be some things we do with our money that other people think is crazy and vice-versa. 

The differences in judgments lie in our personal backgrounds: the economic environment we grew up in, the habits we learned from our families, and the lessons we learned along the way. All these factors shape how we view and handle money. However, regardless of our backgrounds, we all have our blind spots.

Keeping Up with Social Media Trends

Around the 1980s, wealth inequality was becoming more evident in society. Unfortunately, what did not change is people’s expectations that everyone should have the same lifestyle. This resulted in more people taking loans to fund the things that they must have, such as bigger estates, nicer cars, and private schooling for their kids. 

This phenomenon of unrealistic lifestyle expectations was further fueled by social media in today’s world. While the pressure to take on more debt to afford things has been around for over six decades, social media has just made it even greater, touching across all demographics. Seeing other people flaunt their expensive lifestyles may encourage you to spend more in order to keep up, but in the end, you miss out on accumulating true wealth.

Evolving Goals

As you grow older, your goals and personal preferences will change. This makes it even more difficult to make long-term financial plans. Life milestones such as starting your own family and having children can ultimately change how you view your money. 

How exactly can you future-proof your savings and spending habits? The first step is to reevaluate your current financial standing and expenditure. This will allow you to cut down on unnecessary expenses and, instead, funnel the money towards savings. It is always best to avoid extremes such as under-saving, which could lead you to struggle financially in the future.

Savings Can Give You Freedom

Having extra savings can provide you and your family flexibility and comfort through unexpected situations. This means that you could still be able to cover your necessities when you find yourself unemployed and waiting for a new opportunity or when your business is affected by a global pandemic. According to Housel, the independence that you will gain from having sufficient savings is the biggest benefit that you and your family will enjoy.

Small businesses have some difficulty with launching because of poor planning and lack of funds. This 17-year-old has tips for success in the business.

Tyla-Simone Crayton is no ordinary 17-year old. At this age, she has founded and heads Sienna Sauce because of her chicken wing-style sauce, which has sold in more than 70 retail stores all over the US. 

In 2019, her company earned $192,000 in income, according to an interview she had with CNBC Make it. So far, her company has received $45,000 from pitch competitions and got almost $200,000 via crowdfunding investments. Now, Crayton is still working on growing her brand and shows no signs of stopping.

She wants Sienna Sauce to become a household name and for the business to become an heirloom to be passed down to future generations. According to Tyla, she learned a lot about building her business from Mark Cuban, a self-made billionaire, and other people she’s met along the way. Here are tips Crayton has for aspiring business owners and future entrepreneurs. 

It’s Never Too Late To Change Course

A lot of people feel pressure when faced with the question of what they want to be when they grow up. According to Crayton, there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to do one thing. She lives on the principle to do what you want to do to its fullest capacity and to put your whole heart into doing it.

Listen to Your Patrons and Customers

With all businesses, listening to feedback from your customers is important. Crayton said she learned this after she launched Tangy, her first “signature sauce.” Listening to customer feedback has become an integral part of the business for Tyla, saying that they live by that as a company.

Find a Guide

Crayton says that finding a person to mentor you through the rises and falls of business is helpful. Your business grows faster when you feel like there is someone to help you with the struggles. 

Your mentor doesn’t have to own a business in the same industry because you still go through the same hardships no matter what industry your mentor is in.

Keep Learning and Asking Questions

A misconception people have about businesses after being employed is that they know how things work, but this is how businesses fail. It’s important to ask questions because it’s okay to not know everything. 

Being open to learning is the best way to stay in business because getting a fresh perspective can shed light on things that aren’t visible to you. According to Cuban, being the best in the game means outworking everyone. This means you have to take classes in finance, accounting, and marketing. 

The Internet is a wide web of information which you should use to your advantage. While your pride might get ahead of you sometimes, it’s always good to remember that there’s always room for improvement and growth for your business endeavors.