💰A Good Deal

We’re officially in the festive season of massive sales and irresistible discounts. Years ago, I used to look forward to this time of year to buy high-value items and save money. But over the last few years, my perspective has evolved.

We often judge a good deal versus a bad one purely by the price we pay. While that’s technically correct, it’s not the most personal or meaningful measure. If we view deals through our own lens, the true metric is the return on investment (ROI) in value. For items that truly matter, a few extra bucks, sometimes even hundreds or thousands, make little difference in the long run, because the ROI justifies the expense.

Unfortunately, many of us end up buying things that go unused or rarely used, turning any savings into a sunk cost. So I’ve pivoted my approach to buying:

• Wait a few weeks before making a purchase, sleep on it multiple times. Often, I delay it long enough to realize I don’t need it anymore.
• If you’re convinced you truly need it, go ahead and buy it without worrying about sale cycles or discounts. The time and energy spent chasing deals rarely pay off in the long term. Besides, during sales, prices are often marked up to inflate discount percentages, and the actual cost stays more or less constant throughout the year.
• Start using what you buy immediately. Put it to work as an investment, not a possession.
• As soon as you realize something is no longer useful or has become a sunk cost, let it go. Ideally, find someone for whom it can still hold value.

And this holds true not just for the things we buy but also for any self or time investments we make. If the ROI is worth it, you’ll never regret investing a little extra. But if it was never worth it to begin with, you’ll regret putting anything into such an investment at all.