Are you always rational?

Have you ever made an emotional purchase?

The other day I was doing some reading and I came across an article called ‘The Myth of the Rational Consumer’ by Peter Noel Murray, Ph.D. It reminded me of what I was told many years ago. The speaker was the late Charlie Mouser he stated ‘People buy with emotion, and then justify it with logic.’

Truer words were never spoken about us as consumers. If there is a special feature to what we are shopping for, our emotions kick in and we will buy it. Then when we get home we try to explain our purchase by creating many logical reasons for our purchase.

The question becomes; why do we think that we are rational?

The bias we have as consumers is revealed when we miscalculate the marketing practices. By assigning our purchase decisions to being rational rather than the influence of the special features of the brands and their polished advertising we assert our autonomy and gain satisfaction from this imagined control over our purchasing decisions.

Yes, it makes us feel better, but what does our over-spending cost us?

Not just the cost after we finish paying of this purchase made by emotion, but the cost in the stress department

Did you know that 50% of 18 to 34 year olds loss sleep due to debt?

Did you know that 41% of 35 to 54 year olds stress over debt levels multiple times a day?

Did you know that 38% of 55 years plus miss out on social gatherings and personal indulgences due to debt?

Is our emotional buying doing us any favors?