Retail therapy is the stupidest kind of therapy because it’s the most expensive therapy on the planet.
It’s so expensive because it ignores opportunity costs.
No really – retail therapy is so expensive you are going to choke when I explain this.
Set the stage with me:
You don’t need a new purse, you want a new purse – for example.
For men, it might be a new electric gadget.
Whatever it is, you spend $300 on it.
You work hard, you have a good job, your bills are all paid, and everything is great.
You deserve this little treat – and besides – it’s only $300.
Right? Wrong.
Wrong because the opportunity cost is you could have invested that $300 at a 10-percent return.
Say you are 40 and live to 80, to buy that $300 purse, you gave up $30 per year in forgone income which comes out to $1,200.
$300 cost + $1,200 opportunity cost = $1,500
And that’s if you didn’t reinvest the income!
Reinvesting the income would have given you $13,577!
You threw away nearly $14,000 on an impulse buy that you didn’t even need.
Let’s not even get into what the compounding numbers look like if you pass your investments on to your children. 🫠
All that to say: Quit ignoring the trade-offs you are making.
Trade-offs are real and often large.
Retail therapy is just an incredibly expensive dopamine hit.
Grow up.
Grow up and get a real therapist – like the rest of us.