At this point in the year, a lot of people are fixated on the holiday season and the countdown to 2022. If you’re one of them, you may not exactly have financial matters on the mind.
But actually, the moves you make in the coming weeks could set the stage for a financially healthy 2022. Here are four items worth checking off your list to end 2021 in a positive place.
1. Boost your emergency fund
We all need money on hand for emergencies, like when your car needs a sudden repair or your manager decides to cut your hours at work. Ideally, your emergency fund should have enough cash to cover three to six months of essential bills. If you feel your savings could use a boost, now’s a great time to sneak more money in there.
Of course, with holiday expenses piling up, eking out savings may be a challenge. But if you’re getting any sort of extra cash this month, whether it’s a bonus at work or your final monthly Child Tax Credit installment payment, putting that money into your savings is a solid move.
2. Pay off some debt
If you’d rather not start off the new year with a heaping pile of debt hanging over your head, then now’s the time to work on chipping away at some of your balances. Take a look at your credit cards and see what you owe on them. If you have a few hundred dollars to spare, paying down the balance with the highest interest rate attached to it is a smart bet.
At the same time, if you’re in debt already, do your best to not add to that load by charging a ton of holiday expenses. If need be, explain to your loved ones that you have to go lighter on gift-giving this year to avoid closing out the year deep in a hole.
3. Put more money into your retirement plan
Saving more for retirement isn’t something that will just benefit you later in life; it could also result in a lower tax bill for 2021.
If you participate in a traditional IRA or 401(k) plan, the money you contribute may be exempt from some of this year’s earnings from taxes. For example, if you put $5,000 into a 401(k) plan, the IRS won’t tax you on $5,000 of your income. The same could be true for an IRA if you qualify.
Now technically, you have until next year’s mid-April tax-filing deadline to put more money into an IRA. But if you want to stash more money in your 401(k), you’ll need to get moving quickly. That’s because 401(k) contributions are made as a payroll deduction, and you’ll need to give your employer enough time to process that change for it to count for the current year. Once January rolls around, you can no longer contribute to your 401(k) for 2021.
4. Take steps to improve your credit score
Maybe you want to buy a home in 2022. Or you may want to get a new car or credit card. Either way, the higher your credit score, the more likely you’ll be to not only get approved for whatever loan or line of credit you want, but snag a competitive interest rate in the process.
Take a look at your credit score. If it’s already in the upper 700s or higher, you’re in really good shape. If it’s lower, you can take steps to boost your credit score, like checking your credit report for errors (and correcting the ones you spot) and paying off some of your existing credit card debt.
The steps you take in the coming weeks could really set you up nicely for 2022. Aim to check these items off your list so you can close out the year in a solid place.
Stocks rose on Thursday to reverse course after dropping a day earlier, with investors assessing the latest headlines on the Omicron variant and mulling lingering concerns around inflation.
The S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq advanced and extended gains into afternoon trading. The S&P 500’s 1.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} gain on Thursday was its best since mid-October.
The moves came in contrast to the three major indexes slide on Wednesday, after the Centers for Disease Control and Protection announced that the first confirmed case of the Omicron variant had been identified in the U.S. The discovery of a second case on Thursday did little to knock equities from their upward path.
More than two dozen countries globally have so far found at least one confirmed case of the variant, first identified last week.
The latest updates on the virus front have come on top of traders’ ongoing anxiousness over rising prices. Monetary policymakers have also underscored these lingering inflationary trends, stoking concerns that the Federal Reserve may soon pivot away from its accommodative policies that had helped support markets throughout the pandemic. In the Federal Reserve’s December Beige Book, or collection of anecdotes about economic conditions throughout the Fed districts, the central bank said it observed that, “Prices rose at a moderate to robust pace, with price hikes widespread across sectors of the economy.”
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also told lawmakers this week that he thought it would be appropriate for monetary policymakers to consider ending their asset-purchase tapering process sooner than previously telegraphed, or potentially before the middle of next year. That has in turn raised the specter that interest rate hikes could also come more quickly than previously anticipated after the conclusion of the Fed’s tapering process.
According to a number of strategists, inflation — as well as policymakers’ responses to inflation — will ultimately be one of the driving forces for the market going forward.
“In the very near-term the biggest threat is the headlines related to the virus,” Niladri Mukherjee, Merrill and Bank of America Private Bank head of CIO portfolio strategy, told Yahoo Finance Live on Wednesday. “But as we go into 2022, inflation is the biggest risk for the markets as a whole. Inflation is looking awfully persistent. Obviously we had 6-7 months of CPI [the Consumer Price Index] printing above 5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, now 6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. I wouldn’t be surprised to see even higher prints going into January, February, especially if the variant actually leads to further closures.”
