Remember your long term goals as you spend this Christmas

The countdown to Christmas has begun and the pressure is on to organise the gifts, the lunchtime feast and holidays away. While it’s important to have fun and enjoy the break, don’t get too carried away and blow your budget – particularly if you’re saving a deposit for a home or investment property.

A budget blowout could significantly delay your entry into the real estate market. As an example your borrowing power is five times the amount you’ve saved when you put down a 20% deposit. So a $2000 blow out over the festive season means that you have $10,000 less buying power when the New Year rolls around.

The other factor to consider is that in many markets around the country we are currently seeing prices on the rise and so you also risk being priced out of the market by delaying your purchase while you continue to save.

A good idea at this time of the year is to reduce your credit card limit to reduce the chance of spending more than you should. As a bonus this approach will also assist in your borrowing capacity when it comes time to obtain a pre-approval.

Remember – Christmas is all about spending time with family and friends. More often than not it’s the thought that’s gone into the gift that counts not its price tag.