Its All About Christmas

Debbie Dragon asked:

It’s that time of year again – for those of us who are financially disciplined, you’ve either already completed your 2008 holiday shopping or you’ve got the money set aside and ready to go. For the rest of us, we’ve only just barely thought about Christmas shopping – and believe it or not, the big day is just 49 shopping days away! If you’re dreaded the holiday season because you don’t know where the money is going to come from to purchase your gifts – this guide will come in handy. Here are # ways to save money on your 2008 Christmas shopping:

Become an Amazon.com Associate

You know what an affiliate is, right? Amazon Associates can offer someone else’s products for sale and earn a commission for any sales generated. Sign up, create links for the items you need to buy, and purchase through your own links. You’ll get back some money in commission.

Visit CouponCodes.com for Discounts

Couponcodes.com offers coupon codes that can be used when shopping online. The site gives you a wide variety of coupon codes for each retailer listed on the site – but if there aren’t any coupons available it will offer up details on current sales or discounts available. There are a number of sites that offer coupons, take a look to find the sites offering coupons for the stores you shop most often.

Use FatWallet.com for Cash Back

Do all your holiday shopping through FatWallet.com (you’ll probably find all of your favorite retailers there), and earn cash back between 1% and 20%. It’s a bit like using a credit card with cash back – except that it’s the website itself that gives you cash back for purchases. The money is applied to your FatWallet account, and you can redeem it as soon as you’ve reached a $10 minimum. Once logged in, keep your eye on special offers – during the holiday season, some retailers offer higher amounts of cash back to encourage shoppers to buy from them.

Comparison Shop with PriceGrabber.com

When you know what you’re shopping for, go to PriceGrabber.com, type in the product name and then compare. You’ll see several retailers offering your item for sale, as well as the prices. You might be surprised at how differently items are priced at different stores! This allows you to see at a glance which store has your item for the smallest price tag. As an additional incentive to use PriceGrabber.com to find your items; some products offer $5 bonus for reviews. After you buy the item and submit a review, the site will give you $5 for your time.

Don’t Forget Your Sunday Paper

Throughout the year, you can find coupons for local stores in your Sunday newspaper. Between November and December, the number of coupons and the value of the coupons increase considerably. It is not unusual to find $5 off a purchase of $10 or $15 at your favorite local department store in the paper, so keep your eye out for coupons and special sale fliers and use them whenever you can to save money.

Friends and Family Discounts

If you know people who work in retail stores that you want to shop in, ask them if the store participates in a friends and family discount program. Many stores allow their employees to offer a discount to their friends and family on certain days or on certain items.

Outlet Stores

You can get everything from food to clothing to furniture and toys at discount prices at outlet stores. Typically the items are slightly less than perfect, so be sure to inspect them before buying but sometimes they are simply “last season” or overstock items that are sold at reduced prices to get them off the sales floor.

Convert Your Credit Card Rewards Points

Many credit cards allow you to turn reward points in for gift cards. Get some and give them as gifts or slide them into your significant other’s stocking!

Joseph Kenny asked:

As Christmas approaches, many of us in the UK will be considering taking out a new credit card to purchases those all essential gifts. With a plethora of card offers out there, deciding which card,if any, is best for you can seem a little daunting

What follows are some useful tips and advice that hopefully will help make your decision a little easier and clearer.

Loyalty/Bonus Cards

As people’s circumstances vary so do the credit card deals on offer. If you intend to clear your bill each month, the interest rate on your card becomes irrelevant as you won’t have to pay it. Therefore you should consider going for a card that offers some form of loyalty bonus such as redeemable points, cashback or air miles.

Interest-Free Offers

These cards are particularly useful for those don’t clear their balance each month. Shop around for cards that offer 0% interest on balance transfers and purchases. The length of these offers tend to vary, so choose one that is appropriate to you needs i.e whether you intend to use the card mainly for purchases or a balance transfer.

Some cards allow you up to 59 days to pay for purchases before being charged interest on them, thus giving you some breathing space to pay for your goods or/and services.

Special Offers

One way to save money on your card debt is to take advantage of the many debt-transfer offers available from most banks. These offers are usually exclusive to new customers and allow you to pay off your debt from a more expensive card at a lower rate for a limited period.

