Joseph's "Just My Thoughts"

Free Effect. A new ice cream company in India has set up free ice cream vending machines on the streets to promote its brand. Result? People lined up at a very long distance in front of the vending machine. It was raining then, and the people in line went to a convenience store to buy umbrellas, then lined up again. Umbrellas cost much more than ice cream. However, people kept lining up. Cheap and free are two completely different concepts. When the price is low, sales increase slightly, but when it is free, an extraordinary dimension of the problem arises. It’s a privilege, so consumers are willing to pay a higher price to get something for free. Free is not a matter of reason; it is a matter of emotion. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Time Preference Rate. “The Marshmallow Tale” by Joachim de Posada and Ellen Singer describes the “Marshmallow Experiment” at Stanford University. The experimenter left the child alone in the room and gave the child a marshmallow, instructing the child to eat it immediately. However, if the child did not eat it within 15 minutes, the experimenter would give the child another marshmallow. Some children waited the full 15 minutes, while others stopped waiting early. These two groups were followed for 14 years, and as a result, the more patient children showed better social and mental abilities. Those who cannot tolerate waiting are said to have a high time preference rate, while those who are patient are described as having a low time preference rate. In investment, high and low time preference ratios are not necessarily good or bad because many investments depend on luck. The key is to find and stick to methods and principles that match one’s own tendencies. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

Time Preference. It is a phenomenon where the more distant a result is from the present, the more rational decisions seem, while closer results tend to lead to more emotional choices. When thinking about the distant future, we usually approach it rationally. However, when making decisions right now, we often act emotionally instead of rationally. This time preference significantly impacts areas such as finances, health, work, sleep, procrastination, and texting. For example, dieting is hard when delicious food is right in front of you; people often say it starts tomorrow, not today, because weight loss doesn’t happen overnight but over weeks or months. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

One common myth about money is falling into the fairness trap with value relativity. When the quality of work is hard to judge, we tend to value those who work longer and harder more highly. This is a fairness trap. A novice locksmith might take a long time to open a locked door, while an experienced one can do it instantly. People often pay higher wages to novice locksmiths who have spent more time working. Even if the lock is damaged due to clumsy work and they are charged for replacement, people might still tip because the locksmith worked hard and did his best for a long time. When paying for something that’s difficult to evaluate, people care about fairness. But the real reason to call a locksmith is to avoid the embarrassing situation of being unable to enter the house quickly. I don’t know if this is true, but a woman once asked Picasso to draw her portrait, and he did it in 30 seconds. When she asked how much she should pay, Picasso said her $500. She complained that this was o...

The relativity of values causes us to use money irrationally. I go to the supermarket to buy a $15 pen, and the clerk smiles and says, “You can buy this pen for $7 if you walk 5 minutes from here.” Then, most people walk five minutes and buy a $15 pen for $7. But if you want to buy a $1,000 jacket and the clerk smiles and says, “You can get a $992 jacket in five minutes from here,” most people simply buy the $1,000 jacket. Reasonably, walking for 5 minutes equals the effort, and the profit of $8 is the same. However, people might go to a store that sells pens cheaper, but not for the jacket, because the discount rate is too low. In other words, the relativity of comparing values makes us act irrationally. The pen’s discount rate is 55%, and the jacket’s is only 0.8%. Yet, the total amount is the same for all $8, and the effort to gain that profit is identical. Attitudes and misconceptions about consumption influence how we build wealth. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”

One of the key principles of money is ‘opportunity cost.’ It means that when I buy something, I have to give up something else in return. We think we buy because we need something, but we often forget that we could buy something else instead. We rarely consider ‘opportunity cost’ when making a purchase. We do not compare other values against our needs. Buying something means giving up something else, but we often don’t realize it. When we spend money, we should also consider the ‘opportunity cost’; yet, in reality, we aren’t trained to do so. By making a purchase, we bypass the value comparison that may not offer any additional benefits. Maybe it’s because we lack knowledge, or perhaps the idea isn’t appealing. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”