I watched the video featured below from Randy Gage on something I have long believed in, and that is to avoid coupons and discounts. He makes a great point when he says about the cost of the time taken to look for discounts, however my view is less about the time taken saving pennies and more about what is given focus.
Focus on saving pennies and I am sure you will save pennies, focus on earning Pounds/Dollars/Euros/Yuan etc… and you will find endless opportunities to make more money than you could ever save. Of course it is up to take those opportunities. All this does not make discounts bad, and I always welcome getting a good discount, the difference is that I do not look for them, I just ignore them unless it is a something I am interested in buying anyway.
Source: Randy Gage on YouTube
Take care of the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves.
– William Lowndes (1652-1724)
We have all heard the quote above, I think it is so well known because it stokes fears, encourages preserving what you have, but in doing in focuses you on scarcity and the limit of your resources. It is important to look after the pennies, which means be careful with money, and the pounds will indeed look after themselves. However it is what we focus on that comes in greater numbers. Focusing on quitting a bad habit brings more opportunity to indulge in that habit, as illustrated by the line from the Lord’s Prayer “Lead us not into temptation” which is correct regardless what you believe is leading you. Focus on getting a discount involves saving pennies instead of making Pounds/Dollars/Euros/Yuan.
Just imagine… if inequality is due to the rich focusing on making money while the poor focus on saving every little bit, then inequality increases. And it is increasing. This has happened faster than ever before in recent years as the result of a combination of greed, driven by Fractional Reserve Banking, combined with compounding decades of profits which are now high enough to be used to influence powerful people in every area of government.
I was recently planning to invest in a specific training course of interest to me and thought there will probably be a discount soon. I didn’t look for a course with a discount, I was going to buy this same course regardless because I feel it is the best one for me. I anticipated the discount and purchased on Black Friday when it came as I expected, another course of interest had no such discount but I would have gone for that one if I felt a stronger connection to the creators of that course. I did not and still do not feel I have the time to complete the the course I purchased due to so much digital clutter (old files on my computer), and physical clutter (old printed files at home) that I wish to clear out so that I can focus better. Either way I was focused on the same result, whatever the price. Perhaps I am also questioning… am I worth it? Providing I use the knowledge to help others, as are those I am learning from, then yes I think I am.
So what is the result? Well I’ve not completed the course yet, but I have certainly seen some very positive things happen for me lately such as 24% profit in a single week on an investment I had made. I took the money back plus profits and now the day after doing so I have found another fantastic opportunity.
I will say more about this in a future post once I have completed the course and with my prospects and opportunities improving.
