Comments on: Do the Research (11/365)

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:43:09 +0000

#27 Dave: Trent leads off with this: “That seems like a good rule of thumb. In fact, I’d go even further: for every $100 I spend on an item over the item’s lifetime, I try to devote an hour to researching the purchase before making a move.

What do I mean by that? Take a car, for example….” So, it does appear he’s extending the rule to every circumstance. A $20K car plus all the lifetime added maintenance, & fuel is going to add up to a lot of hours of research.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:48:53 +0000

I have to agree with the sentiments of most of the writers regarding the obvious need to limit the amount of research on high cost items due to diminishing returns. However, I can’t say I agree with the tone of voice used in some of the comments. I can’t imagine Trent meant to extend this 1 hour/$100 dollar rule to everything and every circumstance. Even if he did it would be better than some things I’ve seen done by otherwise rational people. I know folks who while driving a perfectly good car past a dealership, pulled in and one hour later drove away in a new car that they later truly regretted. These same people will spend countless hours agonizing over the purchase of a shirt. I just spent some 50 hours researching the purchase of a new car. I now know what I want and actually need. I will wait until the model year change next fall and buy the car discounted with the full warranty. All “Trentian” ideas. Keep up the good work.

By: lurker carl

lurker carl — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:39:08 +0000

I do more research when buying a cheap used vehicle than a new vehicle. The new vehicle comes with a warranty and corporate reputation, both of which are easily researched. The used vehicle comes with a unique history along with a consumer reputation, unearthing an automobile’s past and reliability over time takes considerably more time and effort.

By: Evita

Evita — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:02:57 +0000

Simply put :), I think that Trent did not think the $100 advice through before writing this post ……
…… this is another case of a potentially good but poorly delivered idea that generated tons of amusing comments!

By: Misha

Misha — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:27:12 +0000

Priswell, no one is disagreeing with the idea of researching before you buy. They’re disagreeing with the rule-of-thumb Trent put forth in this article, which is maybe the dumbest advice that’s been offered here outside of things that are straight-up factually wrong (like the recent standard-deduction article).

By: The Frugallery

The Frugallery — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:04:07 +0000

I agree that you should do research before purchasing expensive things, but there has to be a cap of how much research you do. Time is money so spending two weeks worth of work into buying something essentially made it more expensive. I rely more on word of mouth feedback and recommendations from others.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:31:05 +0000

While I’m sure this kind of research is what the author is comfortable with I have to agree – seems like excessive time spent on research for the bigger ticket items. But that’s me.

Gut feeling can go a long way, and I’m the the kind of person who enjoys serendipitous synchronicities – but I have less responsibilities than the author does, so I’m not going to judge.

By: Gillian

Gillian — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 11:01:39 +0000

“@Mister E, “deeply” is Trent’s favorite word, I think. My wife and I sometimes drop words like “deeply”, “strongly”, or (my favorite) “tremendous” into conversations about money or cooking in a particular tone of voice, just to make the other laugh because they’re so recognizably Trent.”

Wow. That’s actually pretty sad.

By: deRuiter

deRuiter — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:17:33 +0000

Dear cv, #17. You’ve got a point with “deeply’. I sumbit “simply” in competition. I don’t want to hear “Simply put” here again, unlees the author is paid by the word, in which case the use of all these useless space filler words is understandable. Folks, don’t write / say, “Honestly, I….”. Just BE HONEST! Don’t say “Simply put…” just put it simply. Clarity! Brevity! Succinctness!
I’m with valleycat and #1-#4, the author has too much time on his hands!

By: Sandy

Sandy — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:44:48 +0000

I’m with posters 1-5.
All I can say is anyone who does this has more time than sense…..

By: Becky

Becky — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:07:03 +0000

I think it really depends on the item in question, perhaps more than the price.

For example, I just replaced my bread machine after my 15-year old machine stopped working. I spent $120, but only invested about 15 minutes from start to finish – did it fulfill the basic functions, including a timer I could set before bed, were the reviews on Amazon/Walmart mostly positive, and was the price in my budget? Done. Showed up on my doorstep a couple days later, delivered from Amazon.

On the other hand, I spent probably an hour researching e-readers before deciding on the color Nook. I didn’t know much about them, and really wanted to avoid buyer’s remorse. Paid $249, but still only invested 60 minutes and that included price comparisons on ebay and such, just in case I could get a better deal than MSRP.

No matter what, I cannot imagine spending 5 hours researching a $500 laptop, nor 100 hours researching a $10,000 automobile.

By: cv

cv — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:52:19 +0000

@Mister E, “deeply” is Trent’s favorite word, I think. My wife and I sometimes drop words like “deeply”, “strongly”, or (my favorite) “tremendous” into conversations about money or cooking in a particular tone of voice, just to make the other laugh because they’re so recognizably Trent. I’ve gotten a lot out of this blog over the years (we’ve even started playing board games some evenings!), but you really need to gloss over some of the quirks in Trent’s writing style.

By: valleycat1

valleycat1 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:21:24 +0000

#15 Priswell – Of course one needs to do research, but as #8 Nick points out, beyond a certain point it’s a case of diminishing returns. And even if you decide to buy a car or a house or whatever but don’t make the purchase until years later, that doesn’t mean you’ve put in thousands of hours with research. To me, research is examining options and reviews to figure out which option is best for you. After that, shopping around to get the best deal isn’t research, it’s shopping.

By: Priswell

Priswell — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:13:07 +0000

Well, I don’t know about the ‘hour research per $100′ scale, but I will say that I agree with the idea of researching what I buy, especially if I’m unfamiliar with the item.

For example, back when VCRs were new, I went looking to buy one. There wasn’t the plethora of info available online like there is now, so I went to 6-7 stores that sold them and asked questions about different features. I paid attention to both what they said and how I was treated. Some of the salesmen brushed me off as beneath their dignity (we don’t want to explain anything, just buy from us!), others were very informative. In the end, I bought from the guy that was both helpful and informative, after I fended off his co-worker, who tried to steal the sale.

Research before the buy is a good thing. Assigning it a specific study hall time, is not as important as understanding what you’re getting and why.

By: Gretchen

Gretchen — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:48:02 +0000

How exhausting.

By: Mister E

Mister E — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:25:35 +0000

Just to clarify, the idea itself isn’t necessarily dumb, it’s the use of the DEEPLY in the sentence that grates on me.

By: Kai

Kai — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:20:35 +0000

There are some things where it makes sense to buy an entry-level item and then upgrade when you have the experience to buy the great item and know what you want. But there are a LOT of things that’s a really bad idea for.

By: Mister E

Mister E — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:12:05 +0000

I tend to do a lot of research before a purchase too including what was probably thousands of hours before purchasing my home. I mean, I didn’t keep track but I saved money for 9 years in preparation and read most everything that I could in that time frame so thousands of hours doesn’t seem too far out of line.

However this..

“This is deeply connected to the idea that one should buy a low-end item first, become familiar with its use, and then replace it with an item appropriate to their needs”

is a DEEPLY dumb line.

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:06:23 +0000

I prefer making impulse purchases in order to satisfy my immediate desires. ;)

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:31:40 +0000

Now, put this next to the article where he called me out for spending time to make more money by choosing my own investments. :)