1. Is Everyday Life Costing You?
The Intelligent Consumer

2. Money Does not Discriminate
 Affects the rich and poor
 Must be managed appropriately to reach
any financial goal
 If you are not in control of your money your
money is in control of you
 …a Tool

3. black
background,
white stripes?
or
white
background,
black stripes?

4. Lack of Money Derives from…
 Unemployment
 Instability of employment
 Emergencies
 Costly but necessary expenses

5. Understand Money
 We must understand what forces affect
our money in order to gain control
Inflation
Money Management

7. How Are You Making It?
 *Half of American shoppers visit discount
stores each month.
 *A third of these shoppers earn more than
$50,000 per year.
*Retail Forward

8. How do we define the
Intelligent Consumer?
The IC maintains a budget
The IC looks at the total cost for each
purchase
The IC is conscious of their weaknesses
The IC is aware of the tricks and traps used
to make us spend
The IC is motivated to build savings, reduce
spending on expenses and control debt.

9. Is Every Day Life Costing
You?
What are expenses that are easy to not
notice but can be expensive over the
long run?

10. How to Lose Money Banking
 You use ATMs outside of your bank’s network.
Surcharge fees have risen in 2009. Average fee is
now $2.22
 You don’t have the appropriate checking account.
If you just have basic checking needs, investigate
free checking accounts
 You bounce checks. These are among the highest
fees a bank can charge you – on average costing
you $29.58

11. High Cost of Laziness
Not choosing the best rate for your savings
account
Not opening a retirement account (no IRA, no
compound interest!!! Argh!)
Not negotiating (or haggling) a deal
Not mailing in rebates, using coupons, special
deals, etc.

12. The Truth Is
 Human beings are creatures of habit so it can
be difficult to make daily financial decisions
 Do we really do a cost/value ratio for every
purchase we make?
 At times we ignore what we should do to do
what we want to do

13. Be Conscious
Companies understand how to manipulate
our spending habits to make us spend on
things we don’t need.
 Who is responsible?

14. How Companies Sell and Gain
 Companies can predict human behavior with
respect to our wallet
 Companies can take advantage of our
weaknesses, cravings, and vices.

15. What do they know?
They know it’s difficult for a person to weigh
the true value of something (new) without
comparing it to something else.

16. Example
 When the iPod was released to the public it
initially sold for $600. Soon afterwards the was
reduced to $400. Many claimed Apple had make
mistake in overpricing the iPod at $600. But, was
it really an error on their part?

17. Consumer Service Hall of
Shame 20101. AOL
2. Bank of America
3. Comcast
4. Sprint Nextel
5. Capital One
6. Dish Network
7. Time Warner Cable
8. Wells Fargo
9. Citigroup‘s Citibank
10. HSBC
*by MSN Money and Zogby International

18. What does smooth jazz or Sade
have in common with grocery
stores?

19. What is the Best deal?
☺Buy 2 , Get 1 Free
☻Buy for one $4.00

20. Buy 10 Yogurts for $5
Buy 10 Gatorade for $10

21. So You Know…
It’s the objective of the store/market to create
in the consumer a feeling of necessity that
doesn’t exist, but once created, can be
satisfied with one of its products.

22. Tactics to Make Us Spend
 The position of products are changed regularly
so that while we look for them, we find other
products.
 Usually, the most recent arrivals and most
expensive products are placed at eye-level.
Where would you expect to find Fruity
Pebbles?

23. Pay Attention
Usually, there is no object that makes
reference to time. How many windows
does Target have? Where is the clock
in your local Vons or Ralphs? They
don’t care if you don’t know how much
time you’re spending in the market.


24. Pay Attention
For some reason people, when entering a
store, tend to turn their head to the right. The
supermarkets know this, and so display non-
food items, like clothing, to this side.
Supermarkets will offer items you normally
would not expect or have the intention of
buying in one.

25. Coupon…not always King
Allows you to purchase something at a
discounted price…but not always
Other brands or stores could be
cheaper
What is the oz./cost ratio?
Double coupons?

26. Be Prepared
 Cut Coupons, for Pete’s Sake!
(CoolSavings.com)
 Make a list of what you need before you shop
(don’t buy on impulse)
 Plan meals two weeks in advance and only buy
what you need (to save gas and money)
 Economize your meals. Usually prepared food
is more expensive.

27. Lather Rinse, Don’t Repeat
The reality is that you only have to shampoo once.
According to CNN Money, the “rinse and repeat”
instruction came about in the 1950s, when
people washed their hair less often and used
heavier, stickier hair products.
Not only does “rinse and repeat” increase
shampoo sales, it also increases sales of other
hair products, since excessive washing can dry
out hair, leading to the purchase of conditioners
and other treatments

28. Change Your Oil
Conventional wisdom says we should change our
car’s oil between every 3,000 and 10,000
miles, but experts recommend changing oil every
5,000 miles or so. According to them, “it may be
too soon for many people and too late for a few,
but for the vast majority, 5,000-mile oil changes
will help your engine last to a ripe old age.”

29. A Load of Money
Most detergents show how much you’re supposed
to use for a load of laundry. But Using too much
detergent does not result in cleaner clothes. No
matter how what the label says you should
probably use less. Some people recommend
using no more than half the marked amount.
Most products are labeled in such a way that
most consumers will unwittingly overdose, says
Consumer Reports. You should only use as much
as is necessary to get clothes clean, which is not
as much as is marked on the package.

33. Comparison Shopping
 MySimon.com
 Smarter.com
 Groupon.com
 BlackBoardEats.com
 LifeHacker.com*