Before you jump in with your thoughts... We're well aware that "Thanksgiving isn't even here yet!" But even though Christmas is still a ways off, the best financial strategy is to plan ahead. So, dust off that Christmas budget and get ready to take some notes! Josh and Austin are about to reveal 10 tips on how to financially prepare for the holiday season. Stay tuned – you won't want to miss it!
For the full transcript, links, and resources, visit theinvesteddads.com/199
Sign up for our exclusive newsletter here!
The Invested Dads: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Before you jump in with your thoughts... We're well aware that "Thanksgiving isn't even here yet!" But even though Christmas is still a ways off, the best financial strategy is to plan ahead. So, dust off that Christmas budget and get ready to take some notes! Josh and Austin are about to reveal 10 tips on how to financially prepare for the holiday season. Stay tuned – you won't want to miss it!
For the full transcript, links, and resources, visit theinvesteddads.com/199
Sign up for our exclusive newsletter here!
The Invested Dads: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Spotify | Apple Podcasts
Welcome to The Invested Dads Podcast, simplifying financial topics so that you can take action and make your financial situation better. Helping you to understand the current world of financial planning and investments, here are your hosts, Josh Robb and Austin Wilson.
Austin Wilson:
All right. Hey, hey, hey, welcome back to The Invested Dads Podcast, a podcast where we take you on a journey to better your financial future. I am Austin Wilson, Co-Portfolio Manager at Hixon Zuercher Capital Management.
Josh Robb:
I'm Josh Robb, Director of Wealth Management at Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. Austin, how can people help us with our podcast?
Austin Wilson:
We would love it if you'd subscribe if you're not subscribed, so you get new episodes when they come out on Thursdays. If you would not mind leaving us a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify, that would help us to be found so that more people can find us and listen to us, and, hopefully, we can help more people. So, today, Josh, are you ready?
Josh Robb:
I'm ready.
Austin Wilson:
Have yourself a financially wise Christmas. May your checkbook be bright. From now on, your gifts will be out of sight. Do you hear those sleigh bells ringling, jing jinga jingling, too?
Josh Robb:
I tell you what, just from the store standpoint, Christmas shows up fast.
Austin Wilson:
It's already getting there. So early.
Josh Robb:
It's like 4th of July and Christmas.
Austin Wilson:
It's absolutely right. Yeah, you get one week of pumpkin spice, and then it's junk that fills your house for Christmas.
Josh Robb:
It's like an overlap. It's going to be peppermint pumpkin spice going forward, which is just a weird combo.
Austin Wilson:
Eventually, I think they're probably just going to... You have everything out all year round, and you can just...
Josh Robb:
Choose an aisle.
Austin Wilson:
Choose an aisle. Imagine the sales you'd get.
Josh Robb:
No, I don't know.
Austin Wilson:
You get your Christmas stuff in June.
Josh Robb:
Well, that's the nice thing, though. I like to buy when the season ends that are on sale.
Austin Wilson:
I know. I know. That's true.
Josh Robb:
Especially Christmas lights.
Austin Wilson:
Get those things in January.
Josh Robb:
If I'm a better forward planner than I really am, I should just stock up on some of those things.
Austin Wilson:
Today we are going to be talking about 10 ways, 10-
Josh Robb:
Austin Wilson:
A round, even, lovely number to have yourself a financially wise Christmas because Christmas can be a stressful thing financially speaking.
Josh Robb:
That's right.
Austin Wilson:
A lot of people don't plan for it. A lot of people don't put a lot of thought into it until it's too late, and we would like to prevent people from doing that. So we've got 10 tips, 10 ideas, 10 thoughts of ours, and then our own opinions, of course.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
That's going to hopefully help you out. Without further... Purdue, further urdue, further...
Josh Robb:
Ado. Ado.
Austin Wilson:
It's French, A-D-I-E-U.
Josh Robb:
Is that how you spell it?
Austin Wilson:
Without further ado-
Josh Robb:
Ado.
[2:36] - Creating a Christmas Spending Budget
Austin Wilson:
... we're going to start. So number one, and you're going to love this, Josh.
Josh Robb:
I'm ready.
Austin Wilson:
Create a Christmas budget.
Josh Robb:
Oh, man.
Austin Wilson:
If you use Excel, you can color code it, red and green.
Josh Robb:
Oh, my. Go ahead, Austin, ask me-
Austin Wilson:
Do you go over?
