Introduction
December, like no other, constitutes the largest trading season in the world, it is the month where all businesses are favored with the growth of their sales; Retailers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors and producers hope that it favors them, leaving profit margins capable of creating industries, maintaining companies and even saving businesses, such is the case of Christmas items where companies produce year after year all kinds of decorations, throughout the year, so that in a single month your products reach consumers. By virtue of the above, the question is really that we should buy everything that stores and advertising campaigns offer us.
Without a doubt that families around the world eagerly await the royalties, bonuses and extra salaries at the end of the year, in my country El Salvador this is known as the "Aguinaldo", which on average is an extra salary to mid-December, in our case 9 out of 10 are Christians and the vast majority are Catholics, and although of all the other denominations the vast majority have stopped celebrating the holidays, they continue to increase their expenses for those days, be it on end-of-season holidays. year, weddings, gifts and clothes all in "season"; Next, I propose that families make a new approach for the coming months and make an "Investing Season", discovering how and when to put our money to generate profits and at least make better use of it.
Even when the approach of this document insists on investing money and reducing our expenses, we must remember that paradigms as entrenched as Christmas expenses have been with us for generations, so get to work and remember that the advice and The solutions proposed here must be analyzed and adapted to the margins of each country, region and person, so that, having said this, each one must take their own and leave the rest.
General objective
Provide families and people in general with effective investment tools and reduction of unnecessary expenses, consistently analyzing the true needs and possibilities of investing in a financial product or company that generates profits, in order to obtain effective returns and when less cut seasonal expenses.
Specific objectives
- Clearly determine the true needs to enjoy the end of the year festivities, without sacrificing reasons for family and personal fun; Achieve financial stability and solvency in periods of abundance avoiding periods of recession; Eliminate old paradigms of "the more I earn the more I spend"; Get returns from a Christmas season instead of debt; Know and use easy investment tools everywhere without the need for complicated paperwork.
Development
By tradition, millions of single people and families around the world celebrate Christmas and the end of the year, and even without being Christian or belonging to other cultures and taking different calendars to the western one, record figures are reached in international businesses, thousands of new Seasonal products go on sale as many wait for the right moment to be launched, the film industry marks a before and after Christmas Day by premiering its best films for the Oscar award on December 25, the automobile business is hooked to shoppers at new car shows, warehouses do their thing with so-called end-of-year deals, the toy and tech industry take the jackpot with their new models,clothing businesses tripled and even quadrupled their sales for the entire year in just a month and a half, the whole world turned around thanks to Christmas.
The beginning of everything, "Black Friday"
Thanksgiving arrives dinner is served a beautiful turkey with its stuffing, and of course the pumpkin pie, the family gathers to enjoy the punch and the stories of the grandparents then the children go to sleep and tents are opened; one moment "tents" !! If you have read correctly, thousands of people crowd outside the warehouses one night before Black Friday, which marks the beginning of the Christmas season in stores around the world; We have already heard stories about people who have died trying to enter a warehouse after a stampede of people want to take advantage of the liquidation offers, also the one where a security guard who surely trusted himself and when he opened the door of the business where he works a sea of people who had been made outside explodes in his stout chest,the other where a poor guy dies of hypothermia caused by the cold that I endured all night to be one of the first to buy in the store.
The use of the term Black Friday began around 1961 among the police officers in charge of traffic regulation, then this term became popular in 1966 and spread to the rest of the states from 1975.
Later, an alternative explanation emerged, referring to the term "black" to the accounts of businesses, which go from red to black thanks to the surplus.
Black Friday is not officially a holiday, but many employers see this day as a holiday along with Thanksgiving, giving their employees a day off, this day off becomes profitable as the number increases. of potential buyers in the United States.
In 2013, approximately 141 million people in the United States shopped on Black Friday, spending a total of $ 57.4 billion and with network sales reaching $ 1.2 billion.
In English-speaking countries it is known as “Black Friday”, it is also known in Latin America as “Black Friday” or “Good End” .
And in this way begins a season considered the best of the entire Western calendar year, a cycle that has long been awaited by merchants, longed for by children and often a cause of anxiety in the heads of families, below I propose you some easy alternatives of how to invest and save money feeling good about your income and expenses.
I want to conclude this first part of the analysis by making a first clarification on the matter. It is my firm intention to help individuals and families to know and apply simple ways to invest their money, save and reduce their expenses; the prosperity and abundance of financial and economic wealth must be well used; the reader is recommended to adapt each of the tips and alternatives to their own reality, change the old paradigm of "earning more is spending more" for another that says "I earn more and invest more", enjoy your festivities whatever these are without the anxiety of spending money or borrowing unnecessarily.
