I think there's a huge sense of "I deserve" in money and lifestyle right now.
It comes up in conversations I have with people of different ages and backgrounds - it's this idea we've been sold as consumers that because we work hard (and yes, we do) we deserve to have nice things - no, you probably don't, here's why:
One of the many dimensions the marketing doesn't cover is that yes, we can have nice things; provided we can afford them. The people selling this agenda don't know your budget, where you're at in your financial journey nor do they care about you. They want to sell you things you don't need and can't afford because they want to make money.
I think that we need to wake up a bit as consumers - we've made some mistakes. We need to regard vendors as vendors, and think a bit more critically about what we're being sold and how we're approaching the buying process.
I'll use car shopping as an example.
-how open are you to walking away? There's a lot of power in walking away; it indicates you're not overly attached and you value your time.
-how much research have you done? I love my library for this. Canadian Black Book car values, the Lemon Aid Used Car Guide are great references for researching used cars, for example.
-what's your budget including HST, administration, freight, PDI, eco fees, etc? Some dealers haven't moved away from confusing pricing practices; there's a price on the website and then when you walk into the dealership...
Try to be a bit less committed and a little more neutral. I'd fall in love with something and be driving it off within hours when it should have been days, and likely should never have been purchased at all.
Now Tina and I sit and chat about the prospective purpose and especially with us being in Baby Step 2 (pay off all debt), we end up deciding it's not a "need" probably close to 9/10 times.
You deserve whatever you want; provided you save for it and buy it in cash!
Comments