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4:12 p.m. ET: Wall Street bounces back after Omicron reports, Dow gains 618 points or 1.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}
Here were the main moves in markets as of 4:12 p.m. ET:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): +64.06 (+1.42{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 4,577.10
Dow (^DJI): +617.75 (+1.82{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 34,639.79
Nasdaq (^IXIC): +127.27 (+0.83{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 15,381.32
Crude (CL=F): +$1.29 (+1.97{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $66.86 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): -$14.90 (-0.84{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,769.40 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): +1.4 bps to yield 1.4480{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}
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3:25 p.m. ET: Crude oil prices rebound after sell-off
U.S. West Texas intermediate crude oil futures jumped on Thursday to recover losses from the past two sessions. The commodity prices settled at $66.50 per barrel, rising nearly 1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} on the day after hitting a low of $62.43 at session lows.
The moves coincided with news that OPEC and its allies decided to stick to their previously made plan to increase output by 400,000 barrels per day starting in January. Heading into the OPEC+ meeting, some had expected the cartel would pause its output increases amid uncertainty round energy demand given the threat of the new coronavirus variant.
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12:03 p.m. ET: Stocks extend gains, led by financials, industrials
The three major indexes added to gains Thursday afternoon, with cyclical sectors leading the way higher after being sold off sharply earlier this week.
The Dow rallied, gaining more than 600 points, or 1.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}. Boeing, American Express and Visa outperformed in the 30-stock index, while Apple, Merck and Johnson & Johnson lagged.
The S&P 500 rose by 1.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, with financials, industrials and energy sectors leading the way higher. All 11 major sectors were in the green, though health-care and information technology lagged.
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9:58 a.m. ET: Shares of ride-hailing company Grab open at $13.06 after SPAC merger
Shares of Singapore-based ride-hailing company Grab opened for public trading at $13.06 apiece in their trading debut on the Nasdaq.
The company went public following a merger with the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Altimeter Growth Corp. Shares of Altimeter had closed Wednesday’s trading day at $11.01 apiece.
Grab’s “super-app” business model combining both ride-hailing and delivery has paralleled that of Uber. In 2018, Uber also sold its Southeast Asia business to Grab. Both Uber and Grab have also been backed by SoftBank Group.
Grab in early November reported third-quarter gross merchandise value of $4.0 billion, which rose 32{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} over last year and reached an all-time quarterly high. Revenue fell to 9{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} over last year to $157 million, which Grab attributed to “a decline in mobility due to the severe lockdowns in Vietnam.” The company remains unprofitable, and its net losses were $988 million in the third quarter.
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9:50 a.m. ET: Lawmakers reach temporary spending deal that would avert shutdown
The House of Representatives is expected to take up the spending bill later on Thursday, and the Senate would then consider the bill shortly thereafter.
Though some of both House Democratic and Republican lawmakers had spoken favorably of the bill, a group of conservative Republicans have held out over disagreement with the Biden administration’s federal vaccination and testing mandates for some workers.
If passed before a midnight deadline on Friday, the temporary spending bill would avert a government shutdown.
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9:38 a.m. ET: Stocks open mixed before recovering
Here’s where markets were trading Thursday morning just after the opening bell:
S&P 500 (^GSPC): +4.27 (+0.09{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 4,517.31
Dow (^DJI): +172.78 (+0.51{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 34,194.82
Nasdaq (^IXIC): -35.77 (-0.23{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 15,219.65
Crude (CL=F): -$1.40 (-2.14{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $64.17 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): -$4.70 (-0.26{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,779.60 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): -2.2 bps to yield 1.414{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}
New weekly jobless claims rose for the first time in eight weeks for the period ended Nov. 27, but still came in around pre-pandemic levels.
The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly jobless claims were 222,000 for the week ended Nov. 27. This followed 194,000 claims from the prior week, which represented the lowest level since 1969, and was downwardly revised even further from the 199,000 previously reported. Consensus economists were expecting new claims to total 240,000 for the week ended Nov. 27.
Continuing claims, which measure the total number of individuals still claiming benefits across regular state programs, totaled 1.956 million for the week ended Nov. 20. This figure fell more than expected, and reached the lowest level since March 2020.
