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What’s the best way to feel like you’ve wasted money?
Go on a shopping spree spending hundreds of dollars on items you don’t need.
That feeling of buyer’s remorse after making a purchase is one we’ve all experienced at least once. Although it can be painful in the moment, it is an important reminder that not every purchase is worth our hard-earned money.
Whether paying extra for something that turns out to be useless or signing up for services we never use, we make many poorer choices when it comes to spending.
Someone online asked what items or services profit off stupid people. Here are the most popular responses.
#1. High-End, Brand-Name Baby Clothes
Many adults love having the best brands on their bodies at all times, and this may be something that they’re willing to shell out the extra money for.
However, some of these adults also want their baby to be dressed in the best, spending hundreds if not thousands on baby clothes.
This is arguably one of the biggest scams to fall for, even if you might not see an issue with it.
With an adult, most clothing can last a while as long as the clothes are well-cared for and your body doesn’t change much.
But with baby clothing, your child will most certainly outgrow it in a matter of months.
Unless you have that kind of money to throw at high-end clothing throughout your child’s life, it’s unsustainable.
#2. Therapy Products That Offer Mystical Results
We’ve all seen them. You may have come across a healing bracelet that is said to help you dispel negative thoughts or a crystal that will make you feel warmer and safer when you’re around it.
At a glance, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
However, when you dig a little deeper, you realize there’s something wrong with these types of products.
They’re offering consumers the opportunity to improve their mental health and lives with a basic purchase that categorically does not do either.
It might even dissuade you from seeking the actual support you deserve.
Always skip out on products that make promises they can’t fulfill and reach out to a licensed professional who can help you.
#3. NFTs
Those in the cryptocurrency space are quite familiar with scams.
Crypto’s popularity, easy investment models, and factors like FOMO make it easy to convince people to put their money into things that will never pan out.
One of the hottest crypto concepts that was released recently was NFTs.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, can be best summarized as crypto-collectibles.
You purchase it and hold the exclusive right to said digital collectible.
The problem? It didn’t quite work out that way.
Most of these collectibles are worth next to nothing, and the ones related to images meant that someone could easily take a snapshot and own that same thing.
NFTs have cooled down lately, but they still trick people into spending money.
#4. Fat-Free Foods
Eating healthier is a worthy investment, but not all foods advertised as healthy actually are.
An excellent example of this is fat-free foods.
Many fat-free products help others reduce their calorie intake and improve their health.
But these products often taste terrible, so companies will put in a ton of sugar or salt and extra additives to encourage you to purchase them repeatedly.
Not all fat-free products are a scam, per se, but you do need to research your food to know exactly what you’re getting and what manufacturers may not be telling you.
#5. Lottery Tickets
The chances of winning the lottery are slim to none for most people.
However, being able to rest easy and forget about the 9-to-5 grind is priceless.
Unfortunately, this dream often leads many to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on lottery ticket upon lottery ticket, hoping one day they strike it rich.
It’s not a scam, but it is something you should strongly reconsider if you’re spending that much on lottery tickets.
A few dollars here and there are worth it for some.
But spend too much, and you’re just paying others to continue losing.
#6. Homeopathic Remedies
We’re surrounded by alternative medicine.
While growing research supports some alternative healing products, many do not.
But once someone is convinced, it becomes very easy to whip out their wallet, hoping this could be the miracle cure for all their ailments.
Never trust something that hasn’t explicitly been proven to treat a specific condition.
It’s easy for others to hock homeopathic remedies that don’t work by leveraging your frustration with modern medicine against you.
There’s likely something tangible that you just haven’t been prescribed yet.
#7. Bottled Water
We have a natural distrust of tap water.
Many places around the world and even in the country don’t have the quality tap water that they need to lead healthy lives.
But for the most part, you likely have healthy water pumped into your home by the city.
This is why bottled water is arguably one of the biggest scams.
Bottled water companies convince you they have the best quality water, even though that’s not always true.
Some companies take water from municipalities, bottle it, and make you pay more to get the same water you’d get right from the tap.
There may be an element of convenience to it should you find yourself in a place without your reusable water bottle and need a drink.
However, bottled water is something that you might wish to avoid altogether if you like saving money and not getting scammed.
#8. Essential Oils
Essential oils have developed an unsavory reputation tied to the wide range of companies selling essential oils and pitching them as life-changing extracts.
Don’t get me wrong, essential oils do have uses.
Whether you want to make a room smell better or sniff something warm and inviting when stressed, you might want a few bottles around.
That said, it’s essential to avoid companies that overcharge you for these basic extracts and make false promises about what they can do.
Don’t go breaking the bank to buy a few bottles of oil.
#9. Private Label Products
Have you ever seen an influencer trying to get others to purchase branded merchandise?
You might think it’s worth what they’re charging.
But most times, these private-label products are incredibly cheap.
Many business owners who sell private label products slap a design onto a cheap product, market it, and then ship it out to their buyers.
That’s it. They’re typically just cheap products you could get online with the added branding.
Unless you’re interested in supporting a content creator’s life, you could easily find something better than what they’re selling with ease.
#10. Always Internet-Connected Appliances
The switch from manual appliances to those constantly hooked to Wi-Fi is growing.
Unfortunately, that means people are buying more and more of these devices without knowing the major downsides.
Besides being inherently more costly, you also run the risk of not being able to use certain features properly during an update, when your Wi-Fi is down, or when there’s another error that you can’t easily troubleshoot on your own.
Most people don’t need a smart home, and these products are just tapping into a need for better and newer tech without considering what homeowners want: a seamless user experience.
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This thread inspired this article.
I have over 15 years experience in the financial services industry and 20 years investing in the stock market. I have both my undergrad and graduate degrees in Finance, and am FINRA Series 65 licensed and have a Certificate in Financial Planning.
Visit my About Me page to learn more about me and why I am your trusted personal finance expert.