The quest for cash is incessant in our consumer society.
People seeking more money tend to focus their attention entirely on increasing personal income.
This approach, however, acknowledges only half of the personal money cycle.
It handles the money coming in while ignoring completely the spending side of the equation.
In fact, spending money wisely by increasing purchasing power is the most efficient and attainable method to having more money.
Purchasing power is a measure of how much you can buy with a set amount of money.
Think of two wallets, thick with $1000 apiece, in the pockets of two unrelated consumers.
The two happen to have identical shopping lists and wish to fill their figurative market baskets.
When they have completed their tasks, will their wallets still be equal to one another in thickness? It is almost certainly not so.
Although the buyers obtained the same goods, the inevitable variations in how and where they bought them would certainly leave one of the shoppers richer.
Sometimes the differences in purchasing power are out of our control.
Consumers in different localities, for example, are subject to different taxes.
Someone at a store in Philadelphia pays an 8% sales tax when they make a purchase, while someone just miles away in Delaware pays no tax whatsoever.
This is a good example of relative purchasing power but it is difficult to resolve.
Fortunately, there are myriad opportunities to significantly increase your purchasing power.
The first step is almost too simple.
Start paying lower prices for the things you already buy.
You spend more than you need to on most of your purchases.
It is actually very easy to prove this if you take a little time to give it some thought.
Think of a non-grocery item and enter it into your favorite search engine.
The more precise you are the better, your goal is to find a single item, whatever it may be.
Next, click on the "shopping" section of the results and have a look around.
The point of this exercise is that you will find, time after time, the exact same items are being sold at different stores, at different prices.
The wise spender understands this and uses that knowledge to increase their purchasing power.
If these are truly the same items, perfect substitutes for one another, then you should simply buy from the seller charging the lowest price.
Now, keeping in mind the fact that the same items are available at different prices, think of the last several non-grocery items you bought.
Want to go back to that search engine and find out how much you overpaid on those recent purchases? You might not.
The total may be more significant than you imagine.
The good news is that now you are thinking about it, recognizing it, and have already taken a step to increasing your purchasing power.
Wise spending does not come from a single, simple secret.
Like all wisdom, it is gained, learned, earned, and takes time.
It will be worth it to take the time.
A little knowledge goes a long way.
Most people spend forty hours each week working to earn their money, but they spend almost no time increasing their personal purchasing power.
It is quite a discrepancy, given that they offer the same benefit: more money in your pocket.
People seeking more money tend to focus their attention entirely on increasing personal income.
This approach, however, acknowledges only half of the personal money cycle.
It handles the money coming in while ignoring completely the spending side of the equation.
In fact, spending money wisely by increasing purchasing power is the most efficient and attainable method to having more money.
Purchasing power is a measure of how much you can buy with a set amount of money.
Think of two wallets, thick with $1000 apiece, in the pockets of two unrelated consumers.
The two happen to have identical shopping lists and wish to fill their figurative market baskets.
When they have completed their tasks, will their wallets still be equal to one another in thickness? It is almost certainly not so.
Although the buyers obtained the same goods, the inevitable variations in how and where they bought them would certainly leave one of the shoppers richer.
Sometimes the differences in purchasing power are out of our control.
Consumers in different localities, for example, are subject to different taxes.
Someone at a store in Philadelphia pays an 8% sales tax when they make a purchase, while someone just miles away in Delaware pays no tax whatsoever.
This is a good example of relative purchasing power but it is difficult to resolve.
Fortunately, there are myriad opportunities to significantly increase your purchasing power.
The first step is almost too simple.
Start paying lower prices for the things you already buy.
You spend more than you need to on most of your purchases.
It is actually very easy to prove this if you take a little time to give it some thought.
Think of a non-grocery item and enter it into your favorite search engine.
The more precise you are the better, your goal is to find a single item, whatever it may be.
Next, click on the "shopping" section of the results and have a look around.
The point of this exercise is that you will find, time after time, the exact same items are being sold at different stores, at different prices.
The wise spender understands this and uses that knowledge to increase their purchasing power.
If these are truly the same items, perfect substitutes for one another, then you should simply buy from the seller charging the lowest price.
Now, keeping in mind the fact that the same items are available at different prices, think of the last several non-grocery items you bought.
Want to go back to that search engine and find out how much you overpaid on those recent purchases? You might not.
The total may be more significant than you imagine.
The good news is that now you are thinking about it, recognizing it, and have already taken a step to increasing your purchasing power.
Wise spending does not come from a single, simple secret.
Like all wisdom, it is gained, learned, earned, and takes time.
It will be worth it to take the time.
A little knowledge goes a long way.
Most people spend forty hours each week working to earn their money, but they spend almost no time increasing their personal purchasing power.
It is quite a discrepancy, given that they offer the same benefit: more money in your pocket.