Retirement Resources President and Investment Advisor, Dave Boike, talks about the how much individuals typically spend on gifts that are returned, regifted or just tossed away and how much pressure buying gifts puts on people. He talks about sharing experiences and giving long-lasting financial security versus giving things.

Auburn Hills, MI — December 24, 2019— Dave Boike, President of Retirement Resources and co-author of The Ultimate Success Guide with Brian Tracy published a new article on the company website entitled, “A Return To The Spirit Of Giving Love Instead Of Stuff,” in which Mr. Boike tells readers the traditional gift-giving we are accustomed to in the Western world was brought about by retailers.

Boike poses a question, “Have you ever wondered when Christmas became the season to give a bunch of store-bought stuff to people?” He continues adding, “I have been somewhat preoccupied with this question and started doing some research. What I found out has kind of turned my head around about this holiday that seems to be so engrained in spending more money than we have and stressing out over whether or not the recipients of said gifts will like them or not. And really stressing over the fact that we spent too much. And as you’ll see when you read further, no, most people don’t like the gifts they receive!”

According to Boike’s research, he discovered that, “The tradition of giving gifts around Christmas didn’t really begin in the Western part of the world until the end of the 19^th Century. At that time gifts were often given just on Christmas Eve.” He elaborates, “It didn’t take long for retailers to start recognizing the opportunity this tradition created. Around the turn of the 20^th century this became a perfect storm as marketing efforts were aimed at children in the hope they would entice (or badger) their parents into buying the stuff they were marketing.” He adds, “That’s when the entire month before Christmas became a very profitable period for retailers. And, as we all know, the tradition has deep roots and is bigger and stronger than ever.”

“According to some researchers,” Boike writes, “it has been estimated that in the early 2000s shoppers in the U.S. alone spent over $4 billion each day during the Christmas shopping season. The average individual spent over $1,000 on gifts.”

Boike turns to Wikipedia and reports that according to their information, “ gift giving is not as appreciated as we would like to think. In fact, all this spending actually, “leads to gifts often being returned, sold, or re-gifted. In .. 2016, 15% of respondents were unhappy about their gifts and 10% could not remember what they had received. Twenty-five percent of respondents (in a survey) said they had re-gifted their presents to someone else, 14% sold the items, 10% tried to return them to the store, and 5% returned the gift to the giver. Seniors were more likely to send their unwanted presents to charity, while those aged 25 to 34 “simply threw them away”. Gifts that are least likely to be appreciated rely on personal tastes, and include items like perfumes and cosmetics, ornaments, and clothing.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_gift

 

Read the entire article post at https://www.theretirementresource.org/single-post/2019/12/23/A-Return-To-The-Spirit-Of-Giving-Love-Instead-Of-Stuff

 

About Dave Boike

Dave is a well-known financial educator, co-author of The Ultimate Success Guide with Brian Tracy, author of High Tide and contributing author of 21st Century Wealth.  For over 30 years, Dave has been teaching investors age 55+ how to preserve their assets, increase their income, and reduce income taxes. He has taught Retirement Planning Classes at Michigan State University, Wayne State University and Oakland Community College.

For over 4 years, Dave was featured on NBC25 every weeknight at 6PM, discussing the daily market wrap-up. Many area retirees have used Dave’s advice to enjoy a financially independent retirement.

Dave is a Chartered Financial Consultant, a designation awarded only to the most experienced advisors who have completed a 10-course program of study, through the American College in Pennsylvania, focusing on Tax, Investment, Risk Management, Retirement and Estate Planning.  He is an approved Member of the International Association of Registered Financial Planners, the Society of Financial Service Professionals.  As a strong advocate of education, Dave recently spoke at The Michigan Association of CPA’s and is teaching a class at Oakland Community College.

Dave’s latest book, High Tide, A Practical Guide for Affluent Retirees to Protect, Profit and Prosper from the Coming Storm, talks specifically on the important challenges retirees are facing today and some new cutting edge solutions to address those challenges.  He teaches you in this easy to read book how to take the steps necessary to achieve your successful retirement.

Dave is Managing Member and Chief Compliance Officer of Retirement Resources, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisory Firm. Every year, since 2011, Retirement Resources has been awarded the 5 Star Wealth Manager of Michigan, which is only given to the top 7% of advisory firms.

This content is provided for informational and educational purposes only. The information, analysis and opinions expressed herein reflect our judgment as of the date of writing and are subject to change at any time without notice. They are not intended to constitute legal, tax, securities or investment advice or a recommended course of action in any given situation. All investments carry a certain risk and there is no assurance that an investment will provide positive performance over any period of time. Information obtained from third party resources is believed to be reliable but not guaranteed. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

 

 

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