How to Stop Comparing Your Finances With Everyone Else’s
It can feel as though everyone else is doing better with money.
A friend has just bought a bigger house. Someone at work is going on another expensive holiday. The family you follow online seems to renovate a different room every month. Meanwhile, you’re looking at your bank balance and wondering whether you’re somehow falling behind.
Financial comparison isn’t new, but social media has made it almost impossible to escape. We’re exposed to other people’s purchases, homes and lifestyles every day — without necessarily seeing the income, debt, inheritance or financial compromises behind them.
Comparing yourself occasionally is human. Allowing somebody else’s lifestyle to dictate your financial decisions is where it can become expensive.
Remember That You Can’t See the Full Picture
It’s easy to compare visible spending because that’s the part of somebody’s finances we can see.
You can see the new car.
You can’t see the monthly finance payment.
You can see the beautiful kitchen extension. You don’t know whether it was funded from savings, additional mortgage borrowing or an inheritance.
You can see the luxury holiday photographs. You can’t see the credit-card statement that arrived afterwards.
Equally, someone who appears to spend very little might quietly have substantial savings and investments.
Unless somebody has shown you their bank accounts, debts, pension, income and wider financial circumstances, you don’t know their true position.
You’re comparing your complete financial reality with a small part of theirs.
Work Out What You Actually Want
Comparison becomes particularly powerful when you haven’t clearly defined your own priorities.
If everybody around you seems to be upgrading their cars, you might start thinking you should do the same — even if you weren’t remotely …
