3 fascinating Easter traditions that can teach you valuable lessons about your finances

Easter Sunday is just around the corner, falling this year on 17 April. You may have already begun preparing for Easter festivities, such as buying Easter eggs for your children and grandchildren, or making plans to share a meal with family.

Easter, of course, is the celebration of Christ’s resurrection after his crucifixion on Good Friday. It symbolises rejuvenation, new life, and being faithful to what you believe. Holy Week, the week preceding Easter Sunday, begins on 10 April.

Whether you are a practising Christian or not, Easter is a time to come together in a moment of appreciation for life, as the weather gets warmer, and the light evenings return.

There are always things to be learned from holidays and festivals. These moments during the year, like Easter and Christmas, hold moral lessons that can be applied to all areas of our lives, including our money.

Here are three fascinating Easter traditions that can teach you valuable lessons about your finances.

1. Easter eggs could resemble rejuvenation in all areas of your life – including your finances

People often wonder why eggs are used as a symbol of Easter. According to English Heritage, during medieval times eating eggs during Lent was strictly prohibited, so eggs were eaten at Easter as a celebration of the end of the Lenten fast.

For others, painting real eggs or buying chocolate eggs at Easter is a way of honouring new life, aligning the Christian meaning of Easter with the beginning of springtime.

When it comes to your money, there’s plenty to learn from this time of rejuvenation. The new tax year begins on 6 April, just four days before the beginning of Holy Week. During the Easter festivities, you could take the opportunity to think about the tax year ahead, and make steps towards achieving your financial goals from the outset.

For example, your ISA allowance resets in the new tax year, meaning you can save up to £20,000 tax-efficiently.

By hitting the ground running in the new tax year, you could maximise your tax-efficient savings opportunities, staying ahead of the curve when it comes to meeting your financial goals.

2. The period of Lent shows that it’s never too late to say goodbye to your worst financial habits

Lent is known as a period of sacrifice. We give up something we know is “bad” for us, like alcohol, smoking, or chocolate. Traditionally, though, the Lenten fast was observed in honour of Christ spending 40 days and nights in the desert without food or water.

The moral lesson of Lent is that of resisting temptation. We will always have the opportunity to stray from the path we are on, and it can be difficult to stay within the boundaries you have set for yourself.

When it comes to your money, there have never been more temptations that might cause you to stray from your savings goals, or to fall back into bad spending habits.

For example, according to Statista, one in three UK customers used a “buy now, pay later” scheme when online shopping in 2021. This is one of many statistics that demonstrate how easy it is to overspend when shopping online in this day and age – meaning you could be impeding your ability to save for the future.

Lent is already underway, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to make a change. If you need the motivation to say goodbye to your worst financial habits, Lent could be the perfect catalyst for this change.

If you need help reviewing your spending, talk to your financial planner today for guidance on making the most of your money.

3. Easter Sunday might remind you that patience is a virtue when it comes to investing

The climactic moment of most Easter celebrations is Easter Sunday. This day celebrates the resurrection of Christ, after he was crucified on Good Friday.

Even if you are not a practising Christian and don’t observe Easter from a religious perspective, this incredible story can teach us all about patience, belief, and never assuming what might happen next.

When it comes to your personal finances, these moral lessons are highly transferrable – you could find that you are impatient about seeing positive returns on your savings and investments, for example, and make rash decisions as a result.

If you are new to investing – or even if you’re a seasoned investor – it is very tempting to become obsessed with seeing positive returns. You might panic when the value of your investments drops, as it may have done in the first quarter of 2022, when the Guardian reported that markets saw the biggest dip since the unfolding of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Similarly, you could find yourself in constant worry about the purchasing power of your savings, especially your pension, in light of rising inflation.

If there’s one thing that Easter Sunday can teach you, it’s to be patient – you never know what’s around the corner.

If you need guidance on how to handle market volatility in this difficult time, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Get in touch

Easter is a great time to start afresh, and when it comes to your finances, it can be constructive to work with a professional to achieve your goals. Email enquiries@prosserknowles.co.uk or click here to request a call back from one of our advisers.

Please note

This article is no substitute for financial advice and should not be treated as such. To determine the best course of action for your individual circumstances, please contact us.

The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Your pension income could also be affected by the interest rates at the time you take your benefits. Levels, bases of and reliefs from taxation may be subject to change and their value depends on the individual circumstances of the investor.