Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Last-Minute Christmas Gifts That Won't Break the Bank

Episode Date: December 22, 2023

If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, let’s just rip the bandaid off: you can’t ship something today and have it get there in time for Christmas. Even with rush shipping… it’s just not going to happen. Nicole shares ten last-minute gifts that will get to your loved ones by Monday— and, won’t break the bank. Money Rehab’s Last-Minute Christmas Gift Guide An IRL subscription like with Justin Wine (BONUS, get 15% off your order with code MONEY15); or Factor Meals (BONUS, get 50% off with code MNN50 at factormeals.com/mnn50) A URL subscription (check out the New York Times Cooking App or Headspace) An online course (check out Masterclass or Nicole’s Money School). An experience (check out Uncommon Goods or EventBrite). A roadmap to financial independence (check out Magnifi or Nicole’s book Rich Bitch). A gift they can personalize, without knowing how much you spent! (check out Sugarwish). A priceless conversation with a world-renowned entrepreneur on Intro. A donation to a cause they love, like World Wildlife Fund. Happy holidays!

It is time to start thinking about holiday shopping, and I'll let you in on a little secret. Get everyone on your list something special from Justin Wine. Justin is legit my favorite wine to give and to receive. With a rich history of accolades, Justin produces exceptional wines and is proud to be America's number one luxury cabernet. Since 1981, Justin has been producing world-class Bordeaux-style wines from Paso Robles on California's Central Coast. As a pioneer of Paso, Justin Wines are what put Paso Robles on the winemaking map. Justin offers curated gift sets, library wines, magnums, and even custom-etched bottles. You can personalize the gifts with a custom message, icon, or logo. Go to justinwine.com and enter code MONEY20 at checkout for 20% off your order.

Justin offers the perfect holiday gifts for clients, colleagues, family, and friends. If you're looking for a special wine to serve at your holiday table, try Isosceles. That's Justin's flagship Bordeaux-style red blend. Whether you're a first-time wine drinker or a wine aficionado, Justin has a wine for everyone, every occasion, and every celebration. Be sure to check them out at justinwine.com and receive 20% off your order for a limited time. Money rehabbers, you get it. When you're trying to have it all, you end up doing a lot of juggling. You have to

balance your work, your friends, and everything in between. So when it comes to your finances, the last thing you need is more juggling. That's where Bank of America steps in. With Bank of America, you can manage your banking, borrowing, and even investing all in one place. Their digital tools bring everything together under one roof, giving you a clear view of your finances whenever you need it. Plus, with Bank of America's wealth of expert guidance available at any time, you can feel confident that your money is working as hard as you do. So why overcomplicate your money? Keep it simple with Bank of America, your one-stop shop for everything you need today and the goals you're working toward tomorrow.

To get started, visit bofa.com slash newprosmedia. That's B-O-F-A dot com slash N-E-W pros, P-R-O-S, media. Bofa.com slash newprosmedia. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Well, Christmas is Monday, a.k.a. the day after the day after tomorrow. And if you celebrate the holiday and you haven't done your shopping yet, you're not doomed, but you are getting into doomy territory. So let's figure out your gifts right now. If you're going to see your loved ones in person on Monday, you actually have a little more time and you have a good shot at finding some great gifts at even better prices this Saturday. So historically, some of the best holiday deals

have fallen on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but because of higher prices and therefore lower shopper turnout this year, experts are predicting tomorrow, Super Saturday, the Saturday before Christmas, will have major, major deals. So if you can get out of the house on Saturday and do some last-minute shopping, I am not worried about you. You're going to find something awesome. Plus, I worked with some really super brands this year that I absolutely love legit, like Justin Wine and Factor Meals and others, and they have given me discounts that I can pass on to you. All of the discounts and how to snag them are listed in the show notes. But if you have a loved one on your list that lives far away, let's just rip off the band-aid. You can't send anything today and have it get there in time for Christmas. Even with rush shipping, it's just not going to happen. So here are 10 last-minute gift ideas that you can get a friend who lives far, far away

that will get to them on Monday and won't break the bank. If you want to lock in one of these gifts ASAP because we are in crunch territory. They're all linked in the episode description as well. Number one, an IRL subscription. There is a subscription box for every type of person in your life. I swear I have been down this rabbit hole. You can get a monthly subscription box for wine, for cheese, for books, socks, snacks, self-care items, flower arrangements, dog treats, coffee, meal kits, makeup, like truly anything you can think of, there is a monthly subscription box for it. And pro tip, if you're looking at a pricier subscription box, a year-long subscription

would probably be too expensive. Most of these companies, though, will let you gift a three-month subscription, or you can just tell your friend that you're giving them a three-month subscription and then sign them up for a monthly subscription that you can cancel after three months. No shame in that game. Number two, a URL subscription. While we're on the subject of subscriptions, let's not forget that all of the online membership subscriptions can be gifted in five minutes or less.

