After
having a flat tire repaired recently,
I opened my car door to find a largish sheet of paper set over the floor mat of
the driver’s side. At
first
blush, one would think that this is
their way of
saying, “Hey, we realize we’re pretty messy – it’s sort of your car’s fault –
but we didn’t want to get your car dirty and have to pay for a carpet
cleaning.” Good form. What was actually written on the paper is
what made me laugh: in big letters right smack in the middle were the words
“Eco Barrier”. Eco barrier? Are they trying to tell me that the mechanics
are wearing
hazmat
suits
and walking through toxic waste and biological ooze that would best be kept
from making contact with the carpet in my car?
If that’s the case, is a piece of bleached white paper really going to
act as a “barrier” against such an eventuality?
One word: marketing. Someone in
the corporate office was sitting there thinking, “There will be people stepping
into their cars, reading the words ‘Eco Barrier’, and saying, ‘Thank all that
is holy that they spared my car from possible toxic contamination.’ I should get a healthy raise for that little
piece of brilliant word play. That’s way
better than Bob’s idea of writing ‘Stain Stopper’ on the paper mat. Way too pedestrian!”
Marketing
makes
sure just the right word or words are used to paint an enticing picture. For
example,
that gas-guzzling, blind-spot-the-size-of-Texas vehicle that is so ever present
on the road isn’t called a PSW
(Pregnant Station
Wagon);
it’s called
an SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle). Although
the name may be completely off the mark, we want to feel like it perfectly
defines our tastes and who we are. But
seriously, who are
we kidding? If going to the grocery
store and taking up two parking spots – because you can – is an NCAA-sanctioned
sport, then okay. Or, if driving around
the block by yourself to a Pilates class is classified as a utility, fine.
Clothing
companies employ armies of wordsmiths to come up with thirty-seven different
names for the color red. They’re not
about to tell you that the shirt is “orangeish
red” – if they did, they could only charge you a mere fraction of the price
they’re trotting out there. The shirt
you are considering is “heather cayenne”.
“Heather cayenne? That color
could only come from blind monks who dye each yarn by hand high up in the Andalusian
mountains and carry them by mule down to the nearby town to sell in the market
square. At $274, this T-shirt is a
steal. I’ll take two.” That may not happen with anyone you or I may
know outside of Hollywood, but it’s the stuff of marketing folks’ dreams.
As
a result of numerous things that have happened and continue to happen in the
world, we’ve been “marketed” to believe that paying cash is best. I’m not here to tell you that buying things
with cash is evil and that you should put everything on a credit card –
certainly not. But there is a very good
argument to be made – and one that can be supported with data – that paying
cash for a house isn’t always the smartest move when one of your goals is wealth
building. With interest rates at record lows compared
against a very conservative investment strategy, someone who has enough cash to
purchase a house outright is better off taking on a 30-year mortgage and making
their mortgage payment out of the proceeds of their investments – and still be
better off. Added bonus: you get the tax
advantage of writing off the interest each year. Having your money more readily available
allows you more security to handle unexpected costs and emergencies; if you’ve
paid cash for the house, you can’t pay for those emergencies – your money’s “in
the walls”.
This
doesn’t apply to everyone, of course, but it is something a lot more people
should consider. Come in and we’ll help
map it out for you. If you want, you can
sit on an Eco Barrier – we can’t always vouch for who sat there before you.
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