Cash

Although you can withdraw cash from ATM’s with your credit card, it is best left as a last resort as, although convenient, you will pay for the privillage through a steep interest rate.

Plus Points

Using the plastic to pay for expensive items such as jewellery, electrical goods or goods bought online, gives you the piece of mind of consumer protection i.e under the Consumer Credit Act, the card company are liable ( as is the seller of said goods or services) if there is a breach of contract.

This is especially handy if the goods either arrive faulty/damaged or don’t arrive at all due to the supplier, for example, going bust. If any of these scenarios were to arise, you should have the money spent redeemed to your credit card.

Charges

Most cards will levvy a charge against you if you fail to pay your monthly repayment on time, with penalties usually around £20. You will also incurr a charge if you go over your set credit limit. Setting up a direct debit to make your monthly payment will eliminate the possibility of being late with your monthly payment and thus avoid that nasty charge.

What Card Then?

Deciding what credit card to apply for really depends on your personal circumstances and requirements.

If, for example, you intend to do some serious short-term shopping, a card that offers, say six month interest free on purchases, would be more suitable.

If you know in advance you wil be unable to clear the balance in the short term, then a card that offers a low rate for the lifetime of the balance, would be suitable as you will save a graet deal in interest paymnets compared with a card that resorts to a higher rate after any offers expire.

If you are able to clear your balance each month, then going for a card that offers rewards, such as cashback on purchases, would be most prudent.

Adam Lass asked:

Double your money as Sears gives away the store six months early.

Just how desperate are things going to get for American retailers? Waaayyy desperate.

We already know that the optimistic early reports regarding consumer confidence were way off the mark. Rather than the nice rise they were hinting, or even just a modest, flat run, we saw a plunge from 54.8 in May to 49.3 in June. This is a critical setback far beyond the net loss of 5.5 points, as it moves the index back into the negative zone below 50 (wherein consumers generally feel that things stink).

Personally, I was always rather suspicious of that May reading, as most of the raw data that the conference board supposedly considers was downright awful, and yet they managed to gin up a positive report that flew in the face of all evidence – and most all common sense.

Of even greater import, I saw that the pros – the big outfits and funds that move the market – weren’t buying it either. The sell signal was clear as day on the charts, so I told my readers at the time to short the dickens out of all of that misplaced optimism.

An Easy Target

In early June, Sears (SHLD:NYSE) was on a bit of a tear, having put on some 44 points since its nadir at $26.80 back in November of 2008. The same sell signal that was showing up in retail stocks in general was showing up in spades in the SHLD chart. This would be like shooting ducks in a barrel. (Or something like that. Not that I would ever shoot captive ducks – that would be wrong.)

Since that moment of giddy misplaced optimism, SHLD shares have fallen some 25%, and the options I recommended have gained more than 34%. But I truly do not believe this run is over in any way, shape or fashion.

There is, of course, all that economic overhang Justice and I have been discussing for the past few weeks. And the charts for both retail and SHLD continue to look downright miserable, indicating to my eye that Wall Street knows darn well both the sector and company are losers.

A Most Unsettling Offer

But, beyond all that, I have one unerring signal that tells me that Sears is totally screwed. But I have to forewarn you, it is so disgusting that it may turn your stomach.

The following is a link to Sears’ latest promotional effort: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/dap_10153_12605_DAP_Christmas+Lane?adCell=W3

They call it Christmas in July. And if you can stand the incessant, saccharine, synthesized holiday music that will hijack your PC (I couldn’t turn it off without shutting down my laptop), and eerie snow-covered cartoon landscape, you might discover that Sears is already offering massive discounts and free shipping to anyone who will “FOR GOD SAKES BUY SOMETHING NOW – Please?”

Better yet, don’t actually buy something. Just give them money, put it on layaway, and they’ll pony up your stuff in December. If they don’t go bankrupt first.

Did he say bankrupt? Oh yeah! Remember the last time someone promised you Christmas in July? It was GM, who subsequently borrowed billions from Washington before closing long-time dealers, welching on its debt, screwing shareholders and declaring bankruptcy. I figure those puts will be good for a double at the least.

A Gift You Can Really Use

Tell you what – I will show you how to find a genuine Christmas in summertime. This week I will be drawing up the list of charts I will review at Taipan’s Chicago conference. I will, of course, look into the overall situation for the S&P 100 (OEX), as well as gold and the U.S. dollar. I will also be digging into the various sectors looking for leading indicators for the rest of the year.

But if you e-mail me this week at alass@taipandaily.com, I will be glad to apply the same analysis I used on SHLD to some of the stocks or sectors of your choice and bring the charts to the meeting in August. Please keep in mind that I may get swamped as a result of this offer. So it’s strictly first come, first served. Also, I cannot give out individual investment advice. (That’s your broker’s sole preserve, so this info should be used only as generalized leading indicators as to the health of the market on the whole.)

In other words, if you ask me what you should do about your uncle’s 10 shares of Xerox, I’m going to ignore you. But if you want to know where manufacturing or oil or tech or such are headed, please write in and we’ll see about getting your chart up on the screen.

http://www.taipanpublishinggroup.com/taipan-daily-071309.html

Marc Hill asked:

As high school years wind down, parents begin contemplating how they will pay for their children’s college tuition. For those who are tackling this question for the first time, and for some who are tackling the question for the second, third, or fourth time, the mere consideration is enough to turn one’s head prematurely gray. But, for those who receive good advice, gray hair can be postponed for a few more years.

Worried about skyrocketing college costs, parents of high school seniors often suggest that grandparents make donations to their grandchild’s college fund in lieu of holiday gifts. If they’re financially able to do so, most grandparents happily comply. After all, one reason they’ve accumulated their wealth is to help younger generations achieve success, including going to college. Unfortunately, their generosity can devastate their family’s finances.

What most parents, grandparents and even financial planners don’t realize is that the timing of financial gifts is critical in determining how much their family pays for college. As innocent as it seems, receiving a monetary holiday gift could not only cause your child to lose scholarship and other forms of gifted aid, but could also cause you to be expected to contribute more towards your child’s educational costs.

Many parents turn to the U.S. government to find supplemental money to help pay for college. To determine eligibility for this money, which can be in the form of either gifted aid or preferred loans, families are required to fill out the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA).

The FAFSA is used to determine the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which in most cases is the minimum dollar amount a college anticipates a family to contribute toward their child’s education in any given school year. Families with more money have a higher EFC than families that are less well-off who are not expected to contribute as much toward the cost of college.

A higher EFC also indicates a student does not need financial help in the form of scholarships and other types of gifted aid, which do not require repayment. Instead, the student may only qualify for loans and other forms of assistance that require repayment, which can result in thousands of dollars in interest charges.

The EFC calculation is primarily based upon an assessment of parental and student income and asset values. The income and assets attributable to the student are assessed at a higher rate than those of the parents.

When cash gifts are given to high school seniors for Christmas or Hanukkah, the money is in the child’s name and bank account when the family completes the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in January. Hence, this gift is assessed at the child’s higher rate.

The bottom line? Between the increased Expected Family Contribution and the potential loss of gifted aid, that $5,000 gift at Christmas given to your granddaughter during her senior year of high school could feasibly cost her a total of $3,000 or more over the course of her college career. This reduces grandma’s generous gift of $5,000 to only $2,000. The good news is that you can avoid these painful consequences by ensuring that your gift is given at the right time and in the right way.

Saving money is only one consideration when putting a child through college. To fully leverage your educational investments, you have to understand how the financial aid formula will be affected by how and when you use your investments. The choices you make – even those as simple as giving Grandma holiday gift ideas for your son or daughter – could cost or save your family tens of thousands of dollars.

Daniel Hicks asked:

You’d probably be a bit disappointed if that was what you got for Christmas anyway. The point is that a self managed super fund (SMSF) is a serious commitment and not one that should not be taken lightly. At a time when many investors are turning to self managed super funds out of dissatisfaction with their existing arrangements, I’d like to discuss some of the good and bad reasons for initiating an SMSF. Some of these factors may not seem important in the heat of the moment, but just like buying a puppy, an SMSF is not something you can easily give up if it becomes too much hard work. If you’re thinking about heading down this path this might help you to decide if it’s the right way for you to go. If you’re already managing your own fund it will hopefully help you to decide if you’re in the right place.