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7:52 a.m. ET Thursday: Stock futures mixed
Here’s where markets were trading Thursday morning:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +3 points (+0.07{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 4,511.50
Dow futures (YM=F): +117 points (+0.34{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 34,119.00
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) -53.75 points (-0.34{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 15,816.00
Crude (CL=F): -$0.17 (-0.26{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $65.40 a barrel
Gold (GC=F): -$2.20 (-0.12{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to $1,782.10 per ounce
10-year Treasury (^TNX): -1.5 bps to yield 1.419{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}
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6:31 p.m. ET Wednesday: Stock futures recover some losses
Here were the main moves in markets during the overnight session:
S&P 500 futures (ES=F): +8.75 points (+0.19{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 4,517.25
Dow futures (YM=F): +85 points (+0.25{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}), to 34,087.00
Nasdaq futures (NQ=F): +39.75 points (+0.25{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}) to 15,909.5
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 29: A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) at the start of trading on Monday following Friday’s steep decline in global stocks over fears of the new omicron Covid variant discovered in South Africa on November 29, 2021 in New York City. Stocks surged in morning trading as investors get more data on the new variant and reports that symptoms have so far been mild for those who have contracted it. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The U.S. economy added back fewer jobs than expected in November, while the unemployment rate fell further than anticipated to the lowest since February 2020.
The Labor Department released its November jobs report Friday at 8:30 a.m. ET. Here were the main metrics from the print, compared to consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg:
Non-farm payrolls: +210,000 vs. +550,000 expected and a revised +546,000 in October
Unemployment rate: 4.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}vs.4.5{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} expected, 4.6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in October
Average hourly earnings, month-over-month: 0.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} vs. 0.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} expected, 0.4{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in October
Average hourly earnings, year-over-year: 4.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}vs. 5.0{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} expected and a revised 4.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in October
U.S. employers have added back jobs on net in every month so far in 2021 as vaccinations, reopenings and a recovery in the high-contact services industries helped boost hiring.
Service sector employment growth did decelerate notably in November compared to October, however. Leisure and hospitality industries, which had seen some of the biggest job gains in recent months, added just 23,000 payrolls after October’s increase of 170,000. Retail trade employers shed payrolls on net, with these dropping by more than 20,000 after job gains of nearly 40,000 in each of October and September. In the goods producing sector, motor vehicle and parts employers also shed jobs, erasing more than 10,000 positions after adding 19,300 in October.
“The headline miss was largely due to a muted 23,000 rise in leisure and hospitality payrolls, indicating that the nascent winter wave of virus infections was now weighing on the sector. With new cases now on the rise again even before the potential impact of the Omicron variant, leisure sector employment growth looks set to remain weak over the winter,” Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economics, wrote in a note on Friday.
“Moreover, we remain skeptical that a further significant recovery in the labor force lies ahead – particularly given the worsening virus situation and the potential Federal vaccine mandate,” he added.
Though the payroll gain in the November jobs report disappointed sharply compared to expectations, job growth for October and September were each upwardly revised. Payrolls grew by 546,000 in October, versus the 531,000 previously reported, while jobs grew by 379,000 in September compared to the 312,000 posted in the first estimate.
But despite the solid rehiring throughout the year, labor force participation remains short of pre-pandemic levels. As of November, the civilian labor force was still down by about 2.4 million participants, compared to February 2020. The labor force participation rate ticked up slightly more than anticipated in November, however, to reach 61.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}, versus the 61.7{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} consensus economists were expecting and the 61.6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} posted in October. The labor force participation rate had been 63.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in February 2020 before the pandemic meaningfully impacted the job market.
Economists have attributed the stubbornly depressed participation rate to a host of factors, including lingering concerns about COVID-19 infections, difficulties finding child care and a desire by many workers to leave their jobs and pursue roles with more flexibility, wages or benefits. With the latest emergence of the Omicron variant, these myriad factors may further inhibit a rebound in labor force participation.
“Labor supply shortages do not show material signs of improvement, and could actually worsen in coming months with the federal vaccine mandate taking effect on January 4, 2022. As such, labor market conditions should remain tight, perpetuating strong wage growth,” Sam Bullard, managing director and senior economist for Wells Fargo, wrote in an email ahead of Friday’s report. “On balance, robust labor demand and further COVID improvements should support strong labor market gains last month, though we are mindful of the challenges the are likely to persist in the labor market for the foreseeable future.”
As worker demand remains elevated, wages have also risen and contributed to the inflation seen across the economy this year. Average hourly earnings rose for an eighth straight month, increasing by 0.3{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in November compared to October. Average hourly wages rose by 4.8{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in November over last year, matching October’s annual rate but coming in slightly cooler than the 5.0{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} increase expected.