Save and Invest a world of difference
For a long time, the vast majority of people spent it believing that the word Invest only referred to executives, big companies, Wall Street, stock exchanges, busy people who were in charge of millions of dollars; Now we know that this idea is wrong, we can all invest and the truth is that we do it all the time, from the construction worker who earns the minimum wage to the president of the construction company who earns millions and who hired the worker, and it is that in reality any effort, whether transformed into money, time, space or idea is an investment, and generates a profitability in the short, medium or long term; However, saving is totally different, it constitutes the investment matrix,The engine of international banking is precisely the savings of all the account holders of the financial system; The term saving refers to placing an amount of money protected from being spent; In other words, saving is letting spend and saving.
Saving or saving money is just as important as knowing that cash loses its value over time, as a general knowledge we all know that the price of products goes up in most cases over time, so our savings they are in danger of losing their purchasing power. The purchasing power of money refers to what we can buy with the same amount of money today and what we can buy in the future; If our savings are only kept without receiving any profitability then they could easily become a liability generating expense instead of an asset generating profitability.
The basic premise of saving is to have money available for any unforeseen event; however, after a time due to inflation, currency fluctuations and all kinds of economic and social reasons, such as wars, variations in product prices and others, savings become a depreciable asset; Even when said savings are in a bank, it will only give 1.5% in the best of cases, when inflation worldwide is between 4% and 5%.
Invest and produce dividends
While saving is essential for everyone, investing wisely is the best way to receive capital gains with a minimum percentage of risk, Robert Kiyosaki writer of the series Rich Dad Poor Dad,
Create your own company
Like the vast majority, you are likely to say “I am an entrepreneur, but I would have a lot of work to do, and the risk is too much” or “but I have a job and a family that I must support”; However, creating our own company is something that anyone can do, without having to leave the job they already have or invest large amounts of money, just follow the following steps:
- Identify a basic need in your neighborhood, for the Christmas season there are many needs that can be anticipated, such are the following examples:
- Paint the facade and interior of the houses, remember that the vast majority of people receive visits for those days, and want to have the house presentable and clean; Fix damage, leaky roofs, defective doors, pipes in bad condition, everything that can be arranged; Going shopping, like everyone else for those seasons, what is needed by the vast majority is time to go shopping; Home Decoration, people invest time and money in decorating their houses, some even pay companies to take care of it; Babysitting, parties are held everywhere every day in December, and they need a babysitter, the average family pays $ 5-7 a night; Banquet services, many families alleviate the burden of cooking at home hiring catering services at home.
Be adaptive, someone will probably say "but that is different from my reality, I live very far from everything, or maybe I am new to the neighborhood and nobody knows me", there will be many excuses when putting hands to work but yes start small you will see that it is actually easy.
Use your money well for the season
Here are some alternatives to help you maximize your opportunities:
- Anticipate your seasonal purchases, budget in advance what will truly make you enjoy beautiful parties without the need to remain in debt; Avoid buying on impulse, stick to the budget and execute it, remember that a small and solvent party is better than a large one full of debt; Quote various places and stores, ask and research about your options; Verify that you get the best price and the best quality, what benefits you receive if you pay in cash or with a card; Ask for discounts and, talk to the seller, as absurd as it may seem, the vast majority of stores and shops have additional discounts prepared for customers, These may be for a minimum purchase or other conditions; Make groups of purchases, remember that unity is strength,You can join with friends or family who will also buy the same as you or hire the same services, and if they present a single shopping list it is sure that they will receive good discounts; Ask about the outdated inventory, remember that a ball on the Christmas tree always It will be a Christmas ball whatever the year, all stores have inventory from past years with special discounts, ask and you will surely be surprised; Research products online, there are hundreds of places on the internet where new and used products are sold that people want to sell, see what you are looking for, for sure you will find good purchase options; Ask the producers, many times we pass up real offers or promotions because we think that department stores or stores are the only ones that have access to producers,pick up the phone and ask;
Finally, make the best combination of alternatives for your reality, for example you can make your shopping group with your neighbors or relatives and speak directly with the producers about what they want to buy, I assure you they will be happy to assist you.
If you want to buy it then sell it
There are purchasing consortiums where for a membership you can buy at wholesale prices; however, in most cases you must buy two or more items than you want, keep what you are going to use and sell the rest, you will make a profit earlier than expected, make sure you have potential customers for what you want to buy and that it will offer competitive prices;
Monetize your resources
Many people have large unused investments, take advantage of it, here are some ideas of which are these:
- Houses and large spaces, many people have huge spaces where parties can perfectly be held, give a few hands of paint, clean the ceilings and voila, offer ideal conditions for New Year's Eve celebrations; Your parking, remember time and space are money, offer your parking spaces for rent, everyone is looking for a safe place to leave their car and go to the party; Your money, sometimes we have surplus unused money, you can offer your money on loan with the average profitability of banks and loan houses, but be careful, always ask for a guarantee; earn money without losing friends; Your children, teach your children to be entrepreneurs, with a minimum investment you can encourage them to create their own business, it can be the sale of Christmas accessories, babysitting, shopping and others; Specialized equipment,grass cutters, professional sound equipment, giant video screens, industrial tools, anyone will gladly lend you a rental for their professional equipment when it comes to arranging the house for a party; Their knowledge, years of study or specialized work they can be the key to get money, offer your technical or practical knowledge for this season, remember we all want to know where the ice sculptures are sold, but few can make them; Your car, rent your car to go to the party, it is safe that if you offer a discount compared to the big companies you will get extra money; Your time, Christmas holidays are coming, perfect time to rest, but if you want to get some extra money, sign up,Talk to people you know and offer to help them with work for the party.
