$5.7 Trillion Cost of Twelve Worst Consumer Mistakes Is Exposed

What are the twelve most disastrous mistakes American consumers make?

One consumer advocate has researched and ranked them. Their total estimated cost amounts to a staggering $5.7 trillion per year. Astonishingly, that averages out to a yearly dollar drain of $19,000 for every man, woman and child.

The shocking facts are exposed in "The 12 Biggest Consumer Goofs," a new Special Report from the Consumer Freedom Alliance. It ranks the most damaging mistakes being made by American consumers, based on the best available estimates from a variety of consumer organizations and governmental agencies.

"These mistakes account for a little over one half of America's $11 trillion GNP, making these mistakes a virtual must-know for all Americans" commented CFA president David Snell. "Consumers can tremendously benefit in many areas, from crime prevention to career advancement."

According to this report, money management mistakes account for approximately one trillion dollars of the total. Disastrous personal decisions including medical and safety mistakes cost consumers $2.2 trillion yearly. Crime is the biggest problem, including fraud and the failure of consumers to protect themselves adequately: Its yearly cost is a whopping $2.5 trillion. "Inevitably this type of study requires some approximations, but the overall conclusions are not in any serious doubt" said Snell.

Report details

Anyone can read the list of consumer mistakes at http://www.smartconsumertips.com/12online.htm The descriptions of these "dirty dozen" mistakes include links to the those help sites judged best by the CFA, along with enlightening quotations from famous historical figures. Readers can visit http://www.herovote.com/ to read quotes from five famous historical personalities and vote for the most inspirational
quote.

Other writers have suggested lists of the worst mistakes, but this is first time that such a list has been substantiated by careful and quantitative research. Anyone can visit http://www.smartconsumertips.com/12proof.htm to view the supporting evidence.

"The 12 Biggest Consumer Goofs" is released to the public domain and can be freely used or excerpted. The CFA encourages reporters, webmasters, bloggers and other members of the media to download free web content based on that report.