The good reasons for running an SMSF

Ultimate control

A self managed super fund allows you and up to three other member/trustees to have ultimate control over many aspects of your superannuation. Within the confines of the regulations, you can choose what the fund can and can’t do such as paying out a transition to retirement pension, arranging insurance which is individually suited to the member’s needs or choosing what the fund invests in. Most of these options will generally be available through a managed fund or master trust structure however there may be greater flexibility to tailor appropriate options within an SMSF.

Reduced fees

A lot has been said about appropriate minimum balances for self managed super funds with suggestions ranging between $100,000 and $250,000. This is generally because of high flat dollar costs. Managed funds will usually have zero start-up costs (some may have entry commissions which can usually be avoided depending on the fund and the adviser) and a small ongoing flat dollar fee of say $100 to $200 with the remaining ongoing fee calculated as a percentage of the total investment value (anywhere from .5% to 3% depending on the fund and the investment option). Self managed super funds will usually have a set-up fee of $1,000 or more plus a much higher flat dollar fee usually starting at about $1,000 (and as much as $5,000 to $10,000 or more depending on the size and complexity of the fund). An SMSF may have no percentage based ongoing fee or there may be additional costs associated with the investment management depending on the investment style employed.

On a super balance of $10,000, a $1,000 fee represents 10% of the value of the fund; it is not a sustainable option. On a super balance of $500,000, even a $5,000 fee represents only 1% of the value of the fund. Depending on the complexity and cost of the administration and also the investment strategy employed and the associated fees, an SMSF can be very expensive but it can also be one of the cheapest options available.

Because you don’t mind the paperwork

There is definitely extra work involved in setting up a self managed super fund. You can usually pay someone to assist you with just about every part of the process however ultimate responsibility for managing the fund in line with the regulations remains with the members/trustees. You therefore need to be comfortable with the fact that there will be some extra administrative burden. Of course the more responsibility you may be able to take on yourself the more you may be able to save in fees. You should be conscious however that there are regulations to be adhered to in running an SMSF and there may be serious penalties for not complying with those regulations.

Access to otherwise unavailable investment options

Providing that they also are in line with the regulations (specifically the sole purpose test which is to provide retirement or death benefits to its members) SMSFs can choose from a wide range of investment options which may not be available through a traditional managed fund structure. When investing in a managed super fund you generally have a list of investment options to choose from. On selecting a particular option your money is generally pooled with the money of potentially thousands of other investors. This can have its advantages but you will have little visibility of what your money is ultimately invested in and little control other than to change your investment option.

Within an SMSF you can invest in either direct investments or managed funds and you have the capacity to take greater control of your investment. You could hold cash in the bank, artwork, a property (potentially with gearing) some direct Australian shares and maybe units in a managed fund invested into Asian growth stocks (or whatever the case may be). You can choose to have an adviser assisting you with some or all of these investment decisions or you may choose to make all of the investment decisions yourself.

Manage your own investments (aware that it’s not easy)

The option of having complete control over their investments is a very appealing one. Many individual investors have built up a wealth of knowledge and experience and are very capable of managing their own investments. One example that I have seen several times over is that of property investors who have honed their skills outside of superannuation, built up a sufficient balance and are now replicating their strategy within their super. This is of course something that can only be done via an SMSF.

Other investors with experience investing in shares have built up diversified share portfolios which have performed consistently well over time. Whatever the investment strategy, some choose to manage their own investments due to a well founded belief in their own ability, they may enjoy making their own investment decisions or they may wish to learn and improve their skills over time in a real world situation. For most people it is probably a mix of all three.

On its own, the desire to manage your own investments may not necessarily be enough of a reason for running an SMSF. Many managed super platforms provide access to ASX listed shares, fixed interest and other styles of listed investments in addition to managed funds. Depending on other factors, it may be cheaper and easier to achieve your desire to manage your own investments without setting up an SMSF.

The bad reasons for running an SMSF

Because you have a high super balance

Some investors and advisers regard the size of the super balance (either of individual members or the total balance) to be of utmost importance when deciding whether or not to set-up a self managed super fund. A high balance may be part of the reason for initiating an SMSF as it can result in lower overall fees than alternative options and it can also allow for investments into assets such as direct property that may not be accessible on a smaller balance. At the same time, many super platforms have tiered fees which can result in lower percentage costs the higher the balance or even capped fees. They may also provide access to a diverse mix of investments such as ASX listed shares for example. The other benefits of self managed super may not be of interest to some investors, regardless of their balance.

