One big disadvantage of bargain hunting, being politically active, and researching personal finance products is that I often end up o a lot of mailing lists and calling lists. And they’re distracting. Sometimes, I’ll get multiple phone calls a day related to causes that I’m not interested in, and I’ll see items and catalogues in the mail that I have no real interest in receiving.

A few years ago, I didn’t worry about this too much, but over time this built up to absurdity, with phone calls all throughout the evening and piles of junk mail arriving on a daily basis. Not only did these things cost time, they also cost money – catalogues and other such items sitting around the house are an easy temptation.

So I started putting my foot down, taking action against all of these unsolicited mailings. Here are some of the tactics and resources I used (and still use).

Four Essential Websites
There are four key websites worth visiting when trying to minimize the amount of junk mail and telemarketer calls you receive.

OptOutPrescreen
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
This website, hosted by the credit agencies, allows you to opt out from prescreened credit card offers for five years. Under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, the credit agencies must allow people to opt out of mailings generated solely by your current credit score – primarily, unsolicited credit card offers.

Signing up is pretty simple. Doing it via the web lasts five years – sending in your form by snail mail makes the opt out permanent. If you receive quite a few credit card offers, this is well worth signing up for.

Do Not Call Registry
http://www.donotcall.gov/
Another federal act, the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act of 2003 (and the later improvement, the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007), comes to the rescue when battling against unsolicited phone calls.

To put it simply, visit http://www.donotcall.gov/ or call 1-888-382-1222 and simply ask to join the National Do Not Call Registry. Once you’re on the list for ninety days, solicitors can no longer call you unless you’ve already opted in on the phone call in some fashion (meaning, for example, businesses you already work with).

DirectMail.com Mail Preference Registry
https://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/
DirectMail.com’s Mail Preference Registry enables you to easily get off the mailing list of direct mailers of all stripes, like catalog shipments and those little cardboard flyers that let you know about “sales” at local stores. This is actually done by a large consortium of direct mailers, who would actually prefer not to waste their money sending things to people who simply ignore the material (it’s not free to send a catalog, and if you’re just tossing them in the mail, that’s a needless expense).

Do Not Mail Registry
http://www.donotmail.org/
This final site isn’t something you can sign up for quite yet. Instead, it’s a grassroots organization attempting to develop a national Do-Not-Mail registry backed with penalties from the government. You can sign their petition and get involved with the project on their website.

Three Additional Steps
Beyond visiting these sites, there are three additional things you can do to minimize the pervasiveness of junk mail and telemarketing in your life.

Don’t let unwanted mail persist in your home. If you get an unsolicited mailing, whether it be a credit card offer or a catalog, destroy any personal information and get it in the trash can immediately. That way, a catalog or another offer that might tempt you (like the Williams & Sonoma catalog at our home, for example) won’t be sitting around encouraging you to spend money. Just trash it immediately (or utilize the third tip below).

Request removal from specific unwanted mailings and call lists. If you’ve opted in for a mailing in the past and now wish for it to stop, call the phone number on the mailing and request removal from their list. Removal might not be immediate, but with a few patient calls, even the most persistent of mailers (or the most lazy of customer service representatives) will cease their mailings.

Use junk mail as a resource. A final tactic: use the junk mail for something else. One great tactic is to shred junk mail, add a bit of paraffin, and make simple firestarters out of them (great for camping!). You can also harvest envelopes for your own mailing purposes and, of course, take things like mailing labels that some solicitors will send to you. Just toss the rest and don’t worry about it.

Junk mail (and junk phone calls) eat up your valuable time, waste resources, and serve as a great distraction that encourages you towards poor financial choices. Why not just nip these things in the bud with a few minutes of your time right now?

Several months ago, I visited my doctor during the process of figuring out an illness that was sapping a lot of my energy. One of the first things he did was to order a general blood panel, just to see if one of several common things popped up.

While we never did figure out the illness (my energy recovered a few months later and it was decided that my illness was caused by a mix of a virus and seasonal affective disorder), the blood tests did reveal an unusual number related to my liver, which, frankly, scared me quite a bit. My family has a history of liver problems, and my grandfather and my uncle both died of cirrhotic livers.

After several additional tests, I went to the doctor for a final appointment, where he informed me that I had a fat streak in my liver that would make me more susceptible to cirrhosis in the future, as well as much more susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes (again, a worry, because there are multiple cases of this in my family tree).

Instead of asking for a cure or for a prescription to “make it better,” my first question was quite simple. “What can I do on my own to help improve this?”

