Archive for the 'Money' Category
22 Comments July 21st, 2008 by Natural
What would you say is the goal of commercial advertising? Most people would agree that advertising provides the consumer with information about a product, but is that all advertising accomplishes? No.
Advertising is used to masterfully engage the mind of the consumer to motivate him or her to buy the advertised product. Advertising is about more than just selling products, but about branding.
Branding refers to the process of impressing a company name or a product name onto society’s collective brain. You want to get the product’s name firmly planted in people’s heads. The advertiser does not necessarily expect you to do anything today — the advertiser simply wants to impress itself on your consciousness.
Catchy Slogans. Do these slogans call to mind their product: Breakfast of champions, You’re in good hands, When you care enough to send the very best and Just do it! These slogans appeal to our emotions and pride, they can make us feel like we need to use this particular product or drive that particular car when something of lesser value will suffice.
Testimonials. Often times celebrities or sport stars are used to recommend a product advertisers want us to buy, as if some how we will become like that person. The power of persuasion.
Direct Commands or Buzz Words. Buy Now. Limited Quantities. New and Improved. While Supplies Last. Final Sale. A sense of urgency is created like we’re going to miss out on something if we don’t buy now. Try listening to QVC for an hour and then ask yourself why you thought purchasing a ceramic rooster for your kitchen was a good idea when you’re not a collector.
Sense of Smell. It’s not by accident that most everything we buy today from shampoo to dryer sheets have a scent associated with it, even bug spray no longer stinks, but smells of flowers. Advertisers want us to have a psychological experience when we use their product so we’ll keep buying it.
It’s no surprise that millions of dollars are spent on advertising during the super bowl or that the typical American is exposed to over 3,000 commercial messages, online advertisements, magazine and billboard ads a day. Advertising can either be a great slave or a horrible master. How much does advertising influence your purchasing power?
[Money Monday topics will now appear on any given Monday].
30 Comments July 14th, 2008 by Natural
Yes I changed my blog look. I’ve been casually looking around for something and I stumbled upon this one yesterday and decided to go with it. I don’t like to change themes too often and I hope to stick with this one. How many times have you changed blog themes?
I’m in the process of trying to integrate my personal website or at least give it the same look as my blog: my cut and paste version. My photographs have been moved to Flickr and can be viewed there or through this blog, the link is up top.
Anywho, a few days ago I got an email from Yahoo saying that their domain renewal will increase from $12.95 to $34.95. I have 8 domains registered with Yahoo and four with another registrar. I’m giving up the ones I don’t need.
As for the rest, I’m moving to another company, which registers them privately (something Yahoo charges extra for) for under $10. I don’t know why a domain name would cost $34.95, but if that is the going rate, someone please enlighten me. How much do you pay?
PS – Oh, I forgot to mention, that in the future if my blog is down, it’s because I’m changing registrars. I’ll be back. I’m testing a transfer now on a domain I want to keep to see how things work out.
20 Comments June 23rd, 2008 by Natural
If you are new here, every Monday I blog about a money related topic. Nothing should be considered as financial advice, but for informational and discussion purposes only.
Is there a such thing as being too successful for a mate? In this case I’m talking about a successful woman.
Of course. women have no problem dating a successful man and when I say successful, I mean doing well financially.
“Typically” the man is thought of as the breadwinner or the financial provider in the relationship.
That’s not so much the case today, women have their “stuff” together. We are smart, driven, we have careers, we own homes, we’re educated and may not be financially dependent on a man.
However being successful and dating doesn’t always go together. Some men are intimated and insecure about a woman who has achieved a measure of success that out weighs his own. He may feel that if she has all these “things” then why is he needed.
I came across this quote from a guy on this topic and he said: I’m not intimidated by successful women, but I’m not exactly comfortable with them in the long-term, neither.
Is the thought of being too successful an “issue” that women create or is it time for the men to get over their insecurities and learn to embrace her success?
Photo by LongHairBroad
23 Comments June 16th, 2008 by Natural
Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth.
Below is a brief and somewhat comical soap opera-ish video on this disease.
{vidavee id=”8178″ w=”320″ }
In a poll released last week (there’s a poll and study for everything, which I find to be a waste of money, but then we’d have no numbers) it showed that because of debt “23 percent of people had severe depression, 51 percent had muscle tension and 27 percent had ulcers or digestive tract problems”. Debt not only affects people financially, but also physically.
I will admit, it’s not easy delaying pleasure when it comes to spending money and buying stuff. I love nice things, I want nice things, I feel I deserve nice things, but I’m not willing to go into debt (any more) to get them. Not wanting to continue making payments on stuff for the rest of my life keeps my Affluenza bug under control. How do you go about keeping your life simple or have you been bitten? Has debt caused you any health (loss of sleep) problems? If so, what do you plan to do about it?
17 Comments June 9th, 2008 by Natural
Q. What’s the quickest way to destroy a friendship?
A. Lend them money.
Okay maybe this is not true with everyone, there are some friends that we can lend money to and then there are friends that we shouldn’t lend money to, but we do anyway because: we’re friends, until they don’t pay us back.
Last week a friend of mine called, and I won’t mention any names, but their initials are Pat Johnson (ha ha, couldn’t resist, not their real name) and asked to borrow a couple thousand dollars. When I was resuscitated we continued the conversation and I said I don’t have it to lend, but I would be happy to sit down with them and help get their finances in order. I know that wasn’t the response they wanted to hear and I felt bad but trying to borrow our way out of debt just digs us into a deeper hole that’s harder to get out.
Personally, I don’t lend money. I have in the past, but IF I have it and you need it, I rather just give it to you. I can’t deal with lending someone money and then watching them not pay me back. They do and buy everything else with money and all I can think about is when are they going to pay ME back.
How would you have handled this situation? Have you ever loaned money to a friend and not been paid back? Are you still friends? Would you do it again? What about lending money to family members?