To manage your own investments (thinking that it’s easy)

Whereas many investors are well placed to take on the management of their superannuation, some may not have the appropriate level of commitment, knowledge or experience to get the most out of their super ongoing. Of course we’ve all seen the competitions where the guy throwing darts at the newspaper outperforms the stockbroker and the economist in picking stocks but I think we’d also prefer not to have that guy managing our super.

After the past 18 months, many investors that I speak to just want to “get out”, “get me into cash” and perceive an SMSF as the only way to achieve this.  I obviously can’t argue with them when they say that they would have been x thousands of dollars better offer if they had spent that period in cash, but there is also a real risk that these same investors will be still sitting in cash 5 or 10 years from now, having lost out in the downturn and not benefited from the recovery.

Of course if you really want to invest in cash or if it’s appropriate for your situation, most managed funds have cash, stable or even capital guaranteed investment options. If they don’t it’s usually a simple process to move into one that does. Often in these situations it is about educating people as to the power and control that they do actually have over their existing investments and encouraging them to be pro-active and to exercise that control as appropriate.

For example, many people aren’t aware that most diversified managed funds invest in line with a mandate (such as 80% growth and 20% defensive assets) and couldn’t have moved into a more conservative mix 18 months ago even if they knew what was coming. This is small consolation and may sound ridiculous to some, but ongoing it is a healthy reminder that you need to be pro-active and involved to get the most out of your super, whether it is invested in a managed or self-managed environment.

Because an adviser tells you to

First of all, a good adviser will make a recommendation based on their considered opinion regarding the best course of action for your situation. Having said that, be very careful if an adviser tells you should start up an SMSF (be very careful if an adviser tells you to do anything!). Despite some movements in the right direction, vested interests abound in adviser world. The reality is that most financial planners probably won’t recommend an SMSF as it usually doesn’t make sense to then invest funds held in the SMSF into a managed fund (the preferred investment and fee vehicle for the majority of financial advisers). The reason is that this generally results in one or more unnecessary layers of fees and may also result in unnecessary layers of investment management with both the adviser and the fund manager having a say in where the funds are invested (which rather defeats the SM part of the SMSF).

Even where an adviser does recommend an SMSF it may not always be for the right reasons. Accountants for example will often recommend the structure for the same reason that financial planners won’t. Many accountants are not licensed to provide financial product advice and are therefore unable to recommend a commission or fee-paying investment. They are usually capable of advising and therefore charging fees on the set-up and ongoing administration of a self managed super fund. I have spoken to many people that find themselves in an SMSF not meeting any of the criteria detailed above and paying thousands of dollars a year in management, administration and audit fees.

Recommending an SMSF may also be the sales path of least resistance for the adviser (accountant or planner). A new or prospective client sits down in front of an adviser and they currently have good reason to be upset (whether or not somebody is actually to blame). The adviser could try and convince them that the markets will turn and that managed funds aren’t to blame, or they could empathise with the client and direct them towards an SMSF, whether or not it is appropriate for their situation.

Revenge

I’m sort of joking with this one, but not really. Politicians, telephone companies, banks, fund managers and financial advisers often bare the brunt of public discontent. Investors fed-up with the performance of their investment or flaws (real or perceived) associated with their existing superannuation set-up may choose to take their bat and ball and go play elsewhere. Understandable though this may be, it often results in investors spending time and money setting up and maintaining SMSFs that end up invested in cash for long periods of time (and not for good considered reasons) or even worse, that end up investing straight back into the managed funds or master wraps giving them none of the advantages and all of the disadvantages of the two structures.

Before jumping into an SMSF make sure that you have ticked at least some of the other “good reason” boxes detailed above, otherwise there may be better ways to achieve your objectives.

Daniel Hicks is Senior Financial Adviser with superannuation advisers Superworks Financial. For more information visit www.superworks.com.au

Peter Kenny asked:

getting to this time of year again, when your credit card is used a lot more than at any other time of the year. So much so that if it is not the credit card that is screaming for mercy then you will be when that first credit card statement after the festivities, falls on the doormat.

