Why You Feel Poor Despite Making Good Money

Comparison truly is the thief of joy.
And when it comes to money, it's a bitch.
I see it everyday with my clients. People are working harder and harder and constantly feel
behind.
We are constantly telling ourselves “I should be further ahead”.
So, If things feel “harder” you may not be wrong.
They are different for sure.
Previous generations had way less money, and way less stuff yet they somehow felt way more
financially secure than we do today.
This is not because they were smarter.
And certainly not because things were easier.
It is because they couldn't see inside everyone else's wallet and they didn't have 47 different
ways to fuck up their financial future.
Let’s take a look back.

The 1950s: When Money Was Simple (Maybe Too Simple)

Picture 1955. Your financial planning consisted of: get a job, stay at said job, get a pension.
Retire.
Done.
You kept your money in the bank.

Maybe some bonds if you were fancy and your retirement plan was called "the company takes care of it."
You didn't choose between a a variety of registered and non registered accounts.
Families had one car.
One house.
One TV.
One telephone bolted to the kitchen wall.
Success wasn't a spectrum, it was a checkbox.
You either had the standard package or you didn't.
But what made that era's contentment possible was thatyou had no idea what you were missing.
This simple life was the great American dream and it was attainable to most.
Your comparison set was your street.
Maybe your local shopping mall parking lot.
Rich people existed somewhere behind gates you'd never see.
But it didn’t really matter because you had what your neighbours had and you had what you needed.

The 1980s: When We Started Watching Rich People (And Got
"Choice