Financial Friday

As we enter the season of gift giving, I was contemplating the reason we give gifts.  Do we give others gifts that they want or are we simply buying something that we like and hope they will too?  Combining that with this quote about having few wants – from personal experience, I find that as we transition into different stages of life it gets difficult to find things that people truly want that they have not already gotten for themselves.   We live in such an age of instant gratification that when we find something we want – we go and get it.

That concept is not necessarily a good one because we buy things on impulse because we wanted them only to find out later that we really didn’t….

In going back to the original thought of gift giving – instead of buying things that people may never use or will regift to someone else at a later date – think of things that may not even cost anything but would be so meaningful.

Give the gift of a meal, or of time.   So many new parents might like a night out – offer to sit with the child(ren), or spend a day with your parent(s) if you are fortunate enough to still have them.   Trust me – they would love for you to spend a day with them doing something fun.   The gift of a book or journal is a novel idea (pun intended).

We don’t have to break the bank because we feel it is expected to give gifts.  Stop and list every gift you received last Christmas.   If you can’t remember – you are in the majority!    Make gift giving meaningful.

And as always – stick to your budget for all of the gift giving…..

Regards,

Terry Richards, CFO