Josh Robb:
Ask me if my Christmas Excel budget is color coded? Ready?
Austin Wilson:
Josh, is your Christmas Excel budget color coded?
Josh Robb:
Yes, it is.
Austin Wilson:
Is it conditionally formatted, color coded?
Josh Robb:
Yes, it is.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, man.
Josh Robb:
But the title is red and green always because it's Christmas.
Austin Wilson:
Okay. Of course.
Josh Robb:
Then, yes, everything else flows in nice.
Austin Wilson:
I'd say that is excellent.
Josh Robb:
Yes, Excel-lent.
Austin Wilson:
So, yes, number one, create a Christmas budget because if you don't plan on how much to spend for Christmas... There's a number of different categories this is going to cover, but this is for the season, in general. But if you don't have an idea of what that's going to be, you can just be winging it and spend way too much, and that's not good.
Josh Robb:
No.
Austin Wilson:
So, yeah, go into the season determining how much you can afford to spend on Christmas and try and do it so that it doesn't wreck your financial world.
Josh Robb:
Yes.
Austin Wilson:
Here's some things to think about. It's not just gifts-
Josh Robb:
Not gifts.
Austin Wilson:
... because we live in a global world, or we live in a world where family's all over at least the country maybe. Might be some travel expenses, so think about that in advance. Maybe you're throwing some parties. Those can be expensive, especially if you bring out the good booze. Please do, and when you have the number-
Josh Robb:
Or making cinnamon rolls.
Austin Wilson:
Okay. Yeah. Josh's wife, best cinnamon rolls ever. Man, they are good.
Josh Robb:
They are good.
Austin Wilson:
I don't even know if they make it home every year because...
Josh Robb:
No, so good.
Austin Wilson:
I eat them when I get them. Yes, pioneer woman recipe. Fantastic.
Josh Robb:
You got budget for that.
Austin Wilson:
Got a budget for that. So, yes, maybe you're going to be giving gifts, making cookies, going on a trip, having people over for a party. Try and incorporate all of those categories into your overall... and decorations that's one.
Josh Robb:
I was going to say, if you hate untangling your lights every year, maybe you budget for just buying new lights because no matter how you wrap them, they are tangled the next year.
Austin Wilson:
New lights every year.
Okay. Pro tip, just get a pre-lit tree.
Josh Robb:
Well, I'm talking about in general. We do some lights outside. I use extension cord wraps for my lights, and it helps keep them a little bit less tangled at the end.
Austin Wilson:
Go in with all your categories and all your spending for the season in mind, and then have an idea of how much that's going to be because then you at least have an idea of what to plan and budget for, which we're going to talk about in a couple of numbers. But that's number one, create the budget.
Josh Robb:
But I'll tell you, too, when you have a budget, it makes it easier to spend that money because you know you've already accounted for it.
Austin Wilson:
Have license to-
Josh Robb:
So it makes, at least in my mind, Christmas buying a lot more fun.
Austin Wilson:
It's guilt free. Yep.
[5:16] - Making a Shopping List
All right. Number two, make a gift or shopping list. If you're going to be buying people gifts, and this is something that some more thoughts on in a little bit, but think about who you're buying gifts for. Write their names down or make an Excel sheet. My wife and I share an Apple note.
Josh Robb:
Oh yeah, that works.
Austin Wilson:
We have her family and my family and who we're buying gifts for, and then we put a budget next to them. Maybe it's $50, maybe it's a hundred dollars, whatever that is. Then we put next to that what we are buying them, and it's a checkable list, so when you get it done, you check it off, and you don't have to think about it.
Josh Robb:
Oh, nice.
Austin Wilson:
We do that because you back into how much per person or a dollar per person you have, and it's easy to figure out if you did your Christmas budget in step one. But this is a way that you can make sure everyone who you want to get a gift for has one, and you keep track of them when they're done. It's a great way to keep organized.
Josh Robb:
I'll say, too, it's helpful, especially if you start shopping early that two months from now, you're like how many presents do I have for this person because, again, we have four kids at home.
Austin Wilson:
One present each. That's it.
Josh Robb:
It's got to be even. Well, it's got to be even because kids don't care about how much it costs. They care how many gifts are under the tree. So sometimes you got to combine some gifts together or whatever.
Austin Wilson:
A hundred one-dollar gifts.
Josh Robb:
That's something to keep in mind. Those lists are nice. Steph... Again, my wife does an awesome job. She puts links in, so if Sawyer...