He listed several things: make some simple diet changes, avoid excessive alcohol use (though a beer or a glass of wine a day is fine), start a simple exercise regimen that focuses on aerobics, and keep a close eye out for any signs of early type 2 diabetes.

Each one of those steps are things I can do on my own. They don’t require expensive equipment. They don’t require prescription medications. They just require a willingness on my part to make myself better and to work for it.

Since that appointment, I’ve lost around forty pounds (about a pound and a half a week or so) thanks to a better diet and some exercise (lots of walking and simple aerobics). I have only two drinks of any kind a week – and only one on any given day (I thoroughly enjoy an occasional homebrew beer and a glass of wine with some meals, and my doctor encouraged me to keep those in my diet). I’ve also kept an eye out for any other signs – but nothing at all has popped out.

On the other hand, my numbers were out of whack enough at the start of this that I likely could have been prescribed a medication (like metformin). Instead of doing that, though, I actively chose to try steps on my own to see what might happen – and I feel better now than I have in a long time.

At first glance, the savings on prescription costs are obvious. I’m simply not paying for a medication that I might have otherwise paid for.

But the savings goes much deeper. Following my doctor’s instructions for taking independent steps improved my health in general. Exercising more, eating better, and avoiding alcohol (given my family history) are all choices that go beyond simply solving this immediate situation. They help to prevent or minimize other potential health issues and they make me feel better on a day-to-day basis.

Those changes directly lead to additional savings – fewer colds, fewer doctor visits, and more energy to accomplish more things during the day.

Whenever you’re faced with a medical situation, by all means, visit your doctor and ask for help. Don’t forget, though, to ask about the steps you can take on your own – and then act on those steps. At the very least, those steps will help battle further deterioration of your condition – quite often, it’ll help you save on prescription costs and improve your overall health.

Good luck!

After reading my recent article about cooperating with your neighbors to share resources, my always-sharp wife Sarah made a great point.

“You know, we have a perfect example of this at work out in our yard right now.”

And she’s right. Here’s a picture of it.

The play equipment above sits exactly on the property line with our neighbors to the south – the property line actually runs just to the right of the slide. The entire piece is used extensively by both families – we have a three year old and a one year old, whereas the neighbors to the south have a six year old and a four year old.

This item was already in place on the property when we moved in – it came with the house. The previous owners of our home and the home to the south each wanted a large, wooden play area for their respective children, but instead they got together and made the frugal decision to split the cost of the play equipment.

When we moved in, one of the first things we did was discuss the arrangement with our neighbors to the south. It turned out to be a great way to introduce ourselves to them and a great way to have our children begin to play with each other. According to them, they actually bought the very play set that they intended to buy for their children – they just paid half the price for it and got all of the use out of it.

Later, when that family moved out, a new family moved in to the south of us. This provided them an opportunity to meet new neighbors (us) and have our children bond – and they certainly have. The younger child next door and our older son play together regularly and the older child next door loves “mothering” our toddler-aged daughter.

What about liability? Whenever I discuss this arrangement, this is often the first question we’re asked. In this situation, house insurance would cover any claims that resulted from the equipment, just as if another child without health insurance was hurt while playing in our yard. In most practical situations, though, common sense and an ongoing, healthy relationship with our neighbor takes precedence – we’re all aware of a lack of any sort of ill intent with the equipment and the social costs of any sort of legal action in this situation would be tremendous.

What are the potential benefits? As enumerated above, the play equipment itself saved each family 50% on the initial purchase (or it could allow for the families to combine resources to purchase an even better set of play equipment). It also reduced the work load on each family by half when the equipment was actually installed.

After the purchase, it facilitated a better relationship between each pairing of neighbors that lived there – and also helped build a friendship between the children.

What are the potential drawbacks? The drawbacks come if the situation changes. If one family moves out, the new family that moves in has to be agreeable to the situation or else you may have a legal problem (though most situations like this are resolved by common sense). Thankfully, two such moves have occurred since the equipment was installed without any problems.

Another problem that may occur is if one family wants to do something different with the property line, such as installing a fence. Again, we’re fairly lucky in this regard – we have a large shared lawn area where the children of many families play together and most of the families are loathe to interrupt this with a fence or other obstruction.

Yet, even in the face of these drawbacks, the shared play equipment has been an enormous win for us. Half the price, half the labor, all the enjoyment, and a built-in opportunity to bond with your neighbors. Sounds like a great deal for me!

