Managing Your Money Over the Holidays
Make wise choices and avoid stress
Have you heard of doom spending? It’s when you spend money you don’t have in order to cope with stress. Without considering the cost, you splurge on a shopping spree to find a little bit of happiness. We know that it’s tempting to do a little doom spending over the holidays, but what will happen when the credit card bills come around?
We want to help you think wisely and purposefully about your finances. So in this episode, we’ve brought in two knowledgeable guests to offer guidance on your holiday spending, personal budgeting, and long-term financial goals.
In this episode of our holiday miniseries, Keeping Your Sanity Over the Holidays, Shay talks with Kevin Adam, a recently retired financial planner, and Molly Harville, a long-time instructor of Financial Peace University classes. Both Kevin and Molly have helped many people create a plan to get out of debt and reach their financial goals.
Shay, Kevin, and Molly share their insights about:
What Jesus taught about money
The way your childhood experiences shape your attitudes about money
Managing money during the holidays
Teaching kids how to manage money well
Your Heart’s Relationship with Money
Everyone has different experiences with money, starting in childhood. We often learn by watching, rather than receiving instruction. If you see unhealthy attitudes, you might be too tight with money, or allow it to become an idol. If you see money managed well, perhaps you understand that it’s a tool to accomplish a goal.
Not only do our early experiences with money shape us, but we are born with the twin sins of envy and greed. Jesus himself knew this and it’s probably why he talked about money so much in the Bible. In our hearts, we’re often playing the ‘comparison game’. We compare houses, cars, schools, vacations…and usually those comparisons make us miserable because we never learn to be content.
There are some great verses in the Bible that speak to this – for example, the first part of Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money.” It’s not money that’s the problem, but the love of money. In the second part of the verse, God assures us, “Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you.” Money only has earthly value, but God’s love lasts forever.
Jesus talked about how it's harder for wealthy people to be of the kingdom of God than it is for the poor. With money comes comfort – and when your day-to-day routine is too comfortable, you may not be depending on God. When you’re in a hard time or you’re struggling, God will use those times to draw you nearer to him. Make sure that you recognize that when you’re in a season of comfort, that’s a gift from God.
Something to keep in mind is that God is more concerned with your character than your comfort. You’re going to have uncomfortable times, you’re going to have comfortable times, but the most important thing is, how is your character developing? God wants you to grow in generosity and the Fruit of the Spirit - and doesn’t want you to be controlled by money because money makes a terrible master.
God wants you to grow in generosity and the Fruit of the Spirit - and doesn’t want you to be controlled by money because money makes a terrible master.
Managing Money Over the Holidays
A recent article on CNN said that people right now are doing something called ‘doom spending’. Despite inflation, with the country being divided after the most recent presidential election, people on both sides are racking up credit card bills and other kinds of debt. This mentality convinces you that if you can’t find happiness in the long run, you should try and find happiness in the short run. The problem is, of course, that the bills eventually come due and cause more stress than you originally had!
But there are ways to get through the holidays without doom spending. As much as Christmas seems to sneak up on us every year, it’s not a surprise. You know on January 1st that Christmas will come in 12 months. So a lot of preparing for Christmas spending can be done all year long. Set a budget and decide what you want to do in your home for Christmas, and what you want to do with friends and family. You can set up a monthly draft in your bank account that sends a certain amount into a savings account every month to be used at Christmastime.
Even now at the beginning of December, you and your spouse can sit down together and decide what your budget is for holiday spending. It’s easy to start to see Christmas as only a time of gift-giving, but it’s about so much more than that. Our goal is to celebrate Jesus and to be more in the presence of God than it is to focus on “stuff”. Gift-giving is a big part of the holiday season, but it’s okay to set limits. Be realistic, and if it means cutting back on other expenses, that’s something you can do for the month of December to avoid a big credit card bill in January.
One thing that financial experts notice about holiday spending is that parents often over-emphasize the needs and wants of their kids, maybe even superimposing their own feelings onto their kids. That’s something to be aware of. You can set a lower dollar amount, maybe limit the number of presents, and be mindful of whether or not you’re trying to recreate or make up for your own Christmases as a child.
Good Principles to Live By
As far as credit cards go, and this applies even outside of the holidays, you have to know yourself and your patterns as a spender. Is your credit card how you purchase everything, and you’re paying it off at the end of each month? Or it is a slippery slope where once you start to build up a balance, it can run away from you? Ask yourself honestly, "Am I really great at paying off my credit card or can this become scary for my family?"
Just as in any area in life, it’s a good idea to find a wise advisor. You can definitely start with taking a Financial Peace University class based on Dave Ramsey’s money principles. If you're having issues with debt and overspending, this program will teach you the basics of paying down debt. After that, you can also have a local advisor that you sit down with on a regular basis to get advice about investing, from retirement to college accounts for your kids.
When you were growing up, it’s possible that money wasn’t talked about very much. You didn’t know how much your parents made, what their mortgage cost, and you certainly didn’t know the financial state of your friends – other than seeing outward things like cars and vacations. It’s much more acceptable now to talk about money openly. One of the best ways to learn is to have conversations about money, even if it’s just asking your friends what their grocery budget is.
While you may ultimately want to get to the point where you’re investing and can retire comfortably, you need to start wherever you’re at, whether you’re having trouble paying regular bills, if you’ve accumulated debt, or you struggle with overspending. Once you have a handle on those things, you can start to bless others. You can think about how not to be a burden to your children as you age.
Teaching Kids About Money
One of the best things you can do with your kids is to invest with them – show them how money works. You can talk with them, and terms are important, but if they can see how money grows, that’s a real-life lesson that will stay with them. It’s like the difference between telling them to change a tire and being able to show them how to change a tire. If you show them, they’ll have a much better chance of being successful.
One concept Dave Ramsey talks about, for adults and children alike, is that that people are, for the most part, either naturally gifted at saving or naturally gifted at spending. At first the saver can seem to be more money-savvy. But saving can turn to hoarding if a heart of generosity is not cultivated. The spender may be generous but can burn through their money if not careful. So you want to help each type to balance out their money tendencies.
An easy way to help kids learn how to manage money is to teach them that there are three avenues they should be taking with it. They should set some money aside for spending, some for saving, and some for giving. Make sure that you model giving for your kids – giving to the local church, to friends in need, to charities that help others in Jesus’ name.
Tithes and Offerings
There are passages in the Old Testament that talk about giving God a tithe, or 10%, of your income. But God also asked his people to sacrifice and give at other times and in other ways – times that it was more than 10%. In the New Testament, there’s not a specific command to give 10%, but there are many passages that talk about giving to the poor and being a cheerful giver – essentially, being as generous as we can.
People who struggle financially may feel like they’re sinning if they’re not able to give 10%. What we’d like to do is encourage you to give where you’re at: if all you can do is give 1%, start there and begin to work on a budget that will allow you to give more. Commit to regular giving and increase the amount you give over time.
Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is
Being attentive to the needs of others allows us to embody the love and compassion of Jesus in tangible ways. By seizing opportunities to help others, we not only fulfill our Christian calling but also create pathways for further ministry and connection.
Recognizing that our financial choices reflect our values can lead us to a greater understanding of stewardship, reminding us to trust in God's provision. Ultimately, when we act with generosity, we become vessels of blessing in our communities, and even our small gifts of faith can be multiplied in the lives of others.
If you want to know how to sign up for the next Financial Peace class at The Crossing or have a question about your finances, you can email Molly Harville: molly.harville@thecrossingchurch.com
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