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On October 26, 2004 Sandra Moss of KUSI News interviewed
Barbara Williams. The topic of their discussion was how not to spend so
much. The following is the transcript of this interview.
Sandra –
Do you just love to spend money? If you are suffering from the "shop
till you drop" syndrome there are some things you need to know to help
bring your spending under control. Barbara Williams is a Certified
Financial Planning Practitioner with Financial Focus and she is here to
give us some tips. My husband is going to be so glad I’m talking to you
today I get yelled at every month that Visa bill comes in. Let’s talk a
little bit about the sexes. Do women tend to spend more impulsively than
men or is it pretty equal?
Barbara
– I think the woman may spend more out in the malls and the men’s items are
maybe the larger ticket items.
Sandra –
The power tools, the lawn mowers.
Barbara
– Right, the hobby things.
Sandra –
Yea. For many people the holidays are really a dangerous time and they are
quickly approaching. What advice do you have?
Barbara
– Make a list. Make a list and make a budget. And… to keep yourself on
track because it’s the little things that you start with then they keep
adding up and adding up and all of a sudden that Visa bill comes in and
there’s four pages of little things that add up to one big thing.
Sandra –
Let’s talk about some of the reasons why people overspend or spend when
they really don’t have the money. You call them triggers.
Barbara
– Yes. There’s four basic triggers and the first one is that entitlement.
You know you have a bad day and you say; "You know what? I’d just feel
better if I stop on the way home and bought a…"
Sandra –
Lipstick.
Barbara
– Right! Or a pair of shoes or what ever it is and those little things
sometimes turn to big things. "Gosh I have a bad life so I think I’ll
buy a new car." And so it can quickly get out of hand from that
standpoint.
Sandra –
So entitlements. What about emotions? Do your emotions play a big role in
buying impulsively?
Barbara
– They are huge. A huge part. That’s it. You know; "I will feel better
if I have this and this and this." Or; "I just need this little…
this little item to feel a lot better."
Sandra –
But you won’t feel better when that bill comes in.
Barbara
– No. Maybe you won’t even like the item afterwards. It was just that
initial rush to feel better.
Sandra –
What about other triggers?
Barbara
– The other types of things that trigger are boredom. You know we see that
a lot with the home shopping network. Maybe people who are stuck at home
and they get hooked on the home shopping network. When they call in the
people there are so nice and they chat with them. And when the UPS man
delivers it he’s nice – he gets to know you.
Sandra –
It’s exciting when you get a package.
Barbara
– And you get a package.
Sandra –
You see I think I have this problem. I like getting the package. What about
the Internet too. I find that there are so many ways to spend your money
now. I mean you just sit home and spend all day without leaving your home.
Barbara
– And they send you nice little emails to tell you a sale is coming up and
it is so easy to click on there and see what’s coming up.
Sandra –
Don’t do it!
Barbara
– Right.
Sandra –
Don’t do it. Any final tips on uh… that you could give us to help us curb
out spending?
Barbara
– Well probably to look at what your habits are. Is it just even stopping
at the coffee shop everyday? You stop there and that’s ten dollars between
the family stopping there. And over a year that’s $3,600 and over ten years
that’s $36,000. So look at your habits. Sit down over the last year and
make a list of every place you spent money in every category
Sandra –
Even cutting out, like you said, the coffee or a manicure can really save
you a lot in the end.
Barbara
– And stopping for lunch.
Sandra –
No lunch. Oh see I was going to do that today.
Barbara
– Brown bag it.
Sandra –
Oh you’re ruining my day. Barbara Williams, thank you so much for your
help. Appreciate it. Like I said, my husband will be very happy that I
talked to you today. And for more information you could reach Barbara at
760-431-3040.
Barbara
– Right.
Sandra –
Thank you much.
Barbara
– Thank you.
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