This article was published on 3 December 2020. Some information may be out of date.

The high costs of Christmas

  • Survey — NZers value time with family way ahead of giving and getting gifts
  • Ideas to cut cost of gifts
  • Donate to charity in the name of family member
  • Thoughts about Christmas food, drinks and decorations
  • I wrote article on this — on RNZ website from December 18

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Mary Holm, ONZM, is a freelance journalist, a seminar presenter and a bestselling author on personal finance. She is a director of Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL) and a former director of the Financial Markets Authority. Her opinions are personal, and do not reflect the position of any organisation in which she holds office. Mary’s advice is of a general nature, and she is not responsible for any loss that any reader may suffer from following it. Send questions to [email protected] or click here. Letters should not exceed 200 words. We won’t publish your name. Please provide a (preferably daytime) phone number. Unfortunately, Mary cannot answer all questions, correspond directly with readers, or give financial advice.