So what are the things that we can do to make this time of year be such a pleasure, that we are not dreading the Christmas period next year?

Make repayments cover the interest…

Here is a few suggestions that you should follow to make your Christmas remain white and not for it to cause you to go in to the red. Firstly, learn to know when you are over spending and you can see that you are accumulating debt that you cannot sustain. The first signs of this will be when the repayments that you making to your monthly statements, are only covering the cost of the interest charges. Check this out, for example if you are paying £200 towards your bill each month, look to see how much of this cash is actually going towards clearing the balance and how much is going on interest payments.

Stay away from minimum payments…

Secondly, do not stick to the minimum payments set by the credit card company, this will only see you slide further into debt at a much quicker rate. The credit card issuers have in recent years lowered the minimum payment; it now stands at 2% or a minimum of £5 of the total bill, this has dropped from the 5% that used to be the norm with repayments. The credit card issuers have looked to maximise profits by giving their customers they lower minimum repayments, meaning that they could spend more. This though is a false economy to the customer, as it only means that the less they pay back the more that the credit card companies make in interest charges.

This will lead to you struggling to actually reduce your debt, with the minimum payment being all that you can afford, if this is the case, STOP using the credit card immediately and look for ways in which you can reduce the debt as quickly and pain free as possible.

Use a 0% balance transfer card…

One way to do that is with a 0% Balance Transfer. Most credit cards are offering this facility at the moment and would be a good option to give you a little breathing space as with regards to the interest your bill will accumulate each month.

You will get credit card companies giving you 0% on a Balance Transfer from anything from 6 months to a year, which will stop you racking up any more interest on an already heavy burden. However, there is one thing that you should refrain from doing and that is using the credit card to make any more purchases, by doing so everything that you are striving to do to get your finances back to somewhere near normal, will only see you fall through a debt trapdoor that will slam shut, with no way out.

If you succeed in reducing your debt, learn from what went before and curb the level of spending on credit cards and work within a limit that you feel you are comfortable and manageable and in doing so you will be able to use your credit card to your advantage and not filling the already bulging coffers of the credit card companies.

For credit card advice please visit here http://www.creditcards-gb.co.uk/creditcardadvice.html

Follow these simple steps and have a wonderful Christmas

Regulate your spending Ensure your repayments at least cover the interest accrued Do not stick to minimum payments! (Very important) Look at some of the 0% balance transfer deals.

Benedict asked:

This the season to be jolly … and to spend lots of money, it would

seem. Christmas can be an enormous strain on the family budget. It’s

not just presents that you have to worry about – which itself can be a

nightmare as you battle with pressure from the kids for the latest

must-have toys and gadgets – but also food, drink and entertainment.

It’s therefore not surprising that Christmas is the time of year when

we notch up the most debt – although most of us really start to feel

the pinch in the start of the new year when we struggle to keep up with

household bills while continuing to pay for our Christmas indulgence.

Here are some tips on how to save money and avoid debt over the festive season.

First and foremost, remember that your family and friends will be

understanding if you are on a tight budget over Christmas and can’t

afford to be very extravagant. If anyone is expecting large gifts,

manage their expectations, especially kids. Let them know that Santa

can’t bring everything that they want – but that he’ll bring them very

good gifts all the same if they’ve been well behaved.

Don’t forget your normal budget – ensure that regular household

bills are paid as usual, such as council tax, utility bills, rent etc.

Remember that your priority is to keep a roof over your head.

Work out how much money you have left to spare for Christmas

after your normal budget and set your Christmas budget.

Save small amounts regularly throughout the year. You could even

open up a bank account specifically for Christmas savings to ensure

that it stays separate from the rest of your finances and to avoid the

temptation to spend it.

Try to spread your purchases throughout the year, even as far

back as January – you can get great bargains in the January sales! Leaving

it to the last minute means you’re more likely to panic and spend more

money – or put more on your credit card.

Don’t be tempted by credit offers in shops – this is just storing

up trouble for the future. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. Also

beware of cheap deals and rates before Christmas – chances are the APR

will be hiked up in the new year.