A very kind reader recently sent me a link to a fascinating article at Salon.com entitled How I Learned to Haggle. The article outlines a woman’s experience with haggling, culminating with the author actually requesting a discount at a dollar store:

So before I can think too hard about it, I drive to my kids’ favorite place of business, the 99-cent store — where everything is now upward of $1.29 — to shop for an upcoming holiday. My extended family is coming to town for a big celebration, so I stock up on several items in bulk. Taking deep, relaxing breaths and focusing on the joy the plastic doodads I’m clutching will bring to my offspring and their cousins, I wait for the long line at the register to taper off. Then I unload the contents of my basket onto the raised counter, look up at the woman on the platform behind it and say, with a surprisingly steady voice, “I’m buying a lot. Would it be possible to get a discount?”

She looks at me, clearly taken aback and a little irritated. “I’d have to get the owner,” she says, as if that will end the conversation.

“OK,” I say.

She rings up three more customers while I wait, probably hoping I’ll give it up and go away, then reluctantly rouses herself and comes back with the owner, a kindly man to whom I repeat my question and fall silent.

He smiles at me. “Well,” he says, “you are buying a lot.”

He turns to the woman at the register. “Charge her 99 cents for these,” he says, pointing to eight items in my basket priced at $1.29. And these,” he says, waving at eight more priced at $1.49.

Then he looks at me apologetically, eyeing two large items selling for $1.99. “I can’t go any lower on those. Just the delivery charges have gotten so expensive.”
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“I understand,” I say.

Then he says, “OK, charge her $1.49.”

The woman at the register sourly does as she is told. I thank them both and pay in cash.

Unsurprisingly, with a story like that, the comments are pure gold, alternating between people sharing their own haggling tips and cheering on the writer to others disgusted at the thought of haggling at the dollar store.

My thoughts were pretty diverse on the issue, but I largely support what the woman did. Here are some of my thoughts on haggling – many of which I’m sure will generate some discussion.

A person’s desire and ability to haggle depends on their personality. Some people are born to haggle. Others are brought into it culturally. Others simply have neither the innate desire or the cultural pressure to do so – or only feel like it’s appropriate in some situations. Given that there are so many personal feelings about bargaining and there are vastly different cultural expectations about it in different parts of the world, it’s pretty much impossible to come to a single clear set of rules about what’s appropriate and what’s not when it comes to this art.

At the same time, it seems that in a world of haggling, introverts are directly financially penalized. A person who is naturally introverted or timid will simply not negotiate as strongly as an extroverted person who is willing to make a public scene to save a few dollars. Should the introvert be financially penalized for their nature? Would it be similarly appropriate to financially penalize people for other aspects of their nature – for the color of their skin, perhaps?

It’s because of this that I largely support standardized pricing within stores and competition among stores – everyone gets the same deal and the people who are rewarded are the people willing to put in the footwork and do comparison shopping, not the people who are willing to be pushy for it.

Businesses that expect haggling will price accordingly. Take yard sale pricing, for example. Whenever I run a yard sale, I usually price things on the high end of what I think is a reasonable yard sale price and I allow and encourage haggling. As the weekend goes on, I drop my prices over time.

This is true of many businesses, particularly “mom and pop” type businesses and also businesses from other cultures outside of the United States. They expect some degree of haggling from some percentage of customers and price accordingly. Quite often, I don’t mind not haggling at these events and paying their face price because I like supporting local businesses, but I have no qualms with haggling if a price seems particularly out of line.

Businesses that don’t expect haggling won’t tolerate it. On the other hand, in many stores, haggling simply does you no good. Large chain stores – particularly on less-expensive items – simply have no room at all to change prices. They’ll simply refuse – and you’ll simply have wasted your time. So, don’t haggle over the price of a tube of toothpaste at your local Target.

Taking those factors into account, I see no reason not to ask for a discount in many situations – but doing it where there’s no real chance of it working is annoying to those around you and potentially damaging to your reputation. If you’re standing in line at the local department store (that is obviously not a place with a haggling reputation) and make a big scene over trying to haggle over a few items, your only outcome will be to frustrate and annoy those around you. Even worse, some of those people might remember you – and your annoyance to them may come back to haunt you later.

My final point is perhaps the biggest one of all. If you feel the need to haggle for the item, why are you buying it at all? Take the example in the original story. Why is that person in the dollar store at all? Are “plastic doodads” from the dollar store really a worthwhile purchase?

