#holiday-spending

#holiday-spending

Calendars fill, inboxes overflow, and suddenly you're juggling festive plans, family logistics, travel costs, year-end deadlines, and a swirl of expectations. It's no surprise that even the most grounded financial intentions can get pushed aside this time of year. But December doesn't have to be the month where your financial confidence takes a back seat. With a little clarity and a few intentional practices, you can enjoy the season fully while still honoring the goals you've worked hard to set.

What interests me is not the spending itself but the consistent failure of rational intention. These are people who make complex decisions, manage budgets, and exercise considerable self-control in their professional lives. But something about the holidays systematically overwhelms their better judgment. The usual explanations, weak willpower or manipulative advertising, miss what's actually happening in the psyche. The answer lies in an alliance that Plato identified 24 centuries ago, one that modern psychology has largely overlooked.

'Tis the season, they say. But the season seems to be changing. Did you notice that Black Friday started before Thanksgiving this year? Cyber Monday crept right into the holiday week. Gift guides are everywhere; increasing the pressure to find the "perfect" gift, often with financing options right at checkout. The underlying message seems to be: buy now, think about it later.

By the numbers: Friday's retail sales excluding autos rose 4.1%, Mastercard SpendingPulse said in a statement. That's stronger than last year's 3.4% growth. Online sales rose 10.4%; in-store sales rose 1.7%. The data are not adjusted for inflation. Demand was strongest for clothes and jewelry. The Mastercard data lines up with other evidence that shoppers turned out Friday. Pass_by, which analyzes retail foot traffic, said in-store visits rose 1.17% this year versus last.

It is easy to go overboard in buying gifts for loved ones. The excitement of lavishing loved ones with gifts is great, but spending more than you can afford can make the whole experience counterproductive. First and foremost, the Christmas season is not all about spending money and exchanging gifts. Rather, it is a religious exercise designed to recognize the birth of Christ.

Hark, can you hear it? It's barely audible over the sound of a zillion people muttering, "isn't it too early for this?" while sipping holiday lattes, but it's there: the sound of Christmas spending panic. And this year's holiday season approaches amid soaring grocery prices, trade tensions and economic uncertainty. Which is why some people say they're planning a more modest Christmas, whether that involves spending less, giving fewer or more intentional gifts, relying more on charitable services, or scaling it all down.

Generation X is set to lead in consumer spending, projected to spend $15.2 trillion in 2025, more than any other generation according to NielsenIQ's The X Factor report.