Dangerous Mistake # 2

Mistake # 2: Keeping up with the Joneses

This phrase means striving to have all the new
things that your neighbors have and maintain a
certain social standing.

Here is some history on where this phrase came from:

I looked up the phrase on Wikipedia.org and found that it
became popular when a comic strip of the same name
was created by cartoonist Arthur R. “Pop” Momand.
The strip debuted in 1913, distributed by Associated
Newspapers.

By September 1915, a cartoon film of the same name
was touring US cinemas.

The strip ran in American newspapers for 26 years,
and was eventually adapted into books, other films,
and musical comedies.

Advertisers for the last century have also played
an important part in showing us the void that is missing
in our lives by not, “Keeping up with the Joneses.”
Over the years, we have been constantly bombarded
with these types of messages in every form of advertisement,
telling us that we are missing out.  Today, with the addition
of surfing the web and spending time on social media,
several hundred ad images cross our eyes every day.
Subconsciously, we want to play out these images ourselves.

We all know what the Joneses lifestyle looks like.  Owning that
nice big house with the three new cars in the drive way,
2 kids attended private school, eating out 5 nights a week,
the sailboat docked at the harbor and they just got back from
that 2 week vacation down in the Bahamas.   Life seems perfect for them.

From the outside looking in, it appears that the grass is greener
on the other side.

But how are they able to do it?

The answer, they are not living within their means.

The biggest problem with keeping up with the fabled
Joneses lifestyle is living beyond your means with a
mountain of debt and failing to save money for the future.

It’s simple to look like you have more than you do.
Credit cards, home equity loans, auto financing,
and bank lines of credit make it relatively easy for us
at any income level to spend money we don’t have.

Feeling like a hamster on a wheel, you can’t even
enjoy the good life because much of the time,
you are worrying or fighting with your spouse on how
you’re going to pay it back.  The pharmaceutical
companies love us with the rise in prescription
medication we take today.  We might as well throw
the bankruptcy attorneys and divorce attorneys
into the mix.

If you need further proof, it is amazing how several
of the Real Housewife Stars have filed bankruptcy
or for divorce.

The harsh reality is, the image will eventually come
due at some point down the road.  What will happen
when the bubble bursts and the facade is finally
revealed? The pain of having the beer income with
champagne spending shows up in the form of
bankruptcy, foreclosure, a ton of credit card debt
or continuously being broke.

Do you think the people in their life will accept them then?

That is the bad news…

Let me give you the good news…

We have the power to stop trying to keep up with the Joneses.
We have the opportunity to live life on our terms instead
of everyone else’s.

Your Terms, Your Life…

In the book, The Millionaire Next Store, author
Dr. Thomas J. Stanley reveals that the millionaires
he interviewed had a lifestyle that is quite different
then the perceived lifestyle as we know it. He found
they lived basic lives – they bought pre-owned cars,
purchased their suits at JC Penney, and liked to
shop for bargains. They don’t even drink champagne;
they like beer or whisky.  These net worth millionaires
were not worried about what others thought and had no
interest in letting the world know they were wealthy.

In my book, Money on Your Terms, I have a chapter
on the philosophies of MOYT.  One of the philosophies is:

Financial Independence is more important than
displaying high social status.

I personally like having financially freedom over
keeping some kind of exterior alive.  I found that
once I had financial independence I was
living the ultimate social status, anyways.

Here are some questions you might want
to ask yourself to avoid this mistake:

1. Are you purchasing based on keeping up an appearance?

2. Do you need to borrow money to keep that lifestyle going?

3. If you do not have the latest BMW in your driveway
and your children don’t have the hottest new I-phone
in their hands, do you consider yourself a failure?

It is time to put the horse before the cart with a lifestyle
that you can afford and forget about Keeping up with
the Joneses
because when you do an audit on the
Joneses financial statement you can see that the
bubble may burst at any moment.

Relieve some of that pressure off yourself.
Who cares what people think.

Live life – Your way on your own terms
and rest assured you will sleep well at night.

Remember when it comes to your Money,
it is on your terms and no one else’s terms.

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