While I can surely appreciate the sentiment of wanting to make a child happy, why not actually do something special with that time and money, like make a batch of their favorite kind of homemade ice cream together? Or even play a few simple games in the yard with them? Children are happy whenever you show them genuine love – it doesn’t have to take the form of a “plastic doodad” you bought for a buck at the dollar store.

This expands into a more general principle. Most of the items you might haggle for aren’t necessities at all. Unless you truly do want the item (and it passes the ten second rule), don’t even bother haggling over it or putting it into your cart. Just walk away and keep that cash in your pocket. Haggling to get a “deal” on something you don’t truly want and don’t need is just another way to watch your money slip through your fingers.

I look forward to your comments on haggling.

A few weeks ago, I posted a list of the personal finance and personal development blogs I read. Several readers were quite surprised to find that I didn’t actually list any food blogs, since I’m pretty passionate about cooking at home.

So, this week, for a change of pace, I thought I’d highlight some excellent posts from some of my favorite food blogs. Enjoy!

Spend Less, Eat Healthier: The Five Most Important Things You Can Do I completely agree with these five “commandments.” In fact, they pretty much describe how we shop for food and make meal choices. (@ cheap healthy good)

Homemade Granola Bars Mark Bittman (author of one of my favorite cookbooks, How to Cook Everything) offers up a fairly simple and very delicious recipe for homemade granola bars. (@ bitten)

Monica Bhide’s Chile Pea Puffs These are excellent little appetizers – pretty simple, very tasty (and spicy), and not all that complicated. It’s a great way to surprise guests if you need an unusual finger food. Plus, the article claims they freeze very well, so you can make a jumbo batch. Note: most of the time, I prefer olive oil to cooking spray. (@ 101 cookbooks)

The Fiesta Continues A pretty simple idea – if you have leftovers, dice them and toss them on a tortilla and you’re close to something tasty. I love this blog simply because it’s incredibly human – it’s a great visual reflection of how a real person eats. Plus, I like her taste in reading (as evidenced by the last photo). (@ kath eats real food)

A Little Slice of Toasted Heaven: Lemon Coconut Quick Bread Recipe This is an amazing little loaf of sweet bread and a perfect way to use up that little bit of leftover coconut we have sitting in the freezer! (@ foodie farm girl)

I’m something of a planner. I can’t help it – I always like to make plans for the future. I fill up my calendar with all sorts of little details and I’m always making lists.

My mother does the same thing, actually. She’s constantly making lists and jotting down notes. She’s always been the person that handled the paperwork and did all of the trip planning when I was growing up.

When I was younger, there were times when my strong tendency to make specific plans would get completely out of control. I’d freak out if things didn’t go exactly according to my plans.

As I grew older, I began to see how time and time again, that controlling nature would cost me time and money. My meticulous meal plans would result in a hefty grocery store bill – and when something went wrong, we were often relegated to going out to a restaurant. I’d write far-too-long lists to help me pack for trips – then inevitably forget something that was actually important, necessitating a trip to a department store. Not only that, my controlling nature continually increased my stress level, making it much easier for me to get ill.

Thus, I’ve focused on backing off on my controlling nature, back to a healthy balance of being aware and observant about what’s going on. Not only does this help me reduce my own stress, adopting less controlling tactics saves us money time and time again.

Here are four specific things you can do to cut down on the need for exact planning – and save yourself some money in the process.

Buy more staple foods and less esoteric foods. Fill your cupboards with items that can be used in lots of meals – pasta, rice, basic spices, tomato sauce, and so forth. At the same time, avoid regularly buying items that can’t be used in as many dishes.

How does this help? If you have lots of “staple foods” on hand, it becomes very easy to throw together a low-cost meal in a pinch. Plus, if you attend events like farmer’s markets, you can simply choose the ingredients that seem to be a good bargain, knowing that there’s something you can prepare with the staples in your cupboard.

Make most of your financial transactions automatic. Utilize the online features of your bank and automate as many of your bills as you possibly can. Beyond that, you can also automate savings and investing plans.

How does this help? You don’t have to go into panic mode around bill paying time any more – if something comes up, you don’t have to sweat about whether or not the mortgage will get paid. Instead, most of your bills are simply paid automatically without worry.

Keep a standard travel bag ready to go. This works like a charm for me. Just keep a bag with the essentials you actually need for a trip packed in the closet. My bag includes basic toiletries, three days’ worth of clean clothes, and similar items for my kids. I re-pack this bag immediately after trips.

How does this help? Having this bag ready at all times means I won’t forget something truly important on a trip. Also, the knowledge that this bag is ready keeps me from stressing out too much about preparing for a trip.

