GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The official start of the holiday shopping season kicks off Friday and according to a study by the National Retail Federation, consumers are expected to spend as much as 1.1 trillion dollars.
While retailers are preparing for one of their biggest weekends of the year, as a consumer you should be doing some preparations of your own.
Patrick Stoa, a financial adviser for Macco Financial Group, tells FOX 11 it’s important to create a financial plan before heading to the stores, to help avoid overspending during the season.
“There’s a lot to tempt us in the stores, and Black Friday is a great example. There’s a lot of opportunities to buy and then you buy without that spending plan and they spend too much.”
According to the National Retail Federation, the average American is expected to spend a little more than $1,000 on gifts this season and with the economy doing so well, some shoppers are already looking to spend as much as $500 more than they did last year.
To keep you from going over your budget, Stoa said the best thing to do is avoid using credit cards, especially if you don’t plan to pay them off entirely by the end of the month.
“People do use a lot of credit cards because they are convenient, but like a lot of people know you can get in trouble with them. Credit card companies aren’t afraid to charge 15-20% interest rates which are crazy.”
Stoa said the fear of going into debt shouldn’t stop shoppers from going all out during the holidays, but only if they have the means to do it.
“The key is to not spend money you don’t have. The method that you use, whether it’s the Christmas account, debit card, or credit card, don’t use the money you don’t have.”
