Just as how we look forward to reuniting with our families and loved ones this Christmas season, there’s also another thing that most people are excited about. That’s receiving their 13th-month pay and Christmas bonus. If you’re lucky enough to receive both during this time of the year, you should be careful not to overspend or splurge on things we don’t usually need. There are smart ways you can spend your 13th month but, in this article, we’ll be talking about how you can spend your Christmas Bonus wisely.
What is Christmas Bonus
Many people interchange the meanings of 13th-month pay and Christmas bonus as they are often received during the month of December. Sometimes, given simultaneously. This often leads to confusion and miscalculation. To give you a further understanding, the two are not the same.
The 13th month pay is a monetary benefit every employee receives as mandated by the government. It is equivalent to an employee’s one-month basic salary.
Christmas Bonus, on the other hand, is a voluntary benefit that employers may or may not give to their employees. Deemed as an incentive, Christmas Bonuses are given out of generosity before, during, or after December 24.
Overall, 13th-month pay is government-mandated and Christmas Bonus is not. Whereas the 13th month pay is equivalent to 1-monthly income and Christmas Bonus varies depending on the employer’s preference.
Now that you’ve learned the difference, we should be keener into spending our money as sometimes the combined monetary benefit we receive during December is almost twice our basic pay. With that, we’ve listed down tips on how you can spend your Christmas Bonus wisely.
Financial planning
As mentioned, some employees are bound to receive almost twice or more than that as monetary value during December. If prior to this you already know your company’s policy on bonuses, you might want to plan ahead of time on how you’ll spend them.
One of the best ways is to spend them is separating and monitoring your expenses so that you can save up for yourself. But of course, it’s not always necessary but when possible, you can try and do this. So that you can come up with separate financial plans for your Christmas bonus and 13th month.
Without further ado, here are our tips on how to spend your Christmas bonus wisely.
1. Pay Yourself
If you’re one of the lucky ones who received a Christmas Bonus on top of their 13th-month pay for December, well, this is your chance to pay yourself first.
Although we encourage you to put it in your savings account, depriving yourself of the things you want sometimes may end up with unhealthy outbursts or overspending. With this, you can opt to pay yourself a portion of your Christmas bonus and spend it in any way you want this holiday season. Add it to your savings for your future self, give in to your cravings, or buy some of that self-care needs, it’s up to you.
2. Start an Investment
Most of us live paycheck to paycheck. Our salaries are just enough for our monthly expenses and barely making it to the next one. Not every month we receive an extra cash. Or if we do, we end up buying things we’ve been long saving up for.
You can spend your Christmas bonus wisely by starting your investing journey. Start investing maybe 10-15% can be a good kickstart. At the same time, you can add saving up your hard earned money for your investment as part of your new year’s resolution.
3. Build an emergency fund
It’s time that people start to recognize the importance of emergency funds. Emergency fund as the name itself is cash meant for emergencies or unexpected expenses such as hospital expenses, sudden loss of a job, etc. It is equivalent to 3 – 6 months of your monthly salary.
In this time of day, we already know that those who were able to keep their jobs in the time of the pandemic are very blessed. But the fear of losing it still remains. That’s why it is now a good time to give importance to emergency funds. Building one is one of the good ways on how you can spend your Christmas bonus wisely and when the time comes, it might just save you from financial problems.
4. Get Insured
Breadwinner or not, getting insured should be normalized. Getting a life insurance policy is definitely one way to spend your Christmas bonus wisely. Get rid of the taboo when it comes to insurances and start securing your loved ones in case something happens to you. Pandemic-related or not, getting your life insured is also a way of showing your love to your family as you lessen a potential financial burden.
Also, not only life can be insured but health as well. Get insured and reimburse your hospital or medical expenses when the time comes and surely, you’ll thank your insurance for that.
5. Pay off Debts
As an important part of getting extra money, paying if your debts are one of our tips on how to spend your Christmas bonus wisely. Give back to those who helped you financially by returning what you owe them.
An important thing to remember here is that paying off at least a portion of your debt already plays a great part both for you and the lender. If you cannot pay your existing debts in full now, it’s fine. As long as you remembered to return a bit once you received your bonus and still plan to pay in the future.
6. Reserve your Bria House and Lot
As part of spending your Christmas bonus wisely and starting to invest, why not invest in real estate? Real estate is proven to be one of the most stable investment vehicles. Not only it brings constant value appreciation, but real estate is also a tangible asset that you can appreciate in real-time.
One type of real estate investment is residential real estate like a house and lot or condominium. If you’ve been eyeing investing in real estate for some time, spend your Christmas bonus wisely by reserving your Bria House and Lot! Made with quality materials, Bria Homes is one of the leading providers of affordable real estate options to the ordinary Filipino family who has been dreaming of owning their own home. You can find Bria Homes’ projects in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. They also offer vertical projects such as condominium units if you’re looking for a more urbanized lifestyle. You can reserve your Bria House and Lot online for as a low as 10,000 pesos. Get to know more about Bria Homes on their website and Facebook page.
