Do you really save money on those Black Friday specials?

Black Friday is coming up on 29 November, but shops are already cashing in on the buying frenzy by offering special prices for the whole month of November.

But are these specials really that special and do you really save money?

As the hype around Black Friday creates a frenzy of excitement, most of us wait in anticipation for the annual extravaganza and all its tempting specials. As the marketing machine kicks into gear, advertising creates the desire in many of us to splurge on products we cannot resist buying although we often do not even need them, Steven Amey, head of intermediated distribution at Ashburton Investments, says.

The pull is so strong that, according to Forbes magazine, Black Friday global sales in 2022 reached a staggering $65.3 billion (about R1.2 trillion). But what would you see if you could zoom out and look at your Black Friday spending over time compared to what would have happened if you invested that same money?

He uses these three special characters to illustrate his point:

Mr Freddy Friday, the illustrious feel-good shopper

Mr Debt Interest, the capital destroyer