Austin Wilson:
That's a great idea.
Josh Robb:
My daughter loves Legos. If she has this Lego set in particular, hey, here's a link to it so you know exactly what it is, or here's a link to the shoes that they want, style, size, and all that.
Austin Wilson:
Links are great when you're shopping yourself, but they're also great when you send them to grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Josh Robb:
Oh, that's my point. It goes out to everybody. It goes out to everybody.
Austin Wilson:
It's like a registry.
Josh Robb:
If you tell them I want this, there's no guarantee they know exactly what that is. Especially technology.
Austin Wilson:
One thing that I hope people can have that conversation with, maybe it's you and your kids, and then you have that conversation with your parents is we really don't want to just fill our house with junk. We want to get the kids what they'll use and what they want-
Josh Robb:
Or they need.
Austin Wilson:
... or they need. Not just stuff to have stuff.
Josh Robb:
Stuff.
Austin Wilson:
Because when you bring a bunch of stuff in, you got to get rid of a bunch of stuff, and that's kind of a pain. So that is one thought.
Another thought is when you're looking at those gift lists for people, consider alternatives, some different ways you could gift, and maybe that's a homemade gift. This is one of my favorites, especially when you're looking for older people. Maybe it's your parents or your siblings or whatever, but these are not kids.
Josh Robb:
Experienced people.
Austin Wilson:
Experienced people, buy them experiences. What I like to do... You know what doesn't take up space in your house?
Josh Robb:
Hugs.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, Josh never does.
Josh Robb:
No.
Austin Wilson:
I've gotten one hug.
Josh Robb:
It's an expensive gift, expensive gift.
Austin Wilson:
It's an expensive gift.
No, I was thinking experiences.
Josh Robb:
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Austin Wilson:
It's a memory you're going to have forever. Take some pictures. It's a cool thing. But take your father-in-law to a football game. Doesn't take up space.
Josh Robb:
I was going to say we did that actually about a year ago or so. The Christmas gift was some tickets to a game he wanted to go to, a hockey game.
Austin Wilson:
That's what we're doing for our dads for their birthdays, kind of around the same time where I'm taking both of them to a concert.
Josh Robb:
There you go.
Austin Wilson:
They don't take up space, and we're going to have a great time. Consider homemade gifts, experiences. You can save money, but you can also save space by doing this.
Then another just note is when you have that list, stick to it. Don't go rogue. This is an opportunity to not be impulse buying when you're at the store. I don't like to go to a store. I buy everything online, so I can't really impulse buy.
Josh Robb:
I guess if you're scrolling through Amazon, maybe. You find something cool on the suggestion page.
Austin Wilson:
And eBay.
Josh Robb:
Oh, eBay, that's where you're at, Ebay.
Austin Wilson:
That's my impulse buy right there. Get all my clothes on eBay.
Josh Robb:
There you go.
[9:01] - Planning Ahead for the Holiday Season
Austin Wilson:
That's number two. Number three... Guess what? Christmas comes every year roughly on December 25th.
Josh Robb:
Oh, it seems about the same.
Austin Wilson:
Ish.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, kind of pops up there.
Austin Wilson:
Depends on leap year, of course. But, no, every year you're going to have a Christmas, so you know what you can do? You can start saving well in advance of Christmas, and guess what? You could even start like January.
Josh Robb:
You could start December 26th.
Austin Wilson:
Maybe you just look at your total Christmas spending from step one, total budget that included all your categories and just divide that by 12, and put that money into a savings account or whatever, one time a month. That'd be a great way to do it. Then, when you're shopping guilt free. You can shop all year long. It's great. That's one way to do that, and you can actually set up a separate savings account. You could even do cash, but I prefer a savings account for this and have it recurring, transferred-
Josh Robb:
Automatically.
Austin Wilson:
It's automatic. It's already taken care of. That's a nice way to do that. I would personally set up a high-year yielding savings account. In this day and age, you can probably get 4-1/2, 5%, which is great.
Josh Robb:
If you're waiting 12 months, get some money on it.
Austin Wilson:
You'll be able to get some nice interest on that as well. That's what I would do. Start saving early. Christmas comes every year at the same time, so don't wait till Christmas to be paying for Christmas.
Josh Robb:
Don't be shocked by it, or don't wait on a credit card to be paying for Christmas after it happened.
[10:24] - Shopping Strategically
Austin Wilson:
That can be a very expensive bill.
