Archive for November, 2009

As I said in a previous Blog, Christmas  2009 will be a real defining one as far as discovering how much we have learnt during the year about being fugal. If we sitting an exam as to whether we have collectively learnt that spending on credit is not a good idea ,  I believe the result would be a B-.

Some would rate a lot higher maybe a straight A , whereas the ” fools” would score a C- or even a D.

The sad thing it is very easy to blow all the good work in saving throughout the year, by being indulgent in the lead up  and immediately after Christmas.

One thing I have noticed is the very low key sales pitch so far leading up to this Christmas. Whether that is going to continue I am uncertain, but many retailers are bargaining on a huge Boxing Day  Sale and maybe the time  immediately after the new year to sell everything they normally would sell leading up to Christmas.

I even heard yesterday on the radio  a local retailer getting in early by advertising why wait until the Boxing Day sales …buy Now at Boxing Day prices.

It is interesting that there has been a peregrine shift in attitude….previously retailers at Christmas had high volume sales, at high per unit sales prices , making maximum profit returns…. today it almost seems turnover and cash flow and lower profits to be the rule of thumb.

Which begs the question when do retailers make their money?.

If the consumer bubble has burst ( or at least been seriously deflated) credit availability diminished and jobs and therefore income a little uncertain, where is all the cash that the B+, A-, A and A+ ” students” of  the exam on Financial Frugality  gone?

Well these people are smart. Very Smart. They have been saving. Not to buy junk ( and that includes Gold and Shares) to have it whisked away later down the track. They have been putting it away to reinvest when the Financial Tide is not so turbulent.

Just remember this…..( repeating an earlier blog I wrote)

The period after the Great Financial Crisis of the 1930′s  ( Called the Great Depression ) actually rose and fell some 16 separate times after the intial jolt.

Like that of aftershocks felt after an Earthquake.

We in New Zealand have been warmed to expect a very tight 2010. It will take possibly decades for the Government to balance its books. ( especially when it is borrowing 280 million a week ) of money we have not earned.  And that is $70 for every Man women and Child a week that will somehow need to be paid back.

And for those who are very very smart with an  A+++ result in Financial Intelligence will know how next to impossible it will be for Governments to pay this money back, unless they come up with the brainless notion that people need to pay more taxes under the guise of Carbon omissions, and Global Warming.

And that my friends Is why for us this Christmas will be Love expressed Away from Retail Shopping!!!!!

I will talk soon

Lindsay Walker

27th November 2009.