Impulse buying, and some current issues
In the last column we indicated that we would visit impulse buying once again, because it is a real budget buster in our hyper consumer society, and even more so during these times of inflation.
In my high school financial education presentations I always warn students, especially those going off to college, where online impulse purchases will not show up at the front door for the parents to see, to please avoid impulse buying online.
I think that these tips by the Gist by Finny are very helpful.
"Impulse spending used to be an occasional thing, maybe when you went shopping twice a month or during your weekly trip to the grocery store. Now though, it's easier than ever to fall into the trap not only because of our growing overzealous demand for stuff (thanks Covid), but also thanks to tech as all you need to do is scroll on an app and click "buy." 49% of users that participated in a recent
"A few ways to side-step impulsive buying.
"Procrastinate: When you see something you're tempted to buy, wait at least 24 hours ... better yet, 36. The key here is to wait however long it takes you to forget about it, and then reassess how much you wanted it. If it's still on your mind, add it to a wish list of sorts and purchase it when it fits within your budget.
"'Ask app not to track': Social media is one of the biggest drivers of impulse spending nowadays, and that's largely because advertisers know what you like, and therefore what to show you. If you have an iPhone, you can somewhat dodge this by telling your app not to track your data which should end up showing you ads less relevant to you, thus reducing the temptation. View the item in a vacuum: They say comparison can be the thief of joy, so it's important to ask yourself if you really want something for yourself before buying. Oftentimes, we make purchases just based on what we imagine others might think of us if we had X, Y, or Z, and not based on solely if we want or need it."
On a different subject, I saw a piece on a local television news broadcast, that reported that ground ambulances were not covered by the recent Federal No Surprises Act, which covers many out-of-network services, so I did some research to confirm that. According to a March piece in medicalbillersandcoders.com, "the No Surprises Act will prohibit most surprise bills, reducing out-of-pocket costs for emergency services and non-emergency services where the patient unintentionally sees an out-of-network provider.
With that information, I did what I hope everyone will do, which is to call customer service for my health insurance company/policy to see if there were any ambulance providers in my network. I was taken aback to learn that there are no ground ambulance providers within 25 miles of Rochester that are in my network. However, the good news for me is that my particular policy covers the difference between any costs incurred and my deductible.
Please contact your health insurance provider and find out where you stand before ordering an ambulance that perhaps you could actually do without.
On another subject, here are a few things you might want to stock up on or adjust your budget for. According to a piece in the
On another subject, I think that we are all looking for signs that we are back to the "new normal." One sign for me is that all of the
On a final subject, student loan debt forgiveness, I have had a lot of readers talk to me about it. Almost all wonder how the program could be that poorly targeted as to those who could actually use some help, and how they have yet to hear an intelligent articulation from the Administration as to the logic of the overall program. Also, they have questioned one of the statements that I made in a prior column — that there was a public service requirement. Of course there is not! I just wrote that to see what reactions I would get. I apologize. Of course, everyone thinks that it is a great idea. For every thousand dollars of forgiveness you have to do, xxxxx hours of the community service of your choice. You would be on the honor system and self-report it. At least the taxpayers would get some benefit.
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