How Much Money People Spend for Valentine’s Day?

Valentine day is a very popular day to celebrate in all over the world. On that day couples express their love for each other with celebration or gifts. Valentine's Day can also be an occasion for a more general celebration of love and appreciation of people who are personally important to an individual like family, friend, teacher, or co-worker.

Valentine comes from the name of 5^th century martyred saint of ancient Rome Saint Valentine (or Valentinus) who has buried in Rome on February 14. By the 15th century, it had evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, confectionery (chocolate and candy), and sending greeting cards. Modern Valentine's Day symbols include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged cupid. The gifts that are very popular nowadays are chocolate, rose flowers, jewelry, restaurant dinners, or gift cards. The popularity of Internet at the turn of the millennium is creating new traditions, because millions of people use digital means of creating and sending Valentine's Day greeting messages such as e-card, love coupons or printable greeting cards. An estimated 15 million e-valentines were sent in 2010.

Now we will look at how much money people spend for Valentine’s Day celebration.

United States of America: This year, the average consumers spend out US $126.03 for Valentine's Day, an 8.5 percent increase over last year's $116.21.

Canada: According to recent data from BMO, retail consumer spending increased 9.25 per cent in the week leading up to Valentine's Day in 2011 that’s around  Canadian dollar $126.03.

Singapore, China, South Korea and Japan spend more money on Valentine's gifts than any other countries which is £173 (or C $ 260).

China: A bouquet of flowers with 11 roses will cost about 300 yuan (C $48) or more. Some imported roses will be priced at 60 yuan (C $ 10) each. Some hotel rooms priced at 200 yuan to 300 yuan (C $ 48). Some people do not think twice in buying gift like Swarovski necklace which is cost 980 yuan (C$157), or a quarter of her/his monthly salary.

India: A single long-stemmed rose is sold 60 Rupee (or C $ 1.2), for a bouquet of 10 roses it costs C $ 12. Cakes price is around 500 Rupee (C$ 10), and restaurant meals for two have been priced at an average 350 Rupee (C $ 7).

Indonesia: A bouquet of 10 roses costs Rupiah 120.000 (or C $ 13), valentine’s doll or plush which is price in between Rupiah 50.000 to 200.000 (C $ 6 to C $ 24) depending on the sizes. A silver ring with heart shaped could cost Rupiah 200.000 (C $ 24).

Japan:  Survey from japan-guide.com, 67% women celebrates Valentine’s Day and the most popular gift is chocolate. In Japan, it is only the women giving presents to men, but not the other way around. Men are supposed to return the favor received on Valentine's Day one month later on White Day. The very famous chocolate in Japan is Royce chocolate which is price in between C $ 8 to C $ 23.

A survey revealed (source telegraph.co.uk) that Irish couples spend just £134 (C $ 201) and UK couples only £145 (C $ 217) compared with the Spanish figure of £218 (C $ 327), The French spend £208 (C $ 312), Italians £176 (C $ 264) and Germans £153 (C $ 229) also outspend the UK and Irish.

Showing your love and making your relationship stronger is more important and it takes work not only money. Spending money for Valentine can be fun and very productive if it is well planned and affordable. So be wise in celebrating Valentine’s Day.

Why You Get Into Debt?

Having a debt is not wrong and even it’s almost impossible to live debt free. We know that there are good debt and bad debt. Most of us can not pay cash for our homes and our children’s college educations, so we borrow money from a bank or mortgage company. Those are categorized as good debts, because those are considered as investments.  Since homes usually appreciate in value, the mortgage loan you take out to pay for the home is an investment. A student loan that is taken out to finance a college education is an investment, because earning a college degree usually means that you’ll make more money over your lifetime.

In other side, there is a bad debt which some people are trapped in it. Bad debt is debt you've taken on for things you don't need and can't afford, such as go on vacation, buy a designer clothes, shoes (consumer products). Some people do not realize their bad debts until they find out that their bank account balance is zero or even minus, their credit card bills aren’t paid and bank or debt collector starts calling.