If you have to get a loan or a credit card, shop around for the

best deal as you would at any other time of year, and leave yourself

plenty of time so that you don’t sign up for anything in a panic at the

last minute.

Make deals with family or friends not to give each other presents,

or agree on a fixed maximum price that you will spend on each other.

Do a present exchange – a secret Santa or a lucky dip – with

groups of friends or colleagues so that everyone in the group buys just one

gift. It can be fun getting together to do the exchange. In a secret

Santa, everyone’s names are put in a hat and each person pulls out a

name for whom they must secretly buy a present. It’s quite good as you

know who you’re buying for so you can get them something you think

they’ll like. With a lucky dip, everyone simply buys a present that

would be suitable for anyone, and they all get put into a sack and

pulled out one by one at random.

If you can’t afford to do rounds on your Christmas night out with

work colleagues or friends, just ask if you can pay for your own drinks

– they won’t be offended. An even cheaper option is to go tee-total and

drive!

If you’re entertaining others at Christmas, you don’t need buy

and prepare all the food and drink yourself – you could agree to share the

cost with your guests. Someone could organise the starter, someone else

the dessert, another person could bring the cheese and biscuits and yet

another could supply the drinks. In this way it can be a nice surprise

for everyone to see what everyone else has brought and you’re sure to

have plenty of variety!

Look out for postage and packaging costs if you’re doing your

Christmas shopping online – sometimes this can add a lot to the price.

Try to find a site that sells what you want with the cheapest postage

costs, or try to plan your purchases and buy them all in the one order

so that you’re only charged once for delivery.

Make your own Christmas cards or perhaps even your own presents

if you’re the creative type – the personal touch is often nicer anyway.

You could make up your own gift hamper, bake your own cakes or

chocolates or buy a photo frame and fill it with a collection of

special memories for someone.

Don’t despair if it all goes wrong, though. There are lots of

organisations that can help you. The most important thing to do is

acknowledge your debt problem and act quickly before you get in too

deep. The Citizens Advice Bureau (www.adviceguide.org.uk) can offer

free and impartial guidance and advice, as can the government

Insolvency Service (www.insolvency.gov.uk) and the Consumer Credit

Counselling Service (www.cccs.co.uk).

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:

Christmas is a time of joy for lots of people and the various Christmas charities that are found at this time help many different people. One of the most seen charities that can be found is that of the Salvation Army. Charities like this are able to give various services to people who need help during the winter season.

The Christmas charities like that of the Salvation Army provide needy families with good, hot food and a nourishing drink. Besides these items the Salvation Army charity can help out in winter time by ensuring that various families or homeless people have a warm place to live during the winter season besides that of the streets.

With the help of Christmas charities these various people are given the care that somehow slips by them due to many reasons. To make sure that they are able to provide the care that some people in society needs, these Christmas charities depend on donations made by people who have heard about them.

The donations that can be given to the Christmas charities generally don’t have to be monetary ones. They do however have to be a form of donation that the charity can use. This means that any donations of food should be in the form of canned, dried or non-perishable food stuff.

You could if you have the time and money, give another type of donation to these Christmas charities. As this time of the year is usually cold the charities that run food and shelter services generally find that they are hard pressed to keep up with the people who need them.

For this reason if you can give a donation that is in the form of fully cooked warm meals this will be much appreciated by the people. Another way that you can help out Christmas charities out is by lending your time as a volunteer and help the people who come to these charity centers looking for help.

Of course since most of the Christmas charities are not that well publicized they are seldom known of. If you are interested in helping such a charity you could do a charity search to find a list of the various charities that are located in your area. With this information you will be able to provide monetary funds, food, clothing, medical supplies and other items that are sorely needed by these charities.

So the next time that you are thinking of providing some help to a charity you should see if you can find any Christmas charities that are listed in your area. You will be surprised by how much help you have the ability to provide.

Martin Bottomley asked:

With Christmas fast approaching and another New Year almost upon us, it hardly seems possible that 2007 is already reaching a close.

Around this time every year the TV will undoubtedly be showing one of the many versions of “A Christmas Carol” originally written by Charles Dickens in which Scrooge is visited three ghosts – The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Future.

Many versions of this popular Christmas Classic have been filmed over the years, and even Bill Murray has starred in one of the more humorous versions. My personal favourite is the 1951 version starring Alistair Sim.