Ideal conditions for investing and risk assessment
As it is fair to think, every investment brings risks; Now it is time to know the ideal conditions where they can be reduced and to know how to identify what we are facing.
Terms
They are those that determine what, how much, how, where, when we are going to invest, and the return that we will obtain when we recover our investment; They present us with the limitations and scope of the investment alternatives that we have at our disposal, here are some examples:
- Cash loans: the ideal conditions are the following:
- What are we going to invest? Cash; How much? 50% maximum of the salary of the salary received by the debtor; How? Collateral; Where? In the neighborhood or with friends; When? One month term; Return 10% weekly interest.
- What are we going to invest? Local of 100mt2 of space; How much? $ 100 in repairs, painting and decoration; How? Contract for 1 day and 1 night includes use of the WIFI network, use of bathrooms, kitchen, TV and parking for 15 cars; Where? In our country house or on the beach; When? From December 1 to December 31. Return $ 150 per night.
- What are we going to invest? Night time; How much? 6 hours; How? Rate per child; Where? In our house; When? From December 1 to December 31; Return $ 7 per child.
- What are we going to invest? Professional audio and video equipment; How much? 10 hours; How? Rate includes installation, handling and uninstallation of equipment Where? In our neighborhood and with friends; When? From December 1 to December 31; Return $ 100 per event.
Risks evaluation
All the valuation measures must be taken to know exactly all the minors of the investment, make a SWOT table (Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats) of risk assessment for each alternative:
| Community buying group | |||
| Strengths | Opportunities | Weaknesses | Threats |
| There are many neighbors and friends willing to buy with me. | I have a membership of a wholesale supermarket. | Some may be dissatisfied with the product. | Someone could be asking for credit. |
| It is easy to gather a good group of people with the same needs. | In the wholesale there are all kinds of products. | There will be products with minimum purchase. | The supermarket is no returns. |
| Makeup and haircut | |||
| Strengths | Opportunities | Weaknesses | Threats |
| $ 20 to $ 50 is spent for each assignment in a professional salon | I have many friends who dress up and go to parties. | I have little material to dye my hair | At the end of the block there is a beauty salon |
| I have a diploma in cosmetology | My relatives and friends can bring me more clients | An advertisement should be placed on the door of the house | I could buy material unnecessarily and have a surplus |
| Car rental | |||
| Strengths | Opportunities | Weaknesses | Threats |
| My car is spacious and air-conditioned. | I know a lot of people who go to parties. | I would be unable to leave. | The driver could drink alcohol and be stopped. |
| My car has third party damage insurance. | The neighbors always call for a taxi to go out. | My car runs only on special gasoline. | The party could coincide with my company party. |
Now that you have the SWOT table, assign values from 1 to 10 to each box, the minimum value assigned is 1; Add up the Strengths and Opportunities and subtract the Weaknesses and Threats, if the value is negative it is a bad investment, if it is positive and less than 5 it is a bad investment, if it is greater than 5 it is an acceptable investment, if it is greater than 7 it is a good investment and if it is greater than 9 it is an excellent investment; Remember that the more boxes you have of each investment, the better your analysis will be.
There are all kinds of risk assessments for your investments, it is always best to investigate all the minor ones, even the smallest detail will help you decide.
Tips and tricks to invest better
- Credit cards : credit cards give a margin of 30 days to pay the amount used without generating any interest, which means that you have all that time to profit from your credit without paying anything extra to the bank, ask first what your cutoff date; Accumulated points: Investigate what you can buy or exchange with your points or whatever they are called in your bank for purchases with your cards, today there are many banks that even exchange them for cash, in any case avoid exchanging them for promotional products of the bank, see what you can buy from your purchasing budget; Discounts for cash purchases:All department stores offer special discounts for cash purchases, see that it is better to pay in cash or with a card; Offers and promotions: Investigate first why an item is on sale or promotion, many times it is because the new inventory has a similar price to the previous one, other times they are not even on sale, they only place a sign with a percentage on top; Technology products: Like vehicles, the vast majority of technology products lose much of their value once they leave the warehouse, so if you only buy it as an accessory for yourself or your home, it is out of the range of being considered as an investment To be considered as such, it must generate some type of profitability;Avoid last minute purchases: It is proven that people spend much more when they are in last minute purchases, because they are willing to pay more to get what they want, so stick to your shopping budget; Always consult: During the Christmas season it is normal for stores and supermarkets to change the price of products, so if you budget well in advance you will probably need an update; Sell what you do not use: As said previously there are many sites on the internet where new or used items are sold that people no longer use.
Final recommendation
Finally I recommend you make each of your efforts an investment, see yourself as a risk investor,
