Five tools to lower your expenses when every dollar counts. The headline assumes you have dollars. Bold move.
Some genius at a financial media outlet decided the best way to help broke people is to recommend products they'll need to buy first. Tools cost money. You're essentially being asked to spend money to learn how to spend less money. It's like those job postings that require five years of experience for an entry-level position. The math doesn't math.
The article promises you'll get the best deals and save. Save what exactly? If every dollar counts, you're not saving, you're rationing. There's a difference. Saving implies you have excess. Rationing implies you're deciding between groceries and car insurance.
Here's what actually happens when your budget is strained: you don't buy tools. You don't subscribe to services. You don't optimize. You eat ramen and pray your check engine light is lying.
But financial media needs content. They can't just run a headline that says "You're F*cked, Good Luck." So instead they package desperation as empowerment. Five tools. Best deals. Take control of your financial future. It's poverty with a vision board.
The target audience for this article is someone whose budget is so tight that every dollar counts, but who also has the disposable income and mental bandwidth to research, compare, and implement five separate financial tools. That person does not exist. It's like writing a marathon training guide for someone with no legs.
Retail traders will still click it though. They'll bookmark it. They'll tell themselves they'll implement these tools next week. Next week they'll be reading "7 Ways to Rebuild After Bankruptcy" and the cycle continues.
The real tool that lowers expenses is making more money, but that's not an article, that's just called having a different life.
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
Leave a Comment