With the arrival of another Blue Monday, countless Canadians are likely feeling a sense of remorse and other unsettling feelings as they see the financial damage of their 2023 holiday spending. But just as every dark cloud has a silver lining, one advisor says it’s a chance for clients to take stock.

“I already have had a few calls from clients who either overspent or are just coming to terms with some of the issues that they have in their life,” says Andrea Andersen, a Calgary-based financial advisor at Edward Jones. “Oftentimes, clients will feel a little bit of a sense of regret, or a little bit of overwhelm.”

Examine your emotions

Whether it’s an intense craving or an exuberant urge to splurge, many unconscious spending decisions people make during the holidays are driven by their emotions. But Andersen says that after taking a step back and a deep breath, they may find other factors behind that behaviour as well.

“If we step outside those emotions, we may realize other life events are also driving us [to spend excessively],” Andersen says. “They may have experienced a loss … They may have gone through something during the year that caused them to overspend or make decisions that drove up their credit card balance.”

When people feel distressed over their post-holiday statements, Andersen says it’s an opportunity to reflect deeply on what’s at the root of those emotions. Aside from examining their self-talk and the stories they’re telling themselves, she says people can also evaluate their relationship with money.

“People tend to beat themselves up over their overspending, but I think it’s worth asking how we can flip this around into an opportunity to learn about ourselves,” she says. “How did we gain our money? How did we grow up with it? What lessons did we learn from our parents about it, and how is that impacting the way we relate with it today?”

Providing financial perspective

Another way to help soothe the negative emotions that come with clients’ holiday spending hangover, Andersen says, is to contextualize that spending against the larger backdrop of their financial plan.

“When I have these conversations with clients, and they’re feeling a bit panicky, we put it into the bigger picture,” she says. “We ask the question ‘has this derailed your other goals? Has this derailed your retirement plan?’ And in all cases, it was a ‘no.’

“Some people have an abundance of money, but they can still be so hard on themselves over what they deem as overspending on frivolous things,” Andersen says. “But once we show they’re still on track to meet their financial objectives – they’re still going to achieve their retirement goal, they can still educate your kids, they can still travel to those dream destinations – they realize it’s ok to spend a little bit of money here and there.”

In some cases, she says it’s also helpful for clients to be able to contextualize their spending against a budget, as it lets them identify exactly which areas they went too far on.

“They may come to realize ‘you know what, I did overspend. So I’m going to pull back on a few other things for the next couple of months.’ It’s usually not drastic changes … Just small adjustments that have to be made.”

In one study conducted by Edward Jones, 60% of people who weren’t working with an advisor said they were stressed out about their credit card debt and their ability to pay off mortgages, compared to just 29% of those working with an advisor. That finding, Andersen argues, speaks to the crucial role advisors play in helping Canadians relieve the stress that can come on during Blue Monday, when the reality of their holiday spending and debt hits home.

“It really does help to have somebody you can bounce ideas off about budgeting, spending, and taking a look at the big picture,” she says.

“At Edward Jones, we say money matters, but it’s not everything,” she says. “We have to keep in mind as we go through the holiday lookback with our clients that this is just one piece of a very big puzzle, and just make sure they understand that.”

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