Really?

Following up on my post about a fictitious magazine called Good Enough, I want to take this analogy to the next step with another fictitious magazine called Really?. The question mark is very important because this magazine will serve as your financial conscience. When you want that plasma TV this magazine will ask Really? Do you need this TV? And if you answer yes the magazine will respond –Really? - in an even more suspecting tone.

Not only that but this magazine will do the work you should have done. If you still insist on buying the TV, then this magazine will point out the added costs that it will require. If you have standard cable Really? will remind you that you'’ll have to upgrade to digital and incur the additional cost every month. Additionally if you'’re going to put the purchase on a credit card or otherwise finance it, Really? will show you the true cost of the item including interest. Really? might even go a bit further and point out how the cost of the TV added to your retirement savings may add up to one less year of work or might mean the difference between the retirement community on the golf course or staying where you are.

If all of that is not enough Really? will ask if you'’ve done your homework. Is this really the right TV for your needs? Is this really the best price?

Some people are going to buy that TV in spite of all the reasons not to but we can'’t save everybody from destructive spending. The sad truth is that many people who could have been saved weren'’t because Really? doesn’t really exist. If you want to make the right decisions financially then you’re going to have to do the work of Really? yourself. You'’re going to have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages and project out into the future to see the ramifications of today’s decisions tomorrow.

So I ask you. Are you up to it? Really?