Perform regular maintenance on your appliances and equipment. Whenever you get a new appliance or piece of equipment, take a look at the maintenance schedule and tasks that are recommended and add them to your calendar. Keep up with these tasks and you’ll ensure that your items have a much longer lifetime.

How does this help? I tend to get very frustrated when something breaks down because it throws my plans out of whack. The lawnmower’s broken? Not only do I have some costs in repairing it, I’m also throwing time away in the repair process and my plans for the afternoon are completely altered. If I have a regular maintenance schedule, these frustrations happen much less often – plus my items have a much longer life span. Both of these factors save me money.

In a recent post about up front spending, quite a few people mentioned their anecdotes about buying a cheap washing machine and having it last for many years – and then used that as a justification to ignore reliability data when making a purchase and instead go for the cheap item.

Let’s explore that idea a bit. Take a look at this picture:

This represents the reliability of a hypothetical low-end washing machine over time. It has an average lifespan of ten years – and most of those models fail at around the ten year mark.

But there are exceptions to that general trend, of course. Some of them fail quite quickly – and this, being a cheap machine, doesn’t have good warranty support. Others last for a long time, even up to twenty years or more.

When you buy a machine, it’s going to wind up at some point on this curve. Most likely, it’ll be one of the ones in that big hump in the middle, lasting ten years or so like the average machine. However, there’s a chance that it might junk out in three years, or it might last you for twenty years.

Now, what about a more reliable machine? If you chose to spend a bit more and buy a more reliable machine, you’d get a curve that looks more like this:

It comes with a good warranty, so there are no failures within the first five years. Overall, the average failure comes in at about the fourteen year mark – and some will last for twenty five years or more.

Obviously, when you look at Consumer Reports or other such research, this second washing machine would have a higher reliability grade than the first one. People (like me) are willing to pay a bit more to get a reliability curve that looks like this one than like the first one.

Let’s overlap them.

Notice the three colored spaces? They each tell a different story, and their relative sizes are really important.

The blue area shows how likely it is that the cheap machine will fail before the expensive machine does.

The pink area shows something very similar: how likely it is that the expensive machine will last longer than the cheap machine.

To put it simply, you can combine the blue and pink areas – combined, they show the likelihood that the more expensive and reliable machine will outlast the cheaper and less reliable machine. There’s about a 70% chance of that.

Of course, there’s that orange area. That represents the chance that the cheap machine will actually last longer than the expensive machine. In this example, there’s roughly a 30% chance of that happening.

So what’s the story here? Paying more for reliability means that the orange area is your worst case scenario; buying the cheap machine means that the orange area is your best case scenario.

Let’s put it in terms of comments about low-end washing machines. Yes, you’ll hear occasionally from an individual that bought a $200 machine in 1987 that’s still running today. That person lucked out – they bought a cheap machine, but it happened to wind up in that orange area.

However, most of the time, the machine will be a blue one. It will fail before a higher-reliability machine ever will.

Similarly, someone might complain about the “supposedly highly reliable” machine they bought in 2001 that’s already failed. Again, it’s an orange case. Most of the time, that machine will be a pink one.

Here’s the real truth: the exceptional cases mean very little. If you hear about one or two cases, pure chance might give you a few tales straight out of the orange area – exceptional cases, whether or not it’s a good exceptional case or a bad one.

What actually matters is a lot of cases combined together. When you get a lot of cases together, you can get a real picture of the reliability of the machine. The whole curve fills out, with the poor exceptional machines, the great exceptional machines, and the average machines.

Whenever you go to make a major purchase, you’re placing a bet on reliability. You don’t know exactly how it’s going to turn out. Good reliability data simply means that the machine is likely to be more reliable than a machine with poor reliability data.

Given that a more reliable machine means less time investment (you don’t have to deal with time lost to a broken machine, nor do you have to deal with repairmen) and less money investment (the cost of repairs plus the cost of having to buy a replacement sooner than expected), paying extra for reliability is a bet I’m willing to take. I’m quite willing to pay a 50% premium to buy the machine with the pink curve than the one with the blue curve.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been involved in a very interesting discussion with a reader who wanted to know why I thought index funds were such a great investment strategy. I pulled out a huge array of quotes and experts that support my claim. A sampling:

Deep down, I remain absolutely confident that the vast majority of American families will be well served by owning their equity holdings in an all-U.S. stock-market index portfolio and holding their bonds in an all-U.S. bond-market index portfolio… The rationale for a 100-percent index fund portfolio remains as solid as a rock. It’s all about common sense. – John Bogle

