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.

Retail therapy is the stupidest kind of therapy. pic.twitter.com/QXM1gJVJ9P

— Sterling Terrell 📚 (@SterlingTerrell) October 20, 2023