Holiday shopping budget essential, says financial advisor

With most people faced with tighter-than-normal finances this holiday season because of the dramatic 2020, a financial expert is urging holiday shoppers to make a budget before spending cash or using a credit card.

“Creating a budget now is the best way to make sure we don’t overspend for the holidays,” says Bank of America’s Tracey Ousterbeck-Waller.

With a majority of people shopping online and more doing so because of the pandemic, Ousterbeck-Waller says an advantage is price checking.

“A lot more people are shopping online rather than going into the stores and I think what’s really great about that is price checking,” she said, adding that shopping online allows quick comparison of prices for the same or similar items from different retailers.

Related to checking prices, is keeping within your budget Ousterbeck-Waller said.

“When you create that budget, set a spending limit; create a dollar amount and that way you can stick to it,” she advised.

Shopping late in the season can also cause blow a hole in budget planning, she said.

“If you wait until Christmas Eve, how many of us have done that in the past,” she said. “We go out and we start shopping and the gift we normally would have bought for somebody, they are already sold out, so you might end up picking the next best thing, but you might end up spending more.”

She advises getting started now by setting a dollar limit and sticking to it.

Even if not a Bank of America customer, she advised checking out Bank of America’s Better Money Habits website, www.bettermoneyhabits.bankofamerica.com to get access to tools for budgeting and holiday shopping.

Contact Carrier Roper at croper@reviewjournal.com.