Chaosplay

I spend almost all of my workday in front on computers. I have access to web and it’s so easy to buy anything. I used to buy a lot of thing based on impulses. Finally, I have learned to take advantage of the shopping online.

Research Good Deals: Now before making a purchase I research online for the best price. If I find a better prices at some unknown merchant, then I do some research on the merchant before making a purchase. Also when I am ready to buy I search for the online coupons and sometimes it can get me best deal at my favorite retailer.

Research Products: I love Amazon’s user reviews. Not only I find a lot more useful information then what I would get from sales people, but sometimes user recommend better alternatives.

Free Shipping: Amazon offers free shipping on the orders over $25. Almost every online retailer offers free shipping for orders above certain amount. I used to end up adding useless stuff to my orders to take advantage of free shipping. Now, however, instead of adding something that I don’t need or paying for shipping, I simply add the product to my wishlist. When I come back to purchase something else, I can see what’s in my wishlist and if I still want it. Many times I end deleting stuff from my wishlist because I don’t want it anymore.

Wishlists: Wishlists are great because I can add stuff to wishlist and feel like that I made a progress towards the purchase. I can also add stuff to take advantage of free shipping or other discount offers that you get when you spend more than certain amount.

Shipping Time: Some people don’t shop online because of the time it takes for shipping. I am able to use this as way to spend less. Whenever, i purchase something I realize that I won’t have it immediately. So I have to think if in a week I will still want to purchase it. So unless I am sure that I will want to have it next week, I just don’t it.

Also many major online retailer will do price match for other online retailer. I have seen that brick & mortar stores make price match a hassle by asking you to bring a print ad for the lower price. Then they usually have to call the other store to make sure that the ad is valid and the item is still in stock and finally they have to get a manager to approve price match.
With Amazon.com, I have been able to get price match through one line e-mail communications.

Yesterday, I talked about how I was going to save and invest most of my income. Some of my friends asked me why not pay off my car first. So I did some calculations. My car loan is at 7.69% interest. My savings APR is 3.49% at HSBCDirect. And I am expecting 8-10% return on my investments in long run.

Based on some rough estimates, I can payoff my auto loan in 10 months. I will save $1,400 in interest. I will have $5,000 less in my savings, $5,000 less in regular investments, and $5,000 less in IRA. My net worth wont change much with either option.

Based on interest and return rates, it is clear that I am better off by investing with expected return rate of 8%. However, I am not really saving money in my saving account. Then on the flip side, the security and peace of mind that liquid asset provides has a lot of value too.

After some thinking I have decided to cut savings by 96% and double my car payments each month. By doing so, I will save $1,000 in interest and payoff my loan in 20 months. I will have $8,000 less in my savings. So in order to recover lost savings I will have to save extra $400 for 20 months after I finish car payments.

*Please note that this is just my situation. Everyone’s situation will be different.