Inflationary trends have also been reflected in other recent economic data. The government’s latest report on October core personal consumption expenditures, or the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, showed an increase of 4.1{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} year-over-year – the most in three decades.
And key members of the Fed have signaled they are inclined to shift their focus to staving off inflation, even as the labor force participation and unemployment rates have yet to return to their pre-pandemic levels. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said earlier this week that the central bank’s asset-purchase tapering program could end “a few months early,” voicing confidence that the economic recovery had progressed enough to warrant a quicker end to the bank’s crisis-era support.
“Don’t be fooled by the measly 210K payroll jobs gain this month because the economy’s engines are actually in overdrive as shown by the plunge in joblessness from 4.6{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in October to 4.2{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in November.” said Chris Rupkey, chief economist for FWDBONDS, in an email. “Unemployment is tumbling as companies snap up workers to meet the economy’s very strong demand. The U.S. economy is back on a tear with full employment right around the corner. Fed rate hikes are coming.”
And heading into Friday’s report, other labor market data have also underscored the present tightness of the labor market. ADP’s jobs report on Wednesday, while an imperfect indicator of the monthly government data, nevertheless showed an encouragingly stronger-than-expected rise in private-sector employment growth last month. And weekly jobless claims from the Labor Department slid to the lowest level in 52 years in mid-November during the survey week for the monthly jobs report.
Cyber insurance is projected to grow because it has been largely profitable for insurers and is seen as insurable by reinsurers, even as ransomware attacks accelerate, panelists said Thursday at the Insurance Information Institute’s Joint Industry Forum 2021 in New York.
They also suggested that the federal government play a greater role in the cyber insurance sector, particularly through increased information sharing.
By 2026, insurers will be writing $28 billion in cyber insurance gross written premiums, according to Paul Miskovich, New York-based chief underwriting officer for Evertas Inc., an underwriter of crypto-asset and blockchain-related risks.
Mr. Miskovich added that insurers will continue to write cyber insurance because it has been generally profitable. “It’s been profitable almost every year in the marketplace for most insurers,” he said.
Catherine Mulligan, global head of cyber in New York for Aon PLC’s Reinsurance Solutions business, said reinsurers are committed to the cyber sector and see the risk as insurable. She added that Aon is seeing some new reinsurers considering entering the market on a limited basis. Reinsurers have also made certain adjustments to capacity as they refine their understanding of the sector, she said.
While cyber insurance has been profitable for the insurance industry, ransomware is quite profitable for bad actors, according to Chris Beck, managing director in Chicago for Milliman Inc.’s cyber risk solutions practice group. “We’ve seen a large increase in ransomware attacks because they are lucrative — they are good business for cybercriminals.”
Ms. Mulligan added that cybercriminals are also becoming more automated, increasing the number of potential attacks and losses.
Moderator Dale Porfilio, chief insurance officer in New York for the Insurance Information Institute, began the session by asking if there is a role for government in the cyber insurance sector, using the federal roles in flood and terrorism insurance as examples. “We’re at that point,” he said.
“The government has more information than any one company and has intelligence operations no company” can match or replicate, Mr. Beck said.
Ms. Mulligan advocated for increased information sharing among stakeholders and suggested government might play a role in this effort by helping establish a central source for aggregated data. “Actuaries need better information” to make more informed decisions about cyber exposures and underwriting, she said.
Mr. Miskovich added that such sharing of information could be facilitated by data standardization and that the industry should “support all opportunities for data standardization.”
The Insurance Information Institute was acquired last year by The Institutes, a Malvern, Pennsylvania-based provider of education and research in risk management and property/casualty insurance.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Many parts of the country were hit by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages in November, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday.
In a survey of business conditions around the country, the Fed’s 12 regional banks found that the economy continued to grow at a modest-to-moderate pace, and the outlook for future growth remains positive.
But some of the Fed’s some business contacts expressed uncertainty about when the problems presented by supply chain bottlenecks and labor shortages might begin to ease.
In part because of the supply chain problems, price increases were reported to be widespread across the economy.
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“There were wide-ranging input cost increases stemming from strong demand for raw materials, logistical challenges and labor market tightness,” the Fed’s report, known as the beige book, said.
The Fed survey, which is based on interviews with business contacts last month in all 12 of the Fed’s regional bank districts, will form the basis for discussions when central bank officials hold their final meeting of the year on Dec. 14-15.