Number four, shop strategically. This is where planning-
Josh Robb:
While the store's open. Don't go when they're closed.
Austin Wilson:
While they're open, yeah. This is where planning ahead really comes into its own because if you like to shop, start shopping in January, you can get some heck of a sale on stuff, or as you get Amazon Prime days or you get this or those sales days, you can buy things when they're on sale, not just when everyone else is doing it from really October, late November through December when everyone's doing it, and that's when prices are the highest. Probably plan ahead, shop strategically. Especially shopping online, you can even compare. Don't just go to one place and buy everything.
Maybe that's Amazon. I have a habit of this. I love Amazon, but shop around. You can actually use Google to put in what you want to buy, and it'll show you where it's for sale and for how much. Shop around, do those things. What I like to do... and we're going to touch on this a little bit later, too, but if you're buying on Amazon, always go down and see if you can buy used.
Josh Robb:
Ooh, yeah.
Austin Wilson:
People have a problem with used gifts. We're going to get to that. But you can often save like 30, 40%, and it's probably in its package, new.
Josh Robb:
Probably, they just had bought it and-
[11:45] - Setting Spending Limits for Loved Ones
Austin Wilson:
And you can still return it. That's what I would do.
Number five, one of my personal favorites. Set spending limits with loved ones because everyone's in a different situation. You want to take that into consideration financially with what's going on in people's lives.
You want to make sure that, Josh, I don't buy you a Rolex, and then you get me a pack of gummy bears.
Josh Robb:
But you really like gummy bears.
Austin Wilson:
That seems like it would be really awkward. It's a very extreme example, like a $10,000 difference in prices, but you don't want to have that.
Josh Robb:
That expectation.
Austin Wilson:
It could be a little awkward at family Christmas when someone buys something extravagant and someone buys something that's a gag gift or funny and they're just awkward, right?
Josh Robb:
Yes, for sure.
Austin Wilson:
To say in advance with family, hey, let's keep it at 50 bucks or whatever. Then everyone's kind of looking at the same sort of thing. That's a cool way to do that. Hopefully, everyone stays within their budget. That's a thought as well.
But, better yet, and this is my personal preference, talk in advance about not buying gifts for people. You don't need to buy gifts for everyone. Then if you say, hey, talk to your siblings. You guys are family, you're close, hopefully, maybe we won't do sibling gifts this year. We can just do our parents and the kids, and we'll be able to do more and more fun stuff for them. But we don't need stuff. We're established adults who make money. Maybe that's one way to do this, or do some sort of game to buy gifts for one person, like a Secret Santa and you draw a name or something like that, then you don't need to have to feel obligated to buy gifts for everyone. The nice thing is other people won't feel obligated to get gifts for you, so everyone kind of wins.
That's the way our family does it is with our siblings and stuff, we're like, eh, listen, we have kids. We can get the kids stuff. That's fine. We love doing that. That's really fun to watch kids open stuff. But I don't need to get you this, and you don't need to get me anything. It's freeing, I think.
Josh Robb:
That's what we did. I'm one of five kids on my side of the family, and we're all married, so there's 10 in this group of adults, not counting all the grandkids that my parents have.
Austin Wilson:
Siblings and in-laws.
Josh Robb:
Yes. Between my siblings and in-laws, there's 10 of us adults, and we used to draw a name and buy, and then we thought, you know what's even better? We all like playing games, and when we get together, we'd play games. Let's do a board game. Each family buys one board game, five games. Sometimes my parents participate, six games. But the idea is then they're all wrapped and you do a little game. You pick a random one and open it, and then you can exchange or trade or all that fun stuff. But then you use it right there with your family.
Austin Wilson:
Oh, yeah.
Josh Robb:
It changed... I mean, board games, 15, 20 bucks at most.
Austin Wilson:
For the whole thing.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, so then it sets the limit, and it also has the expectation we're all going to get the same type of thing. That's a nice one. We enjoy it. Okay, five down.
Austin Wilson:
Five down, half to go.
[14:28] - Dad Joke of the Week
Josh Robb:
We're halfway there, so I got a dad joke for you.
Austin Wilson:
Living on a prayer.
Josh Robb:
All right, here's where we're at. What is-
Austin Wilson:
What is...
Josh Robb:
... a tree's least favorite month of the year?
Austin Wilson:
I mean, I would say fall because that sounds-
Josh Robb:
Not a month. I need a month.
