Have you spent good money into something you could have paid for less? Or have you considered maximizing the benefit for every peso you spent?
In this economic climate, being practical and wise is no longer a skill, but a-must trait. It has to be learned and practiced in everything. From choosing our next phone, computer, tv, camera, even to a dream house. Mostly, money is the variable in making purchase decisions. If we have plenty, it’s not that much of a problem. Only on the instance if our budget is way beyond the price tag, either we wait for a sale, borrow, take it on credit, or choose whatever our budget can afford. Having a big budget however adds even more confusion. Since we can buy the most expensive, we now think we might be spending too much for something we won’t be of total use. Either way, be it cheap or expensive, within budget or beyond, what truly is important is to only choose what gives us the most value.
In this economic climate, being practical and wise is no longer a skill, but a-must trait. It has to be learned and practiced in everything. From choosing our next phone, computer, tv, camera, even to a dream house. Mostly, money is the variable in making purchase decisions. If we have plenty, it’s not that much of a problem. Only on the instance if our budget is way beyond the price tag, either we wait for a sale, borrow, take it on credit, or choose whatever our budget can afford. Having a big budget however adds even more confusion. Since we can buy the most expensive, we now think we might be spending too much for something we won’t be of total use. Either way, be it cheap or expensive, within budget or beyond, what truly is important is to only choose what gives us the most value.
I choose to share my point of view on this (very important) matter as I myself was an impulsive consumer. I tend to buy anything I (maybe) need, which I end up not using at all. It could have been money well spent.
Choosing isn’t really rocket science and we seldom take it for granted for expedience. But, what if there is a better way to choose? What if you can measure it? What if you can put together both measures and make an easy and straight-forward comparison?
The Ratio (CF)
To be logical two factors are considered; Cost – is the price an item is valued and Functionality – expresses an items usefulness. Cost-functionality ratio is presented as a formula:
The value is a real number with the unit dollars/function. The quotient describes how much we pay for an item for every useful function it delivers.
A quick example: Consider phone A and phone B. Phone A costs 4500 pesos and offers 31 features/functions while Phone B is priced at 17000 pesos with 41 features/functions. I however only need 23 features which include the very basic function of a phone and some entertainment and connectivity features, considering it is useful everyday.
Phone A’s CF ratio is 204.54 pesos/feature while Phone B’s CF ratio is 681.81 pesos/feature. Considering a phone’s usefulness relative to its price, we might choose Phone A as it appears to provide a better value-for-money than Phone B. This ratio however is limited and does not include attributes like brand, appearance, build quality, color, etc. I leave that choice for you to make.
Posts
