What to Get for Christmas

A family member recently asked me what she should get me and my husband for Christmas this year. She suggested maybe a movie or a game or whatever else we might be in need of. The honest to goodness truth, is that I didn't want her to spend a penny on any of that! What would make me terribly happy this year? If all the money that would be spent on me this Christmas would instead be put in a retirement account or an emergency fund. SERIOUSLY.

Think about how much money is spent (anytime really) at Christmas on trivial things. What ever happened to 'it's the thought that counts'? Have we really become so materialistic, that we don't appreciate the thought of just spending time together during the holidays?

I know, I know, if you have kids this might be a harder concept to get through. But we can work on that as we go. But as adults, think about how much better off we could all be financially if we cut our Christmas gift buying in half every year and instead put it into a ROTH IRA or even an emergency fund for the future. Or how about a college fund? Hmmm, maybe even save for a down payment on a house or a car! What a concept!

This is not the norm, however. It may be a hard concept to swallow in the beginning, but at the end of the day you have to understand that it is a series of poor choices that end up leading to a poor quality of life. (Financially speaking of course) So let's make a conscious decision to make a bunch more good choices, so that we may in return have a better quality of life.

So I will reiterate. For any one out there thinking of buying us some presents, at Christmas time:

just show us your mutual fund statement, or your money market statement where we see that you put money you would have spent on buying us something temporary into something that will have a lasting benefit for you and your family!

LOVE & GRATITUDE!