10 Smart Things You Can Do With Your Christmas Bonus

This is the time of year when companies are shelling out Christmas bonuses to their employees. Usually reserved for upper management and administrative employees, more and more companies are offering bonuses to all of their workforce based on tenure and service years. Getting a Christmas bonus is a nice added addition to the holidays, but can do a lot throughout the entire year if used properly and wisely.

Christmas bonuses are rare these days due to the economy, but they aren’t totally out of the question. If you do receive one this year, you want to make sure it goes a long way.

Here are 10 Smart Things You Can Do With Your Christmas Bonus:

1. Save:

Since this is extra money that you weren’t expecting, put it in the bank and save it. Let is accrue some interest and work for you.

2. Donate:

You can give back by selecting an charity or area non-profit to donate the money to. If there is more than one that you’d like to donate to, select several and give an equal share to each organization. Oftentimes, these donations can be used as a tax write off.

3. Pay-Off:

Did you accrue some debt this year? Use your Christmas bonus to pay-off your credit cards or loans so you can start the year off with a clean slate.

4. Invest:

The stock market is looking good, so this is a great time to invest. You can also put more into your 401k or IRA. Talk to your financial adviser for more information.

5. Tithe:

If you are a churchgoing person, you can use all or a part of your Christmas bonus to tithe to your church or congregation.

6. Home Fund:

Saving for buying a home? Why not add your Christmas bonus to your home fund?

7. Save for College:

Do you have a little one? It’s never too early to think about saving for college.

8. Put Back Into Your Side Hustle:

If you have a business or side hustle on the side, you can use that Christmas bonus to invest in your endeavor.

9. Home Improvement:

Do you have some much needed home improvements to make?

10. Holiday Savings:

In this article written last week on The Cubicle Chick, one way to make sure you don’t spend too much during the holidays is to save throughout the year by opening a Christmas Club account. You can put all or part of your bonus in an account for next year’s holiday and not have to worry.

Christmas bonuses only come one time a year. Yes, you could splurge on a trip, designer luggage, or diamonds, but you can also do something that will impact your life for the good for many, many, many months to come.

What are some ideas you have for your Christmas bonus?