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Christmas is weeks away, but many consumers are already prepping for the annual holiday spending extravaganza — and they may be on to something. Retailers, to be sure, are revving up the profit engines and setting their sights on Black Friday, traditionally the single biggest shopping day of the year. In the not-too-distant future, Christmas decor will be hanging from store rafters and weekly circulars will be advertising deals on coveted items. These tips can help consumers get their budgets in order, their money saved up and their plans in place for a smooth and financially sound holiday shopping season.

  1. Make a budget.
  2. Save now.
  3. Save up gift cards.
  4. Pay with cash.
  5. Purge to make room for new.
  6. Make a list and check it twice.
  7. Clip and save.
  8. Shop early.
  9. Sign up for alerts.
  10. Track your budget.

Source: 10 Savings Tips for Holiday Shopping – DailyFinance

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Would you save more for retirement if you knew your co-workers were saving more than you were? New research suggests you probably wouldn’t.

Showing people how their retirement finances stack up against those of peers doesn’t motivate them to save more and, in some cases, can actually backfire—that is, discourage people from participating in a 401(k) altogether—according to a paper I recently published in the Journal of Finance in collaboration with researchers from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Such results are surprising, considering peer-comparison strategies are being used successfully in other domains to get people to change their behavior. The findings also raise questions about whether financial companies are on the right track in creating tools that allow customers to see how much others are saving. Part of a movement known as social-norms marketing, the tools are based on the idea that much of human behavior is influenced by what people consider to be “normal,” so if you can correct misperceptions about what normal behavior is, you can motivate the underperformers to move closer to the norm.
The strategy seems to work in certain situations. Some utilities, for example, have managed to persuade customers to conserve electricity by showing them how their energy use compares with that of neighbors.

Source: Don’t compare your savings to that of your peers – MarketWatch