Questions to answer on your way to creating wealth
A quick question for you:
How many credit cards do you have in your purse or wallet? If you’re not sure you are not alone. Studies have found when that question is asked to people on the street they often stop and think for a moment, and then get the answer wrong.
The Federal Reserve says the typical person carries an average of four credit cards. Not only does that take up space in your wallet or purse, but if one is lost and you don’t realize it there could be credit card fraud—undetected for a while; not to mention too many cards can have you busting the budget. The Federal Reserve suggests just 2 credit cards will help you keep track of payment balances and cut your spending.
Here’s another question you may have to think about: How many times do you run out to the grocery store in a given week?
If you’re running to the store more than once a week to pick up your groceries, you may be spending more than you should. That’s because we are all prone to impulse buying, you see it at that moment you want it, and so you pick it up and buy it. Not you? Think again. Have you ever come home from a shopping trip and said “Oh, I saw this so I picked it up”?
Let’s put some figures on this. Studies of consumers and their shopping habits have found that repeated trips to the grocery store add 100 dollars to our monthly shopping bill because of impulse buys! Many times we don’t even realize we’re doing it.
The Consumers Union says shopping once a week or once every two weeks at a warehouse club, knowing what you want ahead of time, and sticking to the list could shave a shopping bill by 60 percent!
One more question: How much do you spend on non-essentials-Typical baby boomer (born between 1946 and 1964) spends about $700.00 a month on non-essentials. One out of four adds those expenses to credit card bills, so they are paying double-digit interest rates for the use of that money.
The study from Ameritrade finds 4 out of 10 admit this non-essential spending negatively impacts their retirement accounts.
I leave you with a final thought. How much money do you waste? Two out of three Americans say they will waste 139 dollars a month! How does it happen? We pick up things on impulse because we see them, we buy products for convenience, we buy items because they are on sale and we buy things that make us feel good.
University of Detroit Mercy marketing professor Dr. Mike Bernacchi says this shows that advertising for sales and discounts can be very effective. Good news for the marketing folks of America! But Dr. Bernacchi adds “spending on items you don’t need is still wasting money”.
