The relativity of values causes us to use money irrationally. I go to the supermarket to buy a $15 pen, and the clerk smiles and says, “You can buy this pen for $7 if you walk 5 minutes from here.” Then, most people walk five minutes and buy a $15 pen for $7. But if you want to buy a $1,000 jacket and the clerk smiles and says, “You can get a $992 jacket in five minutes from here,” most people simply buy the $1,000 jacket. Reasonably, walking for 5 minutes equals the effort, and the profit of $8 is the same. However, people might go to a store that sells pens cheaper, but not for the jacket, because the discount rate is too low. In other words, the relativity of comparing values makes us act irrationally. The pen’s discount rate is 55%, and the jacket’s is only 0.8%. Yet, the total amount is the same for all $8, and the effort to gain that profit is identical. Attitudes and misconceptions about consumption influence how we build wealth. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
She laughed when God said she would conceive a son to the old Sarah. However, Sarah was pregnant and gave birth to her son Isaac, whose name means “smile.” The prophet Nathan rebuked King David in the words of God. David wept. The same God's words, some laughed, others cried. If Sarah's laughter was absurd, David's cry was repentance. The Bible rarely records people's unresponsiveness to God. You are at least worth the life if you can laugh or cry at something. Smile a lot and cry a lot. Life is short. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”