Holidays
I brief: Must People to spend less during holidays
Forty-three percent of consumers are still paying off holiday debt from last year,
according to a recent survey done for
Consolidated Credit Counseling Services Inc.
The nonprofit organization's sixth annual holiday spending survey also found that
62 percent will spend less money this holiday season than they did in 2004.
Sixty-seven percent plan to pay off all their holiday debts within a year, and 76
percent say they don't plan to travel this holiday season.
Wise giving: You've resolved to do it differently this year: No
more shopping mall binges or online clicking to fiscal oblivion just for holiday
gifts.
If you're leery about how much restraint your family will
exercise in the fray of the spending season, relax. This process can be easier than
you might think, according to the Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Atlanta,
a nonprofit that helps people sort out debt payment problems. The service offer
a few tips:
Set a spending limit. Base this on how much you could spend
if you did it all
without credit card borrowing.
Make a list. Include all the people you're certain need
a gift from you. Next to the names, add the amount you feel prudent spending on
them. If the total is too much, trim some names.
Put extra thought into your gifts. Photos or a youngster's
artwork you could frame make meaningful gifts. So do baked treats.
Shop early, often and online. Waiting until the last minute
is expensive.
Online thievery: Investors should use security software and other
measures to protect their online brokerage accounts from identity thieves in what
is a growing area of crime, federal regulators say.
The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investor guide detailing steps
that can be taken -- such as the software, use of a security token and ignoring
e-mails that request confidential information -- to protect Internet trading accounts
from intruders.
"We are concerned that many investors aren't taking appropriate precautions when accessing their online brokerage accounts," Susan Wyderko, the SEC's investor education consumers director, said in a statement.
