X’mas Bonanza! Na your money dey come finish!! January too dey come!!!
Welcome to another week of financial learning, as we gradually get ready for the Christmas festivities.
December is a very interesting month for two important reasons. The first reason is the fact that another year is ending and as such, everyone is running around to end it well.
The second part is the religious cum holidays bit. Many groups and families specifically organize programmes for the Christmas holidays as most companies give their staff extended holidays with the exception of we the bankers who have to “arrange” our faces nicely in our offices thinking of what our friends might be doing at home.
In all, December is a fun filled and resting month with 3 major holiday periods starting from Farmers’ Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Many shops and FMCGs organize what they call Xmas Bonanzas to attract human traffic and sales. During these Bonanzas, prices of many items are reduced from 10% to as high as 70%.
Rationale for this exercise as I said earlier on is to pull human traffic to the shops and cut down on old stock for new ones in the ensuing year. A typical example of such Bonanzas happened last week Friday at the various shopping malls.
Last week Friday was a remarkable day across the major shopping centers in the world and the West Hills Mall was no exception.
The occasion was termed “Black Friday” where almost all shops reduced their product prices ranging from 20% to 50%. I happened to be there.
During my participation, I observed few things, which I would like to share today;
- People “over buying” things they would not ordinarily need.
- People “wasting” money to purchase items, which at the original price would never have bought.
- The Greedy Retailers sweeping all the reduced fast moving items for Super Normal Profits.
- Some people coming around to observe how people are in hasty mood to spend their savings meant for different purposes.
More will these reductions will be coming so embrace yourself for mind blowing deals which come to sip your “aimless savings”.
I will however keep reminding you of a coming “Hard” January around the corner, which is ready to bite you hard.
Do not squeeze yourself to save from January to November and splash all in December with the mindset of Bonanzas and reduced to clear. January 2019 is just around the corner. Parents with kids in school will appreciate this very well than the singles.
Most companies pay salaries very early in December with others even adding bonuses.
Funny enough, in most cases, we waste all these monies on so-called fun filled programmes and unplanned purchases and come back to reality in the middle of January. Some even resort to selling their belongings to make ends meet.
Be wise this December! Buy only what you need not what you want!
Have fun but be measured!
Travel to release stress with the family but only do that considering the financial toll on you in January 2019.
Do not be a burden on your friends in January 2019 because you thought December was never going to end!
Share this message with your spendthrift friends and family members. You can save them.
I wish everyone a wonderful and memorable weekend!!
Gratias!!!
Patrick is a chartered banker and has been a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana with a good membership standing since the year 2013.Patrick is a chartered banker and has been a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana with a good membership standing since the year 2013.
