Busting the 5 Consumer Lies

Let’s give a warm welcome once again to my husband, Ryan, for the guest post he shares below!

Have you felt the twinge of guilt after someone asks what you’re getting your kids for Christmas? You wonder if you’re spending enough on them. So you talk up the purchases, making them sound better. You buy more. Anything you can’t afford goes on the plastic. More gifts equals a better Christmas, right?

It’s a bit silly, really. Why do we let ourselves believe things like this?

It’s because we’re immersed in a society that has subscribed to five consumer lies. Let’s expose them, and bust them one by one.

The Lies

Lie 1:  Now is better than later.

No down payment. Buy now! Financing available. Let’s call these arrangements what they are: needless liabilities. They’re instantly gratifying at a premium cost in the future. Do the math and you’ll find that financing ‘deals’ usually cost many multiples of the original price.

So why do we finance our purchase? Why can’t we wait? Our impatience is depriving us of the best part of a purchase–the waiting part. I’m serious about that. First, waiting is practical: it gives you time to validate your need for a purchase and to find the best value. But a patient purchase is also intensely gratifying, far more gratifying than an impulse-driven purchase. The patient purchase is well-earned, helpful, and positively contributes to your life. It’s like the difference between a meal of jelly-filled donuts and a trip to the salad bar. The first leaves you with an awful ache in your stomach, the second leaves you satisfied and refreshed.

Counter-truth: The patient purchase is far more gratifying than the impulse buy.

Lie 2: Respect can be bought.

We are a society that likes the glitz and glamor.  In our minds, money and success are bound together like two cords of a rope. And the best way to show our success is to show off our money.  Massive houses, celebrity baby strollers, designer labels, and piles of debt.  Do you know why we do it all?  Insecurity.  We want other to believe we’re special. And we’re a bit afraid of who we are stripped of these middle-class status symbols.

We know deep down that it’s all empty. Respect can’t be bought. It’s earned through integrity, kindness, and sincerity. It’s hard work.

Counter-truth: Long-term respect comes from a worthy character, not costly status symbols.

Lie 3:  Stuff will make you happy.

All the ads and the marketing messages tell us the same thing. Buying this ______ will make you happy.

But where is the evidence? America, the most prosperous country in the history of the world, ranks a paltry 114th in a list of the World’s Happiest Countries. We’re the spoiled kids of our global community–the richest 1% with all the toys. Shouldn’t we be happier? And why do studies reveal time and again that after a certain salary level (something in the $50,000 range) an increase in income has very little to do with an increase in happiness?

Despite compelling evidence to the contrary, we  believe the lie. So we live in an odd little cycle: we buy more stuff, and need bigger houses to hold our stuff, and need new stuff to decorate our houses, and bury the old stuff in a landfill. We repeat this every few years.

And we forget the total cost of an unnecessary purchase. Each new thing we buy requires a little bit of time and attention. It requires a little bit of space, assembly, installation, and maintenance. The true cost is always far more than the purchase price.

Counter-truth: Once you have the basics, more stuff doesn’t equal more happiness.

Lie 4: Everyone’s got one (so should you).

Remember the Jones next door? They just bought an SUV. Suddenly your half-decade old mini-van looks like it doesn’t belong in the neighborhood. Is it time to upgrade?

We tend to pay close attention to these things. A coworker just installed a pool, the boss buys a new 60 inch TV, a friend purchases a new boat, your brother and his wife just come back from a Mediterranean cruise and the kids loved it. You didn’t care about these things before. Now you need them. Do you see the pattern? People around you have something you don’t, and now the pressure is on to keep up in order to fit in.

We have an unhelpful tendency to compare ourselves to people who have more, while forgetting to compare to those who have less. Think about this: almost half the world lives on less then $2.50 a day. I’ve spent more on a latte at Starbucks. If you redefine your ‘Jones’ to include those with less, you’ll find yourself exceptionally wealthy.

Counter-truth: Compare down, not up.

Lie 5: You should expand your lifestyle to fit your paycheck.

Congratulations. You’ve landed that promotion. What’s the first thing to do? Upgrade your lifestyle! The camping trip is upgraded to a vacation in Bermuda. You can buy a car next month, instead of next year. Pretty soon you’re back to living paycheck to paycheck.

When income levels expand, most people also expand their lifestyle.

But why follow the crowd? Knowing that an expanded lifestyle is not equal to expanded happiness, what else could you do with that money? Could you pay off some debt? Keep some padding in your savings account? Give more? Could you start paying off some of your mortgage, contribute to your kids 529 college savings account, max out a Roth IRA?

Just because you have the extra money, doesn’t mean you have to spend it.

Counter-truth: Invest and give generously of (don’t spend) your excess wealth.

It Takes Courage.

Living these counter-truths takes a bit of courage. It’s counter cultural. But sometimes the best way to build muscle is to swim against the current. Start a few strokes at a time.

Mrs. Moneysaver and I are right beside you.

(Photo credit:  Paul Carson)