I gotta admit that at times I’m quite the moron.

When asked my best friend what she thought of how I handled money, she pointedly told me that I’m “weird with money.”

“Weird? What do you mean weird. Do you mean I waste money?” I asked her.

“No… it’s just that you’re weird with money.” she told me without trying to hurt my feelings. “Sometimes you’ll make a fuss over a few dollars, but when it comes to some big ticket items, you’ll buy it without a second thought.”

Oh great, I’m a cheap ass, I thought to myself.

But that’s not the point my friend was making. Her point was that at times, I can be penny smart but dollar stupid.

Most of you know that there are a handful of decisions in life that’ll make profound financial impact for the rest of your life: your choice of home loan, auto loan, student loan, career path, and when or if you’ll have kids. These decisions can drastically affect the level of income you take home and the amount of income you’ll have left to save and invest for the future.

When you reach the point in your life to make these decisions, careful research and smart decisions can often yield significant savings.

I’ve often joked throughout the blog about stupid minor things such as the rebates that I forgot to mail in, or how $10 flew out of the window… but you should remember that the big impacts to your financial life are the big financial choices, like those mentioned above.

It’s not that I believe actions we take to cut minor expenses are a waste of time or silly to do; frugality in any sorts of level is all peachy with me. But if you spend the time to save on the minor expenses and neglect to do the full due diligence on the big ticket expenses, then you’ll be doing yourself a major disservice — and don’t forget, you’ll also be labeled as being “weird” with money.