Austin Wilson:
That's a season.
Josh Robb:
That's a season. Yes.
Austin Wilson:
No, I got no idea.
Josh Robb:
September.
Austin Wilson:
September.
Josh Robb:
Yep.
Austin Wilson:
That's a good one. Okay.
Josh Robb:
But it went along with fall for you.
Austin Wilson:
What? Fall is not a month, Josh.
Josh Robb:
It was close.
[14:59] - Using Your Skills as a Gift for Others
Austin Wilson:
All right, we got five to go. Then we're going to talk kind of a little bit about how we do things.
Number six, I talked on it a little bit, but really lean into that thinking of maybe you could do it yourself. Maybe you could do a project for your family, do a project for your sibling, do a project for your parents. That's going to be a really cost-effective way. Using your time and your skills maybe as that. Maybe more of the homemade things. Cook them a fancy dinner for a date night with their spouse or provide childcare. Maybe a younger person, that's a really good thing. If you're in your teens or early twenties with no kids, you can provide childcare for someone who is. Oh, gold.
Josh Robb:
Oh, that's a valuable gift.
Austin Wilson:
That's absolute valuable gift. Homemade gifts often have more sentimental value than store bought ones. If you and your kids did a project where you made a birdhouse for Nana, Nana's probably going to cherish that dang bird house more than the Rolex that you didn't get her.
Josh Robb:
Oh, love it. Yep.
Austin Wilson:
Why do I keep going back to that? I don't know. I want a Rolex.
Josh Robb:
You like the Rolex.
Austin Wilson:
I want a Rolex.
Josh Robb:
You're a watch guy.
Austin Wilson:
I want a Rolex.
Josh Robb:
Or it's taking a experience and reminding me of that. For instance, maybe you got pictures at a vacation and framing that. You could probably make your own frame if you wanted. But, in general, taking something that already was there, this picture, but then turning it into a lasting memory, or a book.
[16:26] - Keep Track of Your Master Shopping List
Austin Wilson:
Better yet, you could involve the person you're getting the gift for in making the gift. You could say, hey, we're going to make a picture frame together, and that'd be kind of fun. Just thinking about that.
Number seven, as we talked about having a list of how much and who you're buying for, be sure you keep track of that. When you buy a gift for someone, write down how much it costs or keep track of it in your red and green spreadsheet.
Josh Robb:
Red and green spreadsheet.
Austin Wilson:
Then you know, I spent this money, and you can keep a running total of how much you have left. Hopefully, you're close to budget. That's a good way to think about it. But keep track.
Josh Robb:
I suggest you track the gifts, you write down what you want and then whether you've purchased it yet or not, whether it's arrived because if you're ordering it. Then whether you've wrapped it because once it's wrapped, you don't know what's in there anymore, so it's a good way... That's how I track it all.
Austin Wilson:
You've got a lot of categories.
Josh Robb:
I do.
Austin Wilson:
You've got a pivot table on?
Josh Robb:
It's very nice... very, very concise.
[17:22] - Avoiding Last Minute Christmas Shopping
Austin Wilson:
Monitor your spending to make sure you're staying within your budget. You can use apps to do this. We've talked about this many times, but a simple spreadsheet or even a piece of paper if you don't lose it can be a very effective way to do this.
Number eight, and this kind of ties into what we were talking about with planning ahead. Avoid last minute shopping because last minute shopping can mean, well, maybe there's not a lot of stuff left and the stuff that is is very expensive, and you might overspend or impulse purchase. So plan ahead and start your shopping early. Now I'm not saying you have to start in January, but you don't have to be forced to buy it in late November, December.
Josh Robb:
For instance, I mentioned the Legos. A couple of my kids, in general, love Legos, and so we know that, so throughout the year-
Austin Wilson:
Do you love them when you step on them?
Josh Robb:
Oh, I love Legos. I love to play with them. I don't like to step on them.
Austin Wilson:
Ooh, they hurt.
Josh Robb:
But if you know that... For instance, we know that... going through the year, if you see a sale, boom, you jump on it.
Austin Wilson:
Boom. Christmas is done.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. You're right. Just plan ahead. Doesn't mean you have to do it, but if you already know ahead of time, you may get the opportunity to save some money because the same thing may be more expensive down the the road if you weren't ready for it.
Austin Wilson:
Absolutely. Here's a controversial one.
Josh Robb:
Oh, boy.
