Consumers Don't Always Do What's Best For Them

Emotion, procrastination, and temptation affect spending and saving. People find many ways to waste their money. They pay too much for services they don't use often enough to justify the cost. Gym memberships are one example. New members may pay a big price to sign up for a year or more. They think they will use the gym facilities often, but in reality, they seldom use them.

This makes the price-per-visit very high. It would be less expensive to pay a monthly fee or a pay-per-visit fee which may be as little as $10. Even worse, they fail to cancel their memberships for months after they actually stop going, at a cost of several hundred dollars.

Economists are studying the role of self-control in spending. Self control affects everything from retirement saving to whether or not you use a gift card. Not surprisingly, they discovered that people lack self-discipline.

Before this, it was thought that consumers always do what's in their own best financial interest. Behavioral economists now say that isn't true.

Credit card teaser rates are another example of how people waste money. Zero percent interest sounds good, but when the offer expires, they could be paying 15 percent or more.

They know that the end of the teaser rate is coming or has come a couple of months ago, but they fail to transfer the balance to a lower rate offer. They may pay high interest for months before getting around to transferring the balance.

This Week's Bipolar News

From Prevention to Preemption: A Paradigm Shift in Psychiatry
Psychiatric Times
One can imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when a 15-year-old with a family history of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder could be assessed with

8 Myths About Bipolar Disorder
CBS News
Bipolar disorder is on the rise, yet myths persist. WebMD goes to the experts for help separating fact from fiction.

Get Real: Count Your Blessings and Your Troubles
Beliefnet.com
Maybe it's the bipolar in me who jumps on the rollercoaster and is dying to tell everybody about the wild ride. But I just wish more people were real about ...

Thinking out loud: Sen. Marzilli's bipolar defense?
Wicked Local West Roxbury
That paper also reported that Marzilli was being treated for symptoms of hypomania, a condition linked to bipolar disease. Marzilli's own lawyer confirmed ...

Swings of bipolar disorder to opposite extremes
Chattanooga Times Free Press
DEAR DR. DONOHUE: How serious is bipolar disorder? Can you control it yourself? Is the brain lacking some element?

Click here for all Bipolar News.

Featured Article:

TAKE ACTION!

I received an email from a person the other day. She asked me why so many great successful people, leaders, business people, etc. have Bipolar Disorder. I have long had a theory (but I don't have any kind of study to point to which would prove my theory). Here's what I think, though:

In order for you to start something, whatever it is: open a daycare center, write a book, build a website, go to college, discover the cure for cancer, create world peace â€“ you have to do something really important. Know what it is?

You have to TAKE ACTION!

Click here to read the entire article.

BipolarCentral
Your One Stop Source For Information On Bipolar Disorder