Mary Holm: personal finance expert on the growing number of Kiwis facing financial pressure this Christmas

New data shows that more Kiwis will have to take on debt ahead of this coming Christmas season.

A nationwide survey by MYOB showed 35 percent expected to feel financially better off in a year's time, while 38 percent expected to be about the same, and 24 percent believed they would be worse off.

Personal finance expert Mary Holm says more Kiwi households will be struggling to afford presents for their kids, but there are workarounds.

"There's buying only op-shop gifts or second-hand books, which could be quite fun, going and rummaging around bookshops to find the right gift for people."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now Christmas is just around the corner, and if you
haven't braved them all yet, it's probably time to start.
But a new survey out shows that keys are quite
skinned to this Christmas. The average person is going to
spend about one hundred and forty dollars on presents this year.
That's down from about one hundred and sixty three dollars
last year. Mary Holm is a personal finance journalist and author,
and with us Hi Mary Hi Hi hea that this

(00:21):
is just a sign of financial times, isn't.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
It you look, I suppose it is. Although every year,
you know, you get some people saying, oh my gosh,
I haven't got enough money to spend on Christmas, and
I look up. Basically, what I would love families to
do is think about how putting financial pressure on themselves

(00:45):
in order to perhaps buy more presents for the children
must end up with them being not such nice parents
in the long run, you know, if in January they're
stressed and all of that. And so I mean, of
course you can't put the quick into the child and
say would you rather have a happy mummy and daddy
in January and fewer presents? But in fact I suspect

(01:09):
that is what the kids would prefer. Really, yeah, it's
just awful.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
So what's your advice, Mary, don't spend as much on
the Christmas presents?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
In my weekend here on Q and A column a
few different times over the years, I've said to readers,
you know, what are your suggestions on cutting back Christmas spending?
And some of them just quickly. There's a secret center
which we all know about, where you all pull a
name out of the hat for next year and buy
only the one present, and that can work well. Or

(01:42):
there's buying only op shop gifts YEP, or second hand
books only, which you know could be quite fun going
and rummaging around bookshops to find the right gift for people.
Or making your gifts, you know, you have to either
do some baking or perhaps put the plant from the
garden in a pot, or do some knitting or something

(02:06):
like that. I mean, another one that my family has
done is, apart from the children, don't give one another
Christmas presents, give a nice birthday present instead, and that
means that you can actually concentrate on that one person
when their birthday comes round, and you know, give them

(02:27):
something decent for their birthday and what do you think.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
Do you think that it's better for the kids, Like,
can you trick the kids with lots with a bunch
of much cheaper presents or is it better to go
for one most more substantial present.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, you know, obviously the more substantial good present in
the long run is the good one. The trouble is
could see all the all the stuff their friends get it.
Oh look, it's not easy and you know, controversy about
the colored sand at the moment, people go out by,
you know, cheap toys for kids and they don't always
turn out to be good quality. There's no really easy

(03:09):
answer for the children. I think. I think it's much
easier to limit your spending on adults and teenagers, you know,
give them twenty bucks and then they can spend it
their own way. Yeah. Look, yeah, I haven't got a
magic answer about that. For children, I have to say, yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
What are you hearing from people? Marry Well, no, and
I you know, that's why I was asking you, because
it is this is always the difficulty, and parents put
themselves in difficult situations out of the goodness of their hearts,
right because they're trying to do the right things by
the kids. And you just your heart breaks if you
can't even afford presents for your kids. What are you hearing, Mary,
Are you hearing that people are finding it tough this year?

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yes, but you know, yeah, I think perhaps you know,
a bit tougher than last year for some. But you know,
on the other hand, and it sounds like there might
be some signs that the economy is actually picking up.
And so look, I don't know whether food is certainly
one thing that keeps coming into the limelight is costing more,

(04:15):
doesn't it. And you know the amount of money that
families spend on food at Christmas, you've got to wonder about,
you know, could they perhaps just all get together and say, look,
what's something lovely we can do that doesn't cost and
perhaps not a traditional thing because the trouble is the
turkeys and the traditional food. The prices go up then

(04:37):
because the shops know they can put.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
No, no, you can't be doing I mean, we can't
be doing Christmas turkeys. Can we had summer for God's sake?

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah? Well that's quite right, yes, And so you know,
if family can come up with I don't know, you know,
some lovely fish dish or I actually end up doing
vegetarian because I'm surrounded by vegetarians and that's fine and
and very lovely.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Yeah, very bloody healthy and the end. Mary, thanks very
much appreciated. Marry Holme, personal finance journalist and author.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
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