Valentine’s Day highlights the cultural pressure of consumerism.
Maintaining relationships often outweighs the negatives of holiday commercialization.
Celebrating love remains a significant social practice despite its flaws.
Investing
Zoe Team
3 min read
Is consumerism the focus of Valentine’s Day?
While often criticized, the day is primarily a social opportunity to celebrate love and relationships.
Should I participate in holiday traditions?
If you are in a relationship, participating in celebrations is generally encouraged despite any personal reservations about consumerism.
Can we ignore the pressure of Valentine’s Day?
While difficult due to social expectations, focusing on genuine connection rather than just material spending is a healthy approach.
It’s that time of year again - Valentines Day. The consumerism, the love in your face, the PDAs, they’re back! That said, if you are in a relationship, you probably end up doing something regardless of the negatives, because let’s face it - who can really snub a day in the name of celebrating love. It’s like telling people you hate dogs. Tough sell.
Although love is supposed to be in the air, the recent stock market correction hasn’t exactly put everyone in the mood. If you’ve read a couple of our recent blogs on this or happened to see our Founder, Andres Garcia-Amaya, on TV talking about it, you’ll know that we’re big promoters of avoiding short-term market movements to dictate your investment strategy. So when we were chatting about Valentine’s Day plans this weekend, we realized that a lesson can be learned here.
Raise your hand if you can relate - it’s Tuesday and you realize that it’s V-day tomorrow. Not the end of the world, except that you have a meeting that only ends around 9 pm and you promised your colleague you would finish a report that she needs for tomorrow. So what do you do? You run down to the closest drug store during your lunch hour, buy a grossly overpriced cheesy card, a questionable box of chocolates and a bunch of roses that cost you more than your weekly grocery shop.
Technically speaking, you’re fine. Your significant other wakes up the next day to a Valentine’s Day gift - no harm, no foul. But when you’re presented with tickets to your favorite artist’s latest concert in return (which have been sold out for over a month) you kind of feel like an ass. Because, as we all know, it’s the thought that counts.
The same can be said for a financial plan. If you’ve spent time on your personal finances and have a realistic plan in place, the fact that the stock market corrected, shouldn’t affect you. Yes, of course, we are human beings, and as human beings, we get emotional about our money - but we have our plan, we’ve thought about it, and a few glitches along the way are all factored in.
If, however, you don’t have a plan, and you see your hard earned investments take a nosedive into the abyss of forgotten hopes and dreams - then yeah, it’s a hard pill to swallow. Or, even worse, if you do have a plan but this crash blows that plan out of the water, it’s far from ideal. But let’s be honest, if that’s the case, then your plan was pretty crappy to begin with.
It’s the thought that counts - as much on Valentine’s Day as with your personal finances. Thinking about what you need now, what you’ll need then, and what you need to do to have both, will mean that you’ll take short-term dips into account. And you really will be fine. But… if you find yourself walking home with a shameful box of chocolates at 11 pm - you’ve kind of missed the point.
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