Almost any book, article, podcast or advice related to personal finance has some kind of reference to the need to control the impulses to buy that are triggered, particularly when a commercial house presents an offer or when, in generalized promotions such as the Black Friday or Good End, there is a generalized set of promotions that make us particularly sensitive to being the subject of marketing messages, which can increase our proclivity towards purchases.
And this is particularly dangerous when it involves the acquisition of goods or services that do not have any type of utility, nor do they generate value for those who acquire them or, worse still, those whose purchase generates a payment obligation much greater than the ability to pay or profit. potential that is received and that also generates pressure on income, due to the payment of debt service, for a prolonged period of time.
The problem, as always, is that the simple advice “Control your impulses! Do not buy! Take care of your money! ”Is not enough to stop purchases, because such promotions directly affect behavior patterns and operating patterns in certain areas of the brain, which generate very powerful stimuli and are difficult to stop.
The human brain is designed to look for easy paths and to attend to what it perceives, which are short-term rewards. These are evolutionary mechanisms for human beings to have the impulse to store food and other goods, which could serve us later. Although today this pattern of behavior implies that the impulsive acquisition of a 75-inch screen has zero relevance for our survival as a species.
Any stimulus that makes our brain perceive that it is in an environment of potential reward, leads to the production of certain substances that activate the pleasure receptor centers of the brain and this generates a very powerful pressure towards the impulse to buy.
In this sense, a generalized environment that makes our brain perceive as a reward opens, as it were, the pleasure centers that are attentive to the possibility of obtaining short-term rewards. Las Vegas casinos intuitively have known for many decades that offering cheap buffets, giving away alcoholic beverages, puts the potential player’s brain in a condition where the reward centers even lower the perception of risk, which makes them more likely to increase the risk. level of your bets and consequently, to lose more in favor of the casino.
In the same way, an environment operates where we permanently receive signals that there are possible rewards. And they do it on different levels. On the one hand, a perceived reduction in price (in a cheap one), is perceived as a unique purchase opportunity and, therefore, a reward.
Second, a negative stimulus is generated by having the perception that this reward has a limited duration and that its non-use can generate a subsequent relative loss. Both mechanisms work by prompting people to buy.
But there are some mechanisms that allow us to reduce or at least attenuate the strength of these impulses and generate better control over the purchases we carry out in environments such as El Buen Fin.
A first way is, well in advance, to decide what type of products it is really convenient to acquire, taking advantage of the payment facilities and potential offers.
It is not just a matter of saying that you are not going to buy anything. In any case, it is about maximizing the potential profit, acquiring products of great economic or experiential value for people and their homes. If we buy a screen that allows the family to have recreation in a more pleasant environment, it is a form of investment.
Second, it is necessary to analyze what is the value prior to the offers that these products have in the market, so that at the time of the offers it is analyzed whether there was indeed a real price reduction against the previous values.
Third, it is convenient to assign a specific budget to define how much is the maximum that I can spend, particularly if I will use promotions of months without interest; to prevent the sum of small purchases at months without interest, imply an important monthly payment obligation that reduces the capacity and financial margin of the people.
Lastly, restricting physical exposure at the time of purchase is an important way to reduce our over-buying.
Go to the stores only with the credit card that I am going to use for the purchase, analyze in advance where I will make the purchase, have a person accompany me to serve as a brake on short-term impulses, limit attendance to too many stores or to exposure excessive to purchase sites, it can also go to lessen the impact.
The important thing at the end of the day is to take advantage of opportunities without generating a financial imbalance and without causing one of the worst conditions that derives from unplanned purchases, the regret that generally haunts us, like debts, for several months.
* The author is a specialist in behavioral economics and a professor at the Faculty of Economics at UNAM. CEO of Fibra Educa and President of the Council for the Promotion of Educational Savings.
CEO of Fibra Educa and President of the Council for the Promotion of Educational Savings
Behavioral Economy
The author is a political scientist, marketer, financier, specialist in behavioral economics and professor at the UNAM Faculty of Economics. CEO of Fibra Educa and President of the Council for the Promotion of Educational Savings.
Follow him on Twitter: @martinezsolares
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx