Holiday Season: An Encouraging Sign
November 25, 2011If you watch the news on a regular basis, it can get a little bit depressing. Economic uncertainty, both here and abroad, seems to dominate the daily news cycle. It feels like the stock market moves up and down (but the downs are far more noticeable!) because of news events in Greece or the failure of a Super-Committee (it never felt Super!) to reach a deal that was good for the fiscal state of the country. In the midst of watching a bunch of pundits talk about how dire the consequences are for the Super-Committee’s failure, I hopped online to see if I could find a good news story. Fortunately, I found this!
This article talks about how Americans, despite all of the bad news and the still-troubled economy, plan to give more to charity during this holiday season than they have in the past. In order to make it work within budgetary constraints, many people plan to cut back on their usual travel plans, their budget for decorations, entertaining and holiday gifts. As much as it’s easy to get a bit melancholy when looking at the state of the economy, the jobs situation, the political process and the news events of the day, it’s really encouraging to see a story like this. Especially as we celebrate Thanksgiving.
As we enter what I often refer to as “The Eating Holidays,” it’s good to start to focus on what we can do individually to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. (“Eating Holidays” defined: Starting with Halloween candy and going through Valentine’s Day, it seems like we have plenty of occasions where feasting is common [Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day] and I set a goal to lose one pound during that time. Why? If I don’t, I can easily put on 10 lbs., so if I can lose one, I consider that an 11 pound swing and I can still fit into my clothes.) Back to the point, though.
This article talks about people valuing charitable giving and making it a priority, even in tough times. I think you can do that as well as improving your own situation. From this point in the year, you are going to see a lot of articles talking about planning for year end and about setting goals for the next year. Why do we see so many of these articles, everywhere we turn for news, advice, and information? Because it works. Every study that looks at goal setting shows that it is a valuable activity. As you’re planning your menus for “The Eating Holidays” and considering where to allocate your budget dollars, take a hard look at your last few months’ spending. If you’re planning to cut back on something (or a few things) in order to fund your holiday spending, why not permanently cut back on that and use the post-holiday savings to fuel your other longer term goals? (Retirement funding, paying for college, creating and growing an emergency fund, etc.)
The old saying “a journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step” is true financially as well. Take the start of this holiday season as an opportunity to review, revisit or to create some financial goals that really matter to you. If your goals matter, if they have personal importance, then you will find ways to succeed. As for me, I’m going to look for some pumpkin pie. After I get a workout in…