
Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey joined ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the Federal Reserve’s potential interest rate cut and how Americans can avoid overspending during the holidays.
Holiday spending is putting a huge strain on American wallets and leaving some in debt well past the holiday season; however, personal finance expert Dave Ramsey said “mind-boggling” debt can be avoided.
“The average over the last few years has been that people pay off their credit card debt from Christmas to May,” the Ramsey Solutions personality shared during an appearance on “Fox & Friends“Wednesday. “So it takes them about half a year to get back, and since they don’t plan for Christmas…it’s coming to them like they’re moving it or something.”
According to a study made by Achievethe average American will spend more than $2,000 for the 2024 holiday season, breaking down cash outlays into travel and vacation expenses for parties, food, clothing and other gifts.
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Another recent survey by CouponBirds indicated that parents will spend an average of $461 per child and that 49% of parents will go into debt to pay this Christmas.

Dave Ramsey of Ramsey Solutions says you “won’t overspend” if you stick to your Christmas budget. (Getty Images)
Ramsey Solutions personality objected amount of money disbursed for the season while explaining that vacations shouldn’t be a shock and spending should be planned.
“Those numbers are mind-boggling when you look at the averages there. That’s a lot of money going out,” Ramsey added, “all in the name of happiness comes from thingsand he doesn’t.”
She also valued and accepted the advice of fellow expert, Ramsey Solutions personality and daughter Rachel Cruze, who suggested making a list of people to shop for and noting how much she would spend on each.
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“You know, I’m old and I met a guy from the North Pole,” the pundit joked. “He said ‘make a list and check it twice,’ so Rachel is right.”
Ramsey continued to expand his daughter’s suggestion: “If you do that, and you put a name next to it, and then you add up those dollar amounts, you have what’s called a Christmas budget.”
“If you stick to this, you won’t overspend,” commented the host of “The Ramsey Show.”
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The money guru pointed out what he sees as problematic with the holiday season, not taking a chance on Christmas, but referring to spending issues.
“The problem with Christmas is not that we enjoy buying gifts for someone else. This is a wonderful thing,” he said. “The problem is that we push ourselves and double what we spend because retailers make all their money during this season.”
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Ramsey concluded by advising shoppers to be wary of retailers and not fall for their marketing strategies.
“They are big traders,” he warned. “They’re great at putting things in front of us that we hadn’t planned to buy.”
Ramsey Solutions personality Jade Warshaw breaks down the latest economic data showing that consumer credit card debt is piling up amid a jump in spending.