There are a lot of articles predicting gloom and doom for the Christmas retail season. On one hand we hear the economy is recovering and on the other hand we hear that we're not out of the woods yet. I decided to take a very unscientific poll to find out for myself. I'd rather be approximately right than precisely inaccurate so I called a few friends and asked how they were preparing for Christmas. I got some surprising answers.
Several people told me that they remembered growing up in hard times but every ones parents had a Christmas Club account. They couldn't find a Christmas Club to join but decided to open a savings account or a money market account and they've been stashing some money away until they see the seasonal sales.
I also heard a term I hadn't heard in years. I remember how we bought my first big boy bike at Western Auto on a layaway plan. Every week we'd go in and I'd check to see if it was still there in the store room and we'd put down another $2 till it was paid off. Stores are again pushing the layaway plans and people are responding.
I followed up with a question: When will you decide how much to spend and what will trigger your decision? Again I was surprised by some rational answers. Most people said they had been holding back for 2 reasons. First, they were uncertain about layoffs and secondly, they always used the year end bonus to pay off the Christmas bills. Most felt that by Christmas they would know if their companies would survive and if they still had a job. Most also said that although year end bonuses were confidential the rumor mill would know by Thanksgiving if they were going to get one and approximately how much.
Ok, very unscientific but I still think, valid information. People are preparing with savings and layaways ahead of time and most feel even though they haven't been spending recently because of uncertainty that they'd have the answers about their future by year end.
How are you and your friends and family preparing for Christmas? I'd like to see if you have similar responses and please let us know. I think there will be a lot of unexpected surprises under the tree this year.
Jim Van Meerten is an investor and shares his opinions on financial matters on Financial Tides and Top Stocks. Please comment below or email to FinancialTides@gmail.com.
I have been in retail managment and found people a few years ago buying presents without thought. In otherwords if it was on sale Old Uncle Joe will get it and it does not matter if he wants it or not. The last couple of years I find people thinking about the needs of Uncle Joe. Such as electric bill,groceries, gas etc. Gift certificates/cards is the new age of gift giving, even for the grandkids.
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