[18:16] - Consider Re-Gifting
Austin Wilson:
Number nine, consider re-gifting. Maybe someone got you something that's unopened. You just didn't really care for it. It's unused.
Josh Robb:
Like a Rolex watch?
Austin Wilson:
Oh, that'll get used.
Josh Robb:
Okay.
Austin Wilson:
It's just not your thing. It's in very good shape, brand new. Maybe you know someone who would appreciate that more than you do. You can just rewrap that and give it away.
Josh Robb:
Send it out.
Austin Wilson:
I have no problem with receiving a re-gift. I have no problem with giving a re-gift. There are some people in my life would feel odd about that. What is your opinion, Josh?
Josh Robb:
It's situational. There are times where, and we've done this before. Again, going back to our siblings, sometimes it was more of that type of idea of what you call white elephant gift, which is usually a re-gift or some-
Austin Wilson:
Trying to be funny.
Josh Robb:
Well, yeah, or useful. Just something that you have that you pass on. In our family, it wasn't usually a funny gift, but it was literally something that is useful, but maybe somebody else would get more use out of it. So we've done that. It just depends. It's got to be done in a way that there's a really a reason for not I want to get rid of this, but you would appreciate this. If it's done that way, it's fine.
Austin Wilson:
I wouldn't personally make a big deal out of the fact you are re-gifting.
Josh Robb:
Oh, no. No, I wouldn't have a big sign on or anything.
Austin Wilson:
You should probably take off the sticker that had your name on it when you give it to someone.
Josh Robb:
Oh, there's a card in here. Don't read the card.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, unless it's your sibling, then that's totally fine.
Josh Robb:
Oh, don't give it back to the person that gave it to you, though. That is the one rule, Austin.
Austin Wilson:
Keep track.
Josh Robb:
Don't do that.
Austin Wilson:
If your parents get you a sweater, and you really hate it, don't give it to your dad.
Josh Robb:
Don't give it back. No.
Austin Wilson:
Here's another controversial take on this is maybe you find a really good deal on a like new X, Y, Z. I don't have a problem receiving or giving that as a gift, depending if it's something that's really useful and maybe severely discounted because it was used.
Josh Robb:
Refurbished.
Austin Wilson:
I think that's a great idea. Some people, again, may not really be a fan of that. Use your judgment. I don't have a weird thing about gifts where it has to be like... I also think that at the end of the day when you're giving gifts, it's more the thought that counts than it has to be perfect. Oh, that person was thoughtful enough to get me something. I'm thankful for that, regardless of it was perfect or not.
Josh Robb:
If you have kids, there's a good chance you're going to get re-gifted stuff, especially when they're younger because their concept of gifting is weird, and they don't have any money to buy new stuff or the ability to go to a store.
Austin Wilson:
They just want to open the wrapping paper anyway.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, but I'm just saying, even to me, I've had kids find something in the room, put it in and then give it, and it's like, oh, thank you. Can I go put this back in your room for you? But it's a thought that counts.
Austin Wilson:
You pulled all the Christmas lights out of the Christmas tree.
Josh Robb:
They gave it to me.
Austin Wilson:
Thank you.
Josh Robb:
But it's the thought that counts, right? They just wanted to show they get the concept of giving. They're limited in how they can give, so they found something that they could give because they wanted to.
Austin Wilson:
Absolutely.
Josh Robb:
I get it.
[21:18] - Reviewing & Adjusting
Austin Wilson:
Number 10, last but not least, maybe you looked at what you spent last year on Christmas. You can review that and adjust up and down depending on your financial situation what you want to do for this year. As you're going out throughout the year, maybe your budget needs tweaked a little bit.
Josh Robb:
One of your kids is acting up so their budget goes down.
Austin Wilson:
You have another kid.
Josh Robb:
Yeah. Oh, you have another kid. That's probably a better idea.
Austin Wilson:
That's maybe a more equitable place. Anyway, just review and adjust periodically. Make sure you're on track, make adjustments each year. You kind of get your understanding about that. Airfare goes up maybe year over year, so make adjustments as you need. But remember that really the most important piece of the Christmas season, and, obviously, we have our faith impact of Christmas season, but we also have just the wonderful time to be spending with family, and that's more important than what we're getting or giving. Obviously, we don't want it to be a stressful thing from a financial standpoint, but let's make some memories around Christmas here, and really enjoy some time here.
Josh, some final thoughts on Christmas, money. What's your favorite Christmas tradition? Hit me up with Christmas, man.
