With Christmas nearly upon us, Unbiased.co.uk, the online Find an IFA Search, has put together a few quick tips on managing your Christmas spending:

1. Write a Christmas present list – know what you want to buy for friends and family and then shop around for the best price.
2. Set yourself a budget – work out how much you can afford to spend on presents and stick to it.
3. Make sure you know your credit card and overdraft limits before you hit the shops – credit cards can differ widely with regards to interest free periods and interest rates. Make sure you know and can afford the charges if you go over your limits.
4. Shop around for the best credit card deal – and make sure you don’t get lured into finance deals offered by many shops, they are often less attractive than spending money on your credit card.
5. Be clever when you shop – make use of discounts and money off vouchers.
6. Make use of online shopping – you can often get a better deal online.
7. Once you have bought your Christmas presents, move any money left over in your current account into a high interest savings account to avoid being tempted to spend it.
8. Agree with your friends not to send Christmas cards to each other – or opt for e-cards or make charitable donations.  
9. Invite your friends around for a festive get together and ask them to bring things to eat and drink, instead of hitting the pub.
10. And last but not least – why not make a financial New Year’s resolution? Go to Unbiased.co.uk to find an Independent Financial Adviser in your area to talk about how to improve your finances for 2009. 

David Elms, Chief Executive of Unbiased.co.uk says: “With Christmas rapidly approaching, more and more of us will be diving deeper into our wallets and purses to pay for friends’ and family’s Christmas present.. While we have seen High Street shops offering discounts and special sales events, it is just as easy to overspend on presents this year as it has been in previous years. There are lots of little tips you can follow to try and keep an eye on your Christmas spending.

“But don’t forget that it is not just about Christmas spending – it is important to have a good look at your entire financial situation for the whole year. No one can be of better help with financial planning than an Independent Financial Adviser.”

For further information please contact:

For expert comment or case studies from over 200 media-friendly IFAs, journalists should visit www.unbiased.co.uk/bluebook to search online or call Unbiased.co.uk’s Media Services hotline on 020 7294 3682.

PLEASE NOTE: We have now discontinued the consumer hotline and so consumers seeking an IFA should visit www.unbiased.co.uk

1.      Unbiased.co.uk

Unbiased.co.uk is a not for profit organisation which promotes the benefits of Independent Financial Advice to UK consumers. 

Unbiased.co.uk, which is in its 19^th year, helps create over 7,500 pieces of positive coverage in the consumer media each year, highlighting the importance of seeking independent financial advice across online, broadcast and print media. This positive media generation influences consumers’ behaviour and increases their awareness of the benefits of seeing an IFA.

Unbiased.co.uk is now the online gateway between consumers researching their financial advice options online and IFAs. Over 60 white label versions of Unbiased.co.uk’s confidential ‘Find an IFA’ service are now running on partner websites including those of media and portal money channels, product provider sponsors and other industry bodies.

Over the past 12 months, over 525,000 consumers have used Unbiased.co.uk’s  ‘Find an IFA search’, or one of the white labels, to find a local IFA – and 94% of these enquiries were dealt with online.

When searching for a ‘Find an IFA’ on UK Google, around 80% of the returned links over the first five pages of search results now display either Unbiased.co.uk directly or a white label version of Unbiased.co.uk’s ‘Find an IFA’ service running on a partner website. To support this activity Unbiased.co.uk now regularly provides white label versions of its consumer guides, tools, microsites and podcasts to partner personal finance websites.

2.      Unbiased.co.uk’s product provider sponsors

Registered Office: Unbiased.co.uk is the consumer brand of IFA Promotion Ltd, 90 St. Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5UB. Registered in Scotland: No. 114606