For many investors, especially those who prefer an easy, low-risk solution to investing, I recommend bowing to the wisdom of the market and using index funds for the entire investment portfolio. For all investors, however, I recommend that at least a portion of the investment portfolio – especially the retirement portion – be invested in index funds. – Burton Malkiel

Clearly, the best way to avoid [overpriced and underperforming mutual funds] is to simply keep your expenses to a minimum and buy the whole market with an index fund. – William Bernstein

[A]t least in your 401(k), you’re better off investing in an index fund with low costs that simply tries to mimic the performance of the entire market than in a mutual fund that tries to beat the market – Jim Cramer (!?)

I’ve made my case, right? Not so fast. The reader was able to respond with at least as many examples of individuals touting the value of investing in individual stocks. He had tons of research and information advocating individual stock picking and tons of great examples of how it works.

In the end, we agreed to disagree. We each had a pile of information that reinforced what we already knew and decided to leave it at that.

This is a very clear example of confirmation bias – it’s easy to find and accept evidence for what you already believe, but very hard to find and accept evidence that contradicts what you already believe.

Here’s another example that came into play during our car search. Based on my own personal experience and on anecdotes from the experiences of others, I have a bias when it comes to car manufacturers in terms of reliability and bang for the buck. I tend to, if anything, overvalue Honda and Toyota and undervalue Chrysler/Dodge, General Motors, and Ford. Time and time again, I’ve witnessed cars from the big three failing just over the 100,000 mark, while I’ve witnessed several Hondas and Toyotas still going strong over the 300,000 mark without huge repairs. I’ve also read a pile of Consumer Reports car issues and Honda and Toyota are consistently at the top of their reliability rankings.

That information is in line with many of the anecdotes and studies that I read, but it goes further than that. I tend not to trust articles that contradict that idea. I do tend to believe anecdotes that report poor reliability in Hondas and Toyotas and great reliability and value in GMs and Fords and Chryslers, but I view them as outliers – exceptions to the rule.

I recognize that I have these biases. I prefer Hondas and Toyotas to cars from the big three on reliability and long-term value and I prefer index funds to individual stocks for long term investing goals.

What’s interesting, though, is that I tend to view research and quotes that support those biases as being more valid than those that oppose those biases. That’s pure confirmation bias – I’m biased towards sources that confirm what I already “know.”

Another angle: I had a very strong confirmation bias towards used cars. I believed that buying used was an absolute rule if you want to find a bargain, and for most of the year we spent looking for our car, I didn’t even bother to look at new cars. It was only when I was repeatedly bashed in the head with evidence (from Consumer Reports, for starters, and from many other sources) that under current economic conditions there are better bargains for new purchases if you’re going to drive the car into the ground that I bothered to actually start including new cars in our comparisons. In the end, we wound up buying new, but only after running the numbers until our spreadsheets begged for mercy.

Obviously, confirmation bias isn’t a good thing. It blinds you to changes and opportunities. For example, in the last few years, Ford’s bang for the buck and reliability have really turned around. I consciously know this, but if I’m looking at a Honda and a Ford, I still tend to trust the Honda. Another example: I’m fairly good at picking individual stocks that do quite well – and I prove it to myself time and time again with Google Finance test portfolios. The returns exceed what I’m getting with my index funds. So why don’t I switch? It’s simple – my confirmation bias kicks in and I view my own performance as an outlier – a fluke.

We all have these biases. It’s part of human nature and, quite often, it serves us well. It keeps us focused on what’s important.

Having said that, it’s dangerous to simply avoid contradicting opinions. The healthiest thing a thinking person can do is to consistently read articles and sources of information that contradict what he or she knows – and then see whether or not the arguments being presented actually have merit or not. This is why I read books by Jim Cramer on individual stock investing. This is why I extensively research individual auto purchases. It’s also why I read books by atheists and socialists – they challenge my thinking.

The more you challenge your biases, the more likely you are to find the best answer for your situation – and that best answer will often put money in your pocket and help you find the best value.

So I’ll ask you: sit back and think for a minute. Can you name a bias that you have? Now, go out there and challenge that bias. Check out a new bank. Try a new supermarket. Compare the real numbers, not your preconceived notions. Even if you simply confirm what you already know, you’ll find yourself understanding your own choices better, whether it’s a choice to use your local bank or a choice to use your preferred supermarket.