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Mistaking Percentages and Dollar Amounts

Let's say that you would drive to the next town to buy groceries. You know from experience that the same items bought every week cost you $200.00 locally, but the superstore in the next town, a 30 minute drive, can give them to you for $180.00. That's a savings of 10%! Now let's say that you need a new washer and dryer. Locally the cheapest deal is $2,000 but an appliance store in another town (also 30 minutes away) has it for $1,900. That's a savings of only 5% percent so you decide that you're just going to buy it locally. Good decision?

No, it's a totally incorrect decision. In the first instance you decided that one hour of your time was worth a $20.00 savings but in the second case that your time was not worth $100? Remember that costs and benefits are absolute. Don't make the mistake of thinking in percentages.

Comments (1)

Read your yahoo answers and came from there.
neat and effective post about percentages.
Will drop by often.

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on December 6, 2008 10:40 AM.

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