The Hidden Costs of Consumer Goods

The Hidden Costs of Consumer Goods
Photo by Anastase Maragos / Unsplash

It's 2 days after Diwali now, and after several days of people telling me to purchase expensive consumer goods, here's why I won't buy an iPhone, an expensive car, or anything else without a solid reason:

Hidden Costs

Each consumer good you buy comes with Hidden Costs which ties up your life with that thing.

For an iDevice, you'll be stuck with the bill of replacement/repair if anything breaks. In comparison, I know my Android device can be repaired by any road-side Dukaan.

For a car/bike, the cost of maintenance + problems caused by disuse are much worse than if you just use a Jupiter/Activa.

For my Jupiter, when it was broken by disuse in Corona, the service guys picked it up themselves, refuelled it, and brought it back for under 1k.

If I had a car, the cost would be at least 20x of that, not to mention the running costs of cleaning/maintaining it.

Generational Wealth

Lots of people who nudge you on to buy consumer goods either come from generational wealth themselves, or don't understand it.

Coming from a middle-class family, you see the struggle your parents went through to get you where you are, and in some cases (like mine), your current residence may not be that great either.

In this case, would you like to dent your savings, to repeat the cycle again?

In my case, the answer is very clear. I don't care as much about short-term happiness as I do about how things should be 20-30 years from now.

And I hope this thread helps you think about your finance differently as well 😄

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the newsletter on the bottom-right.