In the story, Scrooge – a very mean, money hungry and unkindly man – is shown the error of his ways by the three ghosts. The first ghost shows him where he went wrong in the past. The second, how he is now viewed by his peers and the final ghost shows him what the future holds if he does not change his ways.

So how does your forex trading stack up to the scrutiny of the three forex ghosts this Christmas?

How did you fare in the past year? Was your trading up to the standard that you would wish it to be? Or did your trading leave much to be desired?

Did you exercise caution and patience measured with self discipline? Did you plan the trade and then trade the plan or were you so money hungry that you simply threw caution to the wind and traded every rumour and tip that you heard?

When examined by the ghost of forex present, how did you do? Was 2007 a profitable year or could it have been better? Did you have a plan or trading system and stick to it? Are you able to acknowledge that you are where you are right now as a direct result of your own decisions – good or bad?

As can bee seen from “A Christmas Carol”, it is never too late to change your ways!

If your trading has been less profitable and less pleasurable than it might have been, take a leaf out of Scrooges book and mend your ways.

Never trade without a plan or system. Always have the discipline to stick to that plan or system. Understand that trading is about winning and losing and accept both with good grace, but make sure that your plan or system consistently gives you more wins than losses.

Remember that trading takes time and patience. Many traders fail not because they do not have the ability, but because they wrongly believe that they need to be in a live trade for most of the time that they are trading. In truth, successful traders spend more time watching and waiting than actually being in a live trade.

Be generous. If you have made money this year – give some to a worthy cause.

Before we know it, Christmas 2008 will be knocking on the door. Make sure that if the forex ghosts visit you next Christmas, you will have had a year to be joyous about.

And on that note, I would like to wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Most Prosperous New Year.

Peter Kenny asked:

tmas Time, Mistletoe and Wine” How many times have you heard this so far and its only November? A few I’ll bet, but with Christmas seemingly becoming earlier to us each year, we will no doubt feel the need to get ahead with our present and food buying. This though only leads to us spending more than we should. This is because with the shops full of decorations and Christmas tunes, the stores are dictating to us that we have to buy our gifts now, which will mean by the time December has come and gone. We would have spent more over the 2-month period that the shops have been full of Christmas cheer.

This is not all bah! Humbug.

Personally for the occasion alone and seeing the kids faces when they open their presents on Christmas morning, as Christmas is a special time of year that for the day makes all the preparation and spending all worth while.

But that doesn’t mean that it comes without cost and in some cases more of a cost than folk can ill afford. For all of its pomp and occasion, Christmas can come at a heavy price to bear for a lot of people who, rather than let their children and family down, will turn to the promise of riches that credit cards and store cards offer.

Don’t get me wrong, credit cards and even store cards, have their uses. This is only true though, if you only use them to your advantage, to get the best out of them. If you are thinking of taking one or the other, then the only suggestion that I can make is to plump for the credit card, over the store card.

We all want to enjoy this time of year, so by getting all that you want to do this and in doing so, save cash and not to fall heavily into debt, will make the festivities all the more enjoyable. So by giving you a few advantages and disadvantages, which credit cards and store cards entail, will hopefully go a long way on helping you make the right decisions.

Firstly the advantages of credit cards:

• More favourable interest rates than a store card.
• Many offers on the market, which are giving you an interest free period.
• Some come with money back schemes that give you a percentage of your expenditure back to you. (Usually between 0.5%- 2%)
• Will protect your gifts, as soon as you have bought them.
• Lets you buy now and pay at a later date, only on what you have spent without incurring any interest charges.

Now the disadvantages:

• Can lead you to spend more than you can afford to pay back, which in turn will lead to the interest being charged to your account.
• They can come with a heavy hit in the pocket, with charges for late payments and going over your credit limit.

Advantages of the store card:

• Can use them as soon as you are accepted for the card.
• Initial discount (normally 10% off you first purchase) will give you a saving straight away.

Disadvantages:

• Overly high interest rates, which are well above those of a credit card. Some can be as much as 30%.
• Can lead you quickly to debt, if they are not cleared at the end of each month.
• Sold to the customer, by assistants who know absolutely nothing about what they are selling.