I always try to understand things, like, keep an open mind, so if someone likes something, or doesn't like something, that's their choice. Or if they want to do something, or don't want to do something, most of the time, they have some reasons. May not be good reasons, but still fair enough reasons.
Like, I use my $4 per month telco plan. It's extreme, cos it takes some setting up and control over the use of data, so I understand why people don't do it. My wife uses the sim only plan. She buys a cheap phone and uses data as per normal. The subscription is half of what normal people pay. This is really great savings. Many people also don't use it. And I can still understand why. Cos some people like to change their handphones regularly. That's not frugal, but it's a fair enough explanation for me to understand why. So fair enough...
I can also understand why people buy $5,000 bags, or $15,000 watches. It's not frugal, but once again, I can see why they buy it. It makes them happy, they like it, whatever. I accept that rationale.
But there are so many other instances where I just cannot understand why. Especially when it's good for the person with almost no effort.
I know older folks of my parents generation don't really like to talk about money. Ok. I've managed to switch my mum to the UOB One card, so she gets $50 every 3 months. She doesn't really monitor how much she spends so she exceeds $500 every month, so her returns are probably less than 3.33%. So I was telling her that she could just open a UOB One account and earn additional interest cos she already spends $500 on her UOB credit cards, she can just put in $50k and earn 1.6% annually without doing anything different. She just needs to open the account.
Her immediate response to me was, "I don't have the money to put into the account."
I know that's BS.
My reply was... "Mother, I'm not asking you for money. I'm not asking how much assets you have. I'm telling you that you can make additional money by doing almost nothing. You just have to open the account, put money in and go on with your normal life. That's all. If you want to earn the extra free money, I can advise you. Else nevermind. I don't see why you're so reluctant to even hear about it."
After hearing that, she sounded more interested, "You mean just put in $50k can earn more interest?..."
Eventually she was convinced that it was in her interest to do it, whether she will actually get it done... that's a different matter.
For this case, I think, ok, at least she was willing to listen and learn.
A similar case happened recently. I was talking to my sis about the Fuzzie app. And I was telling her to download it, she can get cashback for stuff which she might find useful. Some restaurants recently are giving 55% cashback. That's pretty insane.
"Nope not interested."
What?! She didn't even hear anything yet.
The thing is... she hasn't even seen the list of merchants in the app, it may be useful, it may not be useful. Even before she knows anything, she has concluded that the app is not for her. And here, I'm wondering... WHY!?
She can just download the app, look through the merchants, if it's not for her, then delete. That's all ok. If it's useful to her then she can save REAL money by using it. It's not much effort. She uses Food Panda, they give 30% cashback! That's like 30% discount on food purchases. I know she takes Grab sometimes, 25% cashback. Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, etc...
(*These cashback rates are available during certain days, some days have normal cashback, some days have bonus cashback.)
I just don't get it, it's not like we have much to do when we visit our parents on weekends so she could easily have downloaded and have a quick look through it.
So in this case... I just don't get WHY?! I had a deal, I wanted to share with her, she didn't even want to listen... even though it's likely she would find it useful.
Or Eatigo, I've suggested this when I went to my aunt's place recently. They have discounts for off peak hours up to 50%, or even during more reasonable hours they give 10% discount. They include very common merchants like Crystal Jade. Almost everyone goes to Crystal Jade sometimes. When I told them that I was going to have an early dinner at 50% off, they were like "Wow" but when I started to give more details, they didn't show any sign of interest. And once again, I wonder... WHY!?
It's something that they do on a regular basis. They go out to eat. It's a new idea to them, there's potential savings. When I visit them, there's nothing we do except chat about stuff anyway, and yet, they aren't interested to learn how to save money. And it's not like they have to make significant effort. It's not like they have to buy something to get something in return. They don't even have to prepay anything. It's pretty much, book through this site, and get a discount when dining there. That's all, so simple...
So once again, I was puzzled...
This is pretty much similar to my previous post on credit cards. Where some folk just don't use credit cards even though they will be able to get rebates on them without any additional effort.
And time and again, this has happened, and they could be people who are very close to me, like my mum, dad, sis, close friends, etc.
And this has just puzzled me... cos I really do try to understand why people make certain decisions. Like I can even understand why people subscribe to gym memberships but only use it once a month. It's irrational and I think it's a waste, but I can still get why they do it.
I'm not saying it's wrong to not want to do/try certain things. Everyone has their choice, I get that, but usually, there is a reason behind it. Sometimes, the reason is obvious, and sometimes not so obvious.
Some people don't want to try to eat a scorpion. I can understand why. They probably imagine a scorpion won't taste nice.
Some people pay for subscription for services that they rarely use. I also can understand why. They like the convenience of having the services ready IF they want to use it. And that's good enough reason for me. At least I understand it.
But in the cases when, I suggest/recommend something where they might earn/save some money, and they aren't even willing to listen or give it a chance. Somehow, I just can't understand why. Like if they at least hear it out and make a conscious decision that it's not suitable for them. That's fair enough. But more often than not, they don't even want to listen to it.
And so begs the question... WHY!?
I just don't get it.
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