Every year, PNC Bank calculates the “true cost” of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I wrote about it 7 years ago, when the twelve gifts, bought individually, cost $39.1K.
Link: FIRE Station Fun – What Do The 12 Days of Christmas Cost?
Link: PNC Bank – Cost of Christmas
I’m not sure where you would procure most of the gifts in the Victorian musical fantasy, but for 2025, the updated total is $51.5K. That’s up $12.4K / +32% … or about 4.0% per year since 2018.
As with most things during the holiday season, calling birds, golden rings, and drummers drumming, don’t come cheap. The 32% inflation for this list compares pretty closely to the 29% general CPI inflation in the USA over the same period.
If you are looking for some personal finance insights in this post, there are none. There’s no real point to this post other than having some holiday fun. Have a great weekend!
Image: Grok AI
MrFireStation 
Merry Christmas!
There is a finance message in this missive. FIRE targets living off a 4% withdrawal rate. To avoid losing out to inflation bake 4% annual increases into your financial plans.
Current yields for Dividend Stocks can cover the 4% current income requirement and Dividend Increases can handle the keeping up with 4% inflation requirement.
Don’t plan on Social Security providing this. The 2026 Social Security COLA increase is 2.8%, while Medicare Premiums increased by 9%.
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I think we have 2.5% inflation built into our long term plan. It’s been higher than that recently, but it hasn’t really mattered with the S&P 500 up +85% over the last 5 years.
I guess I’ve just come to believe over this period that asset-holders beat inflation and the poor & working class take the brunt of the blow.
It’s a shame as these are the people that the politicians always say they are helping. That’s how they procure their votes. Yet, the politicians are the ones running the government $ printing press and crank up unproductive spending.
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