In congressional testimony this week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank is prepared to speed up the pace of the pullback of the easy-money policies it has been using to support the economy for the past 20 months.
The Fed had been buying $120 billion in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities since the spring of 2020. At its meeting last month, the central bank announced that it would start to trim those purchases, which serve to keep long-term interest rates low, by $15 billion in November and another $15 billion in December.
Powell’s comments this week indicated the Fed may announce at its December meeting that it will make larger monthly reductions in the future so that the bond purchases can be totally ended earlier than the June end-date which had been expected.
That would clear the way for the Fed to begin raising its benchmark interest rate, which was reduced to a record low of 0{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} to 0.25{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} in early 2020.
Both the ending of the bond purchases and the start of interest rate hikes would be expected to raise borrowing costs for consumers and businesses as a way to slow the economy and fight inflationary pressures.
Powell made his comments as inflation has surged to a three-decade high, largely because the pandemic has limited supplies at a time when the re-opening of the economy has led to high demand.
The Fed report said that companies were complaining about “persistent difficulty in hiring and retaining employees” with many leisure and hospitality firms still limiting operating hours due to a lack of workers.
The report said businesses had heard a variety of reasons for the labor shortages. Those included the lack of childcare, retirements, and continued safety concerns revolving around the persistence of COVID cases. The survey was conducted before the emergence of the new omicron variant.
“Nearly all districts reported robust wage growth,” the Fed said. “Hiring struggles and elevated turnover rates led businesses to raise wages and offer other incentives, such as bonuses and more flexible working arrangements.”
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Many families and friends get together to celebrate, spend time together, and share a meal during the holiday season. However, due to inflation, food is more expensive this year. If you’re worried about the financial aspect of putting together a nice holiday meal, we have some ideas that may help you save money. You don’t have to spend a lot to make the holidays special, and by making a few changes, you can pay less and still have a delicious meal. Here are eight ways to make your holiday meal more affordable.
1. Shop with a list
When you don’t have a list, it can be easy to buy more than you need and forget essential ingredients. Before you head to the store to get your holiday meal ingredients, make a shopping list. That way, you’ll have a plan, which can help you spend less and make your shopping experience a lot easier.
2. Compare prices between stores
Before you head out to shop, it’s a good idea to look at sales flyers for stores in your area and compare prices on the items you need to buy. Most stores put popular holiday meal items on sale leading up to the holiday. If you have several stores near your home, you can compare prices and buy the cheapest items at each store. Just be sure to consider the cost of gas and the distance between stores before driving all over town.
3. Don’t ignore generic brands
While shopping, take a look at the cost of generic brand items and compare them to the cost of name-brand items. In many cases, store-brand products are a lot cheaper than name-brand products. Purchasing generic ingredients can offer significant savings, and no one will know the difference.
4. Use cash back apps
Cash back apps offer an easy way to earn cash back on your purchases. These mobile apps are simple to use, and they offer cash back at many popular grocery stores and other stores. The more you use these apps, the faster your earnings will add up. Once you meet the minimum cash-out amount, you can withdraw the funds you’ve earned. You can then use these funds for a future shopping trip.
5. Host a potluck dinner
If you’re hosting this year, consider suggesting a potluck dinner where everyone brings one dish. A potluck dinner makes for a fun experience because everyone gets to contribute, and it also lessens the financial burden for everyone. If you want to keep things organized, start a group chat and have everyone communicate ahead of time about what dish they plan to bring.
6. Buy some dishes premade
It may be cheaper to buy some prepared dishes. For example, desserts may cost less at your local grocery store. If you don’t bake often, it can be costly to stock up on all the baking ingredients that you need. Many grocery stores sell inexpensive premade dessert items. You can save money and spend less time preparing your meal.
7. Create new traditions
You may think a holiday meal has to include certain dishes, but that’s not the case. You have the freedom to be creative as you plan your next meal. There are no rules that say you need to eat turkey or ham. Why not start a new tradition this year? You can get your family involved to make the planning process more fun, and it may save you some money, too.
8. Don’t be afraid to accept help
Community resources can be helpful, especially during the holiday season. Check your local community groups to see what they’re doing to help families prepare for the holidays. Some organizations will give out ingredients, full meals, or gift cards to help you buy what you need. Don’t feel embarrassed to take advantage of these resources. They exist for a reason and they can make the busy holiday season less stressful.
Your holiday meal doesn’t have to be fancy, traditional, or expensive. By getting creative and changing your shopping habits, you can make your next holiday meal more affordable. We have more personal finance resources to help you make more informed financial choices.
