Only a few products would meet your needs
From just a handful of products a few decades ago, the number of financial products has grown to thousands today. Do we need all of them? Can we even make a proper choice? While choices have certainly made our life more interesting, they have not made it easier. In fact, several research studies have shown that our mistakes get compounded when the possibilities of conflict arise among the options; therefore, exercising choice becomes difficult. In case of financial products, too much choice is definitely harmful.
Then there is false advertising and foolish articles in the media to make us lean the wrong way. The result is wrong and harmful choices. This leads to mental fatigue, wrong decisions and harmful consequences. For example, choosing the wrong insurance product can be disastrous. You may end up with low cover and low savings. More choices require more information to make informed decisions. According to the book Gut Feelings by Gerd Gigerenzer, an experiment was conducted on shopkeepers in a supermarket in California. There were two tables, one with six varieties of pickles and another with 24 varieties. Expectedly, it was recorded that 60% of the consumers stopped at the table with more varieties of pickles, while 40% stopped at the one with just six varieties. However, when it came down to the actual purchase, surprisingly only 3% of all the shoppers bought one or more jars at the first table, while a significant 30% of the consumers bought at the second table. Clearly, having fewer products to choose from was better. Not only does it benefit consumers but producers too, as they are able to sell more. When consumers are faced with fewer choices, their brains perform better as less information is involved which leaves ample room for processing it and translating into action.
As a greater variety of products flood the market, the importance of branding, promotion and advertising becomes paramount. Consumers get lured by flashy advertisements. Producers understand this and begin to spend less effort on product design; there is scant regard for addressing consumers’ needs. There’s a human tendency to start comparing products. People want ‘more’ and ‘better’ than the next person; they want only the ‘best’ product. This prompts people to start purchasing and accumulating needless stuff which, in turn, hurts their future financial situation. If one does the tedious homework of comparing, in reality, there are only a few products which are suitable for our needs.
Similarly, there are hundreds of mutual fund (MF) schemes which share common characteristics and have overlapping features. For example, you will notice that ICICI Bank, Infosys and Reliance will all figure among the top holdings of several schemes. There are 19 infrastructure funds and half-a-dozen gold funds. This herding mentality makes the MF landscape even more complicated. How does the consumer decide which MF scheme to pick? This is akin to choosing a sari in varying shades of red colour; more or less similar with similar benefits. Except that choosing a sari is a harmless action; choosing a wrong MF is not.
By asking yourself the question: “What do I really need?” you will surprise yourself—you actually need less, not more. With fewer options to evaluate, you will be a much happier person; you’ll spend more time with your loved ones and have more money at your disposal which can be used to invest wisely. Thus, you ought to make an effort to choose a few items that suit your needs. This will increase satisfaction over the long term and lead to less regrets. How does one apply this to the world of money? All you need is just two-three equity schemes, a term life insurance, a health plan and tax-saving instruments. Tune out the rest and you will do much better, if not the (mythical) best.
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