December 23rd, 2007
Christmas Shopping And The Debt It Creates
Tis the season to be jolly and of course giving! Our favorite Christmas motto states, “It is better to give than to receive.” It is very common for families during the holidays to run up tremendous high-interest credit card debt to buy their children elaborate and expensive gifts such as computers, stereos and designer clothes as gifts. Just take a look at the commercials that air constantly during the Christmas season. They all have one goal in mind: to motivate you to spend as much money as you can during the holidays. Now, I’m not saying that advertisers are to blame for our credit card debt. They know that more consumer spending takes place during the holidays, and they want a piece of it. The fault actually lies with our own inability to control our holiday spending. It seems that even if we don’t have the money for a lavish Christmas, we will still purchase one using our high-interest credit cards and worry about paying it off later. For many people, this debt pattern is repeated year after year. Personal finance experts call this the “holiday hangover.” There are times when credit card debt makes sense, but holiday gift