What are the reasons people get into such a big and bad debt?

Difference between Needs and Wants

Some people do not know the difference between needs and wants, they spend too much for something they want but it’s not a basic need. Needs are the things we need to live comfortably, such as food and shelter.  Wants are things that we don’t really need, but we would like to have, such as a motorcycle, earrings, a hot tub, 500 cable TV channels, a brand new luxury car, 5,000-square-foot homes in exclusive neighborhoods, lavish ski vacations, and smart phones that do everything for us.

Bad Spending Habits

Bad spending habits come from ignorance (you avoid learning about how to spend money wisely and you don’t want to change your habit), carelessness (you are lazy to care about bad debt). You know it's wrong, but you do it anyway, telling yourself “It's just once”, but you keep doing that.

Lack of Discipline

Some people lack the self-control to discipline their purchases. Others may not want to control their spending.

Lack of Contentment

Some people never feel satisfy and happy with their life. People seem to ‘need’ a lot, because of not content, greedy, or have a high level of need. Some people feel pride with their ‘not genuine’ luxury life which is based on bad debt.

Living Beyond Your Means 

Your are tempted to try the finer things in life like expensive restaurants, luxurious holidays and fancy car, but the trouble is that once you start, it’s a difficult habit to stop

Not Knowing Your Limits

Borrowing money is fine as long as you can afford to pay it back within the conditions set out by the lender.

The question now is what is the normal limit of debts that you can have? Ideally, experts say, your total monthly long-term debt payments, including your mortgage and credit cards, should not exceed 36 percent of your gross monthly income. Other experts say your rent or mortgage payment should be no more than 25% of your income (including taxes and insurance) and your credit card debt and auto financing can safely equal 10% of your annual income. If you and your spouse’s net annual income are $ 48,000, your mortgage payment, property tax and home insurance can not exceed $ 12,000 per year or $ 1,000 per month. And your credit card and auto loan payment should be limited to $ 4,800 per year or $ 400 per month.

If you don’t feel comfortable at your current level of debt, begin immediately to take proactive steps to reduce debt, such as consult a money advisor/ personal accountant, redesign your monthly spending budget, and change your spending habit.

How Long You Can Afford to Buy a House?

Buying a house is a wise decision in your life. You pay the house mortgage for your own house instead of pay rent for a place that is not yours. Buying a house is al so a way to build your personal wealth. When the house is sold when the mortgage loan is paid and the housing price rises, the house sale is turned into profit. However to buy a house is not easy, not everyone can afford to buy a house. It depends on how much income you get, how much saving you can put for the down payment, and also how much cash flow you can afford for the regular monthly cost of a house.

There are many indicators to measure the house affordability index, but in this article we use the index from Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey. The survey compares the median household income in the market to the median house sale price. For example: the median house sale price is $ 678,500 in Vancouver, while the median household income is $ 63,800, so the ratio becomes $ 678,500/ $ 63,800 = 10.6. It means you need 10.6 years income to buy a house in Vancouver. Table below gives data about housing affordability in some cities in Canada.

City	Years Income to Buy
Vancouver, BC	10.6
Victoria, BC	6.8
Toronto, ON	5.5
Montreal, QC	5.1
Calgary, AB	3.9
Quebec, QC	3.8
Ottawa, ON	3.7
Edmonton, AB Halifax, NS Winnipeg, MB Charlottetown, PEI Saint John, NB Windsor, ON	3.5 3.5 3.4 2.9 2.6 2.2

In Toronto you need to generate income to almost 6 years to afford a house, while in Windsor you just need 2.2 years income to buy a house, because the median house price in Windsor only $ 149,000 compared to the median household income of $ 67,900.

From this index result, we can learn that the house price factor is very dominant, the higher house price the longer we can afford to buy a house. As comparison 2 bedroom’s house with land size 33 x 110 and house size 895 sq feet, the price is $ 749,900 in Vancouver, while in Windsor the price of 2 bedroom’s house with land size 30 x 117 is $ 76,900.