Thought 62: For any decision, you need information

You are required to take decisions on trivial as well as vital matters – all through your life. Before making a decision, however, you should carefully weigh every bit of information available to you, because “your decision is only as good as the information you have”. Therefore, there is a dire need for the right information.

For instance, you need to insure your home and your household things against fire, theft and burglary. You need to insure your car, jewelry, life, too. You need medical insurance too nowadays, if you are self-employed. Which insurance company gives better deals? If you do not do the market research properly, you stand to lose a lot of money, which is a yearly recurring loss. There are any number of such matters over which you have to constantly gather information and keep it in your computer files.

If you do not want to throw away your hard earned money, then, which grocery store, for instance, should you prefer. If you pay more, as little as $ 20/- per week, it could cost you over an extra thousand dollars a year, which you can ill afford - and that is only for the groceries. There are many more such items that we need for the home on a regular basis. For the middle class, the money supply is always limited. Therefore, for them, every penny saved is a penny earned.

Where to buy a house - and from which builder. A vital decision. What car to buy? You may lose a lot of money if you are not careful. Which school for your children? A very important decision. Want to change your job? An extremely vital decision.

Which TV cable company? Which long distance telephone company? Which internet service provider? Each one of them claims that he is better than the others. Which restaurant? Which holiday place? You need to do research on these and on several other related topics. A wrong decision can be expensive - and may even have dreadful long term consequences, like the schools for the children, change of job, buying a house, and even marriage etc. I have known people who gave away their daughters in marriage to men who are already married and did not know about it.

The next thought is about “Focusing on effects only”