Josh Robb:
Yeah, a first thought in the recent years, one of the fun things we did was for my oldest son, he opened up, for Christmas, ski goggles. Just simple ski goggles. But the gift was he's never skied before. We took just him, my wife and I and him, just the three of us on a one-day ski trip. Loved it. He still talks about it. Again, it was the memory, so you're right. Experiences are awesome. That's really where I'm leaning more and more towards. That's the lasting type of gifts.
We do have a couple traditions. We do that Elf on the Shelf, which depending on the time of the year, closer to the end of Christmas, I'm tired of it. Kids love it though. Older kids help with that now, which eases the burden of all the work for it.
Austin Wilson:
Did Steph finally burst the bubble for you last year?
Josh Robb:
Yeah, told me about it.
But the other fun thing is... I mean, this has been going on for quite a long time, but my dad dresses up like Santa, visits early to check in on the kids, bring something small with him, small, little gift, like small, little something. But it's just a fun tradition. They've all figured out that it's grandpa, not Santa, but they love the idea. They always are like, oh, I wonder when Santa's coming type of thing. So it's just a fun time, and it's usually like a week or two before Christmas, just checking in, make sure they're behaving type of thing. Those are the fun traditions. Then Christmas Eve service, we usually open up a gift that night, which are pajamas for the kids, and they wear them for Christmas morning.
Austin Wilson:
That's awesome.
Josh Robb:
Good times. What about you?
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, I mean, I typically save a decent amount of vacation, so that I've got about a week or so to take off around Christmas, which is nice. Then I've got some time because my family's out of town, so we need to plan some time to do Christmas with them. Christmas changes as you get older. Certain people aren't around. Different traditions change. Where you do Christmas, X, Y, Z changes. We're sort of in a transitional period of our lives. Now we have another baby, so Christmas at home is going to be more important than it had been. I'm excited about having both girls home for Christmas and stuff like that in the morning and doing a fun little thing for them.
Typically, I'm in the band on Christmas Eve. Our church has a Christmas Eve service, and it's fun to play a bunch of Christmas music and do a bunch of that. It's a long day usually, but that's kind of always been a tradition. Then we kind of hang out and do Christmas with my wife's family, and then my family plus or minus a couple days there, and we cover everyone and have a lot of fun and just enjoy being together. I don't hate snow at all, and I'm okay with a white Christmas, but it's not a big deal to me. We don't do a real Christmas tree anymore. We do a fake one and it's pre-lit and it's super handy.
Josh Robb:
Nice.
Austin Wilson:
I did like the smell of the real tree, but-
Josh Robb:
It's a lot of work.
Austin Wilson:
... it's a lot of work, and you have to dispose of it. I will say if you take it behind your shed at the end of the season and forget about it for about a year. Then in the summer or winter or right before Christmas, you're like, oh shoot, there's a Christmas tree back here. It's been dead. Those things light up real fast.
Josh Robb:
Oh, I'm sure they burn. They burn quick.
Austin Wilson:
They are... It's pretty fun. But, yeah, we like Christmas. Christmas is fun.
Josh Robb:
Always fun. I think the older they get, the more you get to sleep in a little bit Christmas morning because they're usually pretty excited.
Austin Wilson:
Yeah, ours will probably be a pretty normal schedule. They're just super scheduled, 7:00 AM, six to seven, they're rocking and rolling, and it doesn't matter if it's Christmas or Tuesday. Their normal-
Josh Robb:
At six to seven is the normal. I remember when some of my kids were younger, it was like a 5:00 AM, they're ready to go. It's like, hey, let's wait a little while.
Austin Wilson:
5:00 AM.
Josh Robb:
Dad didn't get to bed till late because he was building your stuff beforehand. But, yeah, it is good. It's always a fun season to really just reconnect.
Austin Wilson:
Awesome. Well, thanks for listening, and please remember, you can share these episodes with anyone who you had asking about how to plan for Christmas. Feel free to email us any ideas to hello@theinvesteddads.com. We would love to hear from you and just chat it up and connect. The stock draft is wrapping up, so hopefully you've joined by now. Until next episode, have a great week.
Josh Robb:
Talk to you later.
Austin Wilson:
Bye.
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Josh Robb and Austin Wilson work for Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. All opinions expressed by Josh, Austin, or any podcast guest are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Hixon Zuercher Capital Management. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for investment decisions.
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