Weekend Reading – Holiday shopping money hacks
Hi Everyone,
Welcome to a new Weekend Reading edition that includes some holiday shopping money hacks as the holiday gifting season ramps up!
Before those tips and tricks as you need them, here are some recent reads from my site:
I shared some TFSA tax-tips for the upcoming year-end below:
I shared why budgets do and don’t work for many people.
Weekend Reading – Holiday shopping money hacks
Lesley-Anne Scorgie is a Toronto-based personal finance columnist and a freelance contributor to various sites, including the Star / Toronto Star. @TorontoStar.
This week, I read her holiday shopping hacks (subscription/paywall) listed to support those feeling the pinch on inflation this year let alone some general anxiety to complete any holiday shopping within a budget.
While I found her “hacks” interesting, I think one major thing was missing for me. I’ll share that in a bit.
First up, in case you get blocked via the Star paywall (which is very likely) here were her five money saving hacks designed to cut your holiday spending:
1. Use up your gift card balances or use your loyalty points for gifts to others.
2. Regift but don’t “…regift the same thing back to the person that gave it to you!” she wrote.
3. Shop like a professional. So, take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
4. Buy in bulk. Stock up on items that you know you’ll cook or bake during the holidays.
5. DIY your gifts. “Rather than buying new decorations, see what you have on hand, then craft away.”
While good ideas and well intended, I struggle with these “hacks” because much of this focuses on and supports consumerism.
This is not to be a Scrooge or a Grinch!
I love the holidays and we shop for others in our house every year!
But if budgets are tight, and they are for many, what was missing from Scorgie’s article for me was: why bother with all the material stuff anyhow? Shouldn’t the end of the calendar year and the reset that comes with a New Year be the ultimate time to slow down, enjoy your downtime with family and friends and be present vs. focusing on presents?
If do you enjoy gift-giving with lots of shopping involved, all the (financial) power to you. As I age, I simply prefer less stuff. The older I get, special times with special people is something that you can’t put a price on.
Golfing legend Gary Player said it best in recent years:
What do you make of the consumerism and shopping hype every holiday season? Are you shopping for deals? Barely shopping at all this year?
More Weekend Reading – Beyond holiday shopping money hacks
I read this week that Canada’s annual rate of inflation came in at 2% in October, up from 1.6% in September, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) reported by Statistics Canada.
That’s good, overall. We want modest inflation.
The latest CPI data contains more of that good news—for example, shelter costs, which include rent and mortgage interest, remain high but increases slowed in October.
With the positive comes the negative: food inflation has recently outpaced the overall CPI for three consecutive months. I personally don’t see prices at the grocery store coming down anytime soon, if ever. This is the new normal. Best figure out ways including investments that help you fight inflation – I published this in 2021 and it remains relevant today in 2024.
I was even correct on Nike stock too. 🙂
When it comes to our FI Budget, I factor-in modest inflation for our personal projections – and I also do the same for the clients I support. It’s essential to do so.
All financial planning work includes various assumptions and guesses about the future to see what the short-term and longer-term impacts of your financial decisions could be.
While some firms/planners may use 2.5% as a general rule for inflation, which is reasonable, I use 3% inflation for my own projections and for some of the clients I help out at Cashflows & Portfolios to support all DIY investors with low-cost projections services. Using 3% inflation provides an even higher margin of safety for any spending plans DIY investors may have.
Given inflation is always changing quarter over quarter and remains largely unpredictable I use the following tactics beyond 3% inflation to help fight inflation long-term.
- I am very likely to delay inflation-protected benefits like CPP and OAS until age 70.
- I will remain invested in mostly stocks vs. bonds – given stocks have expected returns that are generally higher than bonds and stocks can combat higher inflation over time.
- I intend to be variable with our retirement income spending, with a range of spending available to us including dialing back travel/trips if really needed.
My friend Jon Chevreau shared a few social media alternatives to Twitter/X post-U.S. election results.
According to BMO analysts and strategists, while our TSX index has lagged the performance of the U.S. stock market for the last decade, they believe 2025 could be the year that the TSX beats the S&P 500.
“The forecast places the TSX at 28,500 by the end of 2025. This figure, more than 3,500 points above its current level, represents an increase of nearly 15 percent, excluding dividends.”
We’ll see?!
Regardless of what the market does, Dividend Growth Investor continues to believe in the powerful concept of covering expenses with dividends by owning a large basket of dividend stocks.
“The concept of a dividend crossover point is a very neat way to illustrate your path on the way to financial independence. It works for covering overall expenses, and also for working on your way to covering expenses, one at a time.”
I agree. We’re also focused on a crossover point although I include both dividends and distributions (from the ETFs we own) in that plan:
You might recall our plan is for dividends and distributions to cover a good portion of our everyday expenses – while we work part-time – and that plan heading into 2025 remains alive and well.
And finally, last but not least, congrats to my friend Tawcan who is killing it when it comes to growing his dividend income.
Have a great weekend.
Mark
My wife mentioned today she wants to DIY gifts to her friends….except she wants ME to make my (ahem) “famous” salted caramel so she can jar it up and gift it out.
I suggested to her that this is actually me that is doing the DIY!
LOL
Ha. All good. Enjoy the baking!
Mark