Issue #009: A Black Friday Warning ⚠️

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👋 Hey Money Peeps,

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should be fully aware that Black Friday is right around the corner (as in it’s literally this upcoming Friday). And whilst retailers prepare to take advantage of millions of people through their marketing tricks, I want to help you take advantage of them instead!

That’s right, there are a series of not only mental shifts but also practical tips that are guaranteed to save you anywhere up to millions of pounds this Black Friday… well, that is if you were actually gonna spend a million pounds in the first place, but you get my drift.

So let’s take a look and save some money!

P.S. Hoping you haven’t already made loads of early Black Friday purchases prior to reading this newsletter as that would be A-W-K-W-A-R-D.

📈1% Better Every Day

It’s Time To Shop…Or Not 🛍️

First things first, I want to share something with you that might blow your mind:

"98% of Black Friday 'deals' aren’t the cheapest price of the year.”

I mean, that statement is almost too hard to believe, but you can check out the study conducted by Which? here.

Now that we know Black Friday is mostly a scam, let me show you how you’re going to level up this Black Friday:

1. Use a Price Tracker 📈

This hack is as simple as the title. There are plenty of extensions that you can add to your browser that will quite literally show you the history of a product's pricing. That way, you can tell if you’re actually getting a discount or if the brand is having you on.

For Amazon, try camelcamelcamel.com 

For general shopping, try pricespy.co.uk 

2. A Quote from the G.O.A.T. 🐐

Martin Lewis came out last year with arguably my favorite quote when it comes to Black Friday shopping:

“If you were going to buy it anyway, and it's half price, you've saved 50%. If you weren't going to buy it, but do it because it's half price, it's cost you 100%.”

Make sure you read that TWICE!

3. Build a Wishlist ⚒️

In response to that quote above, which you kindly read twice, try building a wishlist of items you would want to buy on Black Friday, should they actually be discounted. That means when you come across a random product that has an ‘amazing’ discount, you won’t make an impulse purchase you (or your wallet) regrets.

4. Delay Delivery 📦

This is a new trick that I recently heard, and it particularly works on a platform like Amazon where delivery dates are flexible. When checking out, change the delivery to a couple of weeks from now. That way you’ll give yourself time after the emotional high of Black Friday to figure out if you really need that item you bought. If you make the sensible decision that you don’t, you can now just cancel the purchase rather than having to go through the sludge of returning the item.

P.S. It might even save you on return fees.

5. Don’t Get Scammed ❌

Sound obvious? Well, last year the average scam stole £970, and the largest age demographic that was hit was between 25-35 year olds (aren’t they meant to be the tech-savvy ones?). Anyway, the best way to avoid a scam is with the following checklist:

• Is the price too good to be true? Probably a scam.

• Are you being pressured aggressively? Probably a scam.

• Did the deal come via email or advertisement? Go directly to the company's website yourself rather than clicking!

• Never heard of the website? Go to Trustpilot.

6. Look at Price, NOT Savings 👀

One tactic that sellers adopt is that the month before Black Friday they hike up their prices. Why? So that when they drop them back down, they can add that graphic where they cross out the ‘original’ price and make you think you’ve found an incredible deal. Should be illegal in my opinion.

How are you going to solve this problem? Go get yourself one of those fancy trackers I mentioned above (or any other that works) and start to fight back.

7. Consider Cashback/Other Discounts 🤔

Want to know an amazing feeling? It’s when you find an amazing Black Friday deal, and then you add your student discount on top and it works, before you purchase the item through a cashback site to add a further discount. Now while I’ve personally never experienced the TRIPLE discount, I have done the DOUBLE discount a few times in my life and it was terrific.

So if you have access to something like Unidays, StudentBeans or HotUKDeals, remember to use it!

And for cashback, you can always try Quidco and TopCashback!

HAPPY SHOPPING, EVERYONE!

👋 Outro

See You Next Week

Thanks again for reading another issue. I really want to make these as good as possible for you, so as always:

PLEASE HIT "REPLY" TO THIS EMAIL WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR TOPICS YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO COVER - I WILL DO MY BEST!

Till next time!

DISCLAIMER: None of the above is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly education and should not be taken as investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and always do your own research.