If you have a friend who's always bugging you for the password to your Hulu or New York Times cooking app accounts, maybe it's time to get them their own membership. Or if you know that one of their New Year's resolutions is to be more mindful in 2024, consider getting them a membership to an app like Headspace or Calm. Number 3. An online course. We all have that friend who is always trying to learn how to cook but could literally burn

soup. If you're shopping for that friend, give them a gift to a course platform like Masterclass or Skillshare. Or if they have a big trip planned for 2024 in a country where they don't speak the language yet, italki is a great platform for learning a new language. Or you can give your bestie my Money School course. Duh, it is themoneyschool.com and it is always the right size. Number 4. Create a recipe book. If you're looking for a gift that is free, my favorite price, get your digital arts and crafts game on and create a digital recipe book. This could also work for your cooking-challenged friend as well. Here's how you pull it off. Create a Word doc that's filled with recipes for meals that are

meaningful for the two of you. Cocktails and desserts totally count too, by the way. So I'll give you an example. If I was making this for my friend Christy, I'd find an online recipe for falafel because when we met at dinner, that's what was on the menu. And then when I was going through a breakup, or a few breakups, we drank many, many spicy margaritas. So that recipe goes in the book too. You get the idea. You can sprinkle in photos of the two of you, use a fun font, export it to a PDF, and you have a very thoughtful and useful gift. Number five, an experience. My favorite gifts have always been experiences because it always involves spending time with the people you love and not to be cheesy, but that is truly

priceless. If you and your friends share a love for a favorite band or sports team, check their calendar for 2024 and buy tickets to an event together. If it feels too risky to lock in a particular day, there are other sites where you can buy an experience first and then lock in the date later. Uncommon Goods, for example, has more experiences available than you could ever dream of, like make your own dumpling class, flower arranging, tarot reading, DIY hot sauce making, how to paint a picture of your dog. Penny, get excited. Seriously, these are all real gift options, so even if this person is really hard to shop for, I'm sure you'll find something there. Uncommon Goods is not the only site for experiences. There's also Course Horse.

Airbnb also has experiences on their site. Once you start poking around these experiential gifts, you're going to go from not having any ideas to having too many. Number six, rich bitchness. Can you believe I waited until recommendation number six to bring up the gift of financial literacy? In my opinion, there is no better gift, obviously. If you're looking to help someone in your life make progress on their financial journey without giving them the fortune yourself, you can teach them how to make their own fortune and look at apps like magnify. It's the AI investing assistant that helps you make a financial plan for a goal, get invested in the market for the very first time,

or just keep up on the latest news in the markets. That is the gift that pays dividends. Literally. Number seven, a gift they choose. The not-fun part about giving a gift card is that they know exactly how much you spend, so you feel a little bit of pressure to make it more than you really want to spend. But on the other hand, I get the gift card appeal because it allows your friend to pick out exactly what they want. Well, there are companies that allow you to take all of the good of gift cards and none of the bad. For example, the company Sugar Wish allows you to send a friend a personalizable gift. But unlike a gift card where you give your friend

essentially a budget that they can spend, companies like Sugar Wish present a friend with a bunch of goodies and then tell them to pick three. So instead of saying, hey, Nicole sent you 50 bucks, spend it on whatever you want. It says, Nicole wants you to get exactly what you want. Pick your favorite things. That way, your friend gets to pick exactly what they want without ever knowing what you spent. Number eight, a priceless conversation. For your friend who wants to kick their career

into high gear in 2024, give them the gift of a one-on-one coaching session with a world-renowned entrepreneur on the platform Intro. Intro was one of my favorite discoveries of 2023. It's almost like Cameo, but for meetings with entrepreneurs. You can give your friend a 30-minute meeting with iconic, iconic business experts, people like Spencer Raskoff, who founded Zillow, Ali Webb, who's the founder of Drybar, Andrew Chen, who's a partner at the huge VC firm A16Z,

Jason Pfeiffer, who's the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine and co-host of Help Wanted, Alex Lieberman, who is the co-founder of Morning Brew, and little old me. Number nine, a donation to a cause they love. For the friend who has everything, get them something that can't fit in a box, and donate to a cause they're really passionate about. This is my favorite gift for an animal lover because a lot of organizations like the World Wildlife Fund will allow you to symbolically adopt an animal in your friend's name, and that gift comes with a picture of the real-life animal the WWF has helped and a toy version of the animal. Plus, the gift is tax-deductible, so it's kind of a gift

for yourself too. Number 10. A gift receipt. Whatever you decide to go with, give a gift receipt. We are not mind readers. The presents we give won't always be slam dunks. And even though you probably don't want your friend to return what you gave them, at the end of the day, you just want them to love that gift. So if a gift receipt is what it takes to make that happen, it's worth it. For today's tip you can take straight to the bank. Most of these digital presents have an option where you can get the company to send an email on Christmas with instructions on how to claim the gift. Instead of that route, take it to the next level and add some TLC.

Schedule send your own email for Christmas Day with all of the details that your friend needs to know to redeem the gift, but make it personal. Write a sweet note, insert a photo of the two of you, or find an e-card online that is pretty and interactive. If you're sending a gift over email, your friend isn't going to have the experience of unwrapping a physical gift. So make your digital packaging something just as fun. Money Rehab is a production of Money News Network. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Money Rehab's executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. Our researcher is Emily Holmes. Do you need some money rehab? And let's be honest, we all do. So email us your money questions,

moneyrehab at moneynewsnetwork.com to potentially have your questions answered on the show or even have a one-on-one intervention with me. And follow us on Instagram at Money News and TikTok at Money News Network for exclusive video content. And lastly, thank you. No, seriously, thank you. Thank you for listening and for investing in yourself, which is the most important investment you can make.