Debt Views

If you didn’t already know, Christmas is coming. It’s quite obvious really as the toy companies, other corporations and malls have already started with the onslaught to part people from their hard earned cash. That wouldn’t be such a tough thing to swallow if it we’re December – but it isn’t.

The campaign is often both routine and brutal. The pressure to be a good partner, parent, brother, sister, cousin or friend is constantly applied as you are pulled this way and that way in order to get people to buy the ‘perfect’ present. In fact as a result many will spend to provide multiple ‘must have’ gifts. And to what effect? As well as taking away from the enjoyment, many people have spent more than they can afford. The January period is well known as the period when credit card and mortgage payments are missed. Added to that credit companies ramp up their activity for this period also because they know the hunger for loans is at its highest. Hardly a recipe for happiness is it?

Christmas has become about instant gratification. The need to make someone happy for a very short period. Why a short period? Because, as a society we’re becoming like junkies. We need a constant fix to keep us entertained. We need more and more to make our lives perfect. This fix usually goes hand in hand with the assumption that good gifts are expensive gifts. Too often, people follow this behavior and over-extend themselves financially

The result is we strengthen this kind of thinking with each passing year and as such become increasingly reliant on credit in order to meet the demand of Christmas.

Many will miss the opportunity to buy their best Christmas gift this year. That gift? Opportunity. As opposed to try and feed instant gratification, how many have considered a gift that could help provide close ones the things they desire without the heavy burden of debt. Such gifts can take many forms. These can include books on entrepreneurial skills, courses. The list is only limited by the buyer’s imagination. It’s a variation on the saying, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day – teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Such a gift could light that spark that takes a person to life they only ever dreamed of. What a great gift it could be if they never spent another Christmas worrying about money.

Modern life is very different to that of life years ago. People are less constrained by their existing circumstances despite what they might think. They can reach the wider world through things like the Internet. As such they can profit from that easier access and reach into the opportunity it offers. Maybe it’s a perfect time to consider an opportunity gift.