Car Insurance, Loan, Purchase, Lease Decisions

New article about making big decisions

According to an article from February 17, 2006 published in The Boston Globe, some psychology scientists are advising us not to think rationally when making big decisions. Here is a link to the article

Link to article!

Quoted in the article Ap Dijksterhuis, a professor of psychology at the University of Amsterdam, recommends that the consumer follows their gut when making big, complex decisions like buying a house, or a car, etc. According to the research team he had led, people can not make big decisions in a rational way
Well, I think this is a strange conclusion. This is precisely what we are working on developing tools that help us, the consumer, to make those big decisions in a rational way. Why should I base my decisions that have the impact to the extent of tens of thousands or hundred of thousands of dollars based on following my gut

I would rather know why and how I am making a decision. If I know and I make a mistake, I will know how not to repeat the same mistake next time. And if I use a tool that helps me handle multi criteria and multi option decision in a rational mind, why would not I make a better decision than just “following my gut”.???

In a situation where time is of essence and we have to make a decision in a manner of a few seconds, following your gut could be the best choice, but I cannot imagine that being the case when we have minutes, hours or days to finalize a decision.

What do you think?

Day to day decision making

We all making decisions every day. Sometimes they are big ones, sometimes they are simple ones. What would you think are the decisions you make? Well, lets see some:

My vehicle is in a need of repair;Should I repair it? Will I face other repairs soon? Or should I just think about replacing the vehicle

Should I buy or lease?
What vehicle should I buy?
I am looking to buy a new TV. But what should the TV type be? Flat panel or a CRT one?
My mobile phone plan is close to expiration. What should I look for in a new plan

These are some examples. In reality we face decision making every day. In some cases we feel that making the decision is easy, while in other cases it is a mind boggling task;. And to make things even more complicated, in some cases we have to make a decision while taking into account the opinions and perspecitves of more than just one person

So, by now you are probably convinced that life is quite complex. On top of that we want to make the best decisions possible, but yet, we do not want to spend days or months worried whether we are making the right one.

This is where we could really benefit from some tools / help aids that can make our life easier. Academia has spent several decades developing mathematical models and theories to assist decision making, but we need a set of tools that simplify the process rather than adding more complexity.

So, how would you feel about a set of tools that will help you make decisions in a fast, efficient, well informed manner, and with a good balance with the people you care about
Let us know what you think.
In the mean time we are working on some tools already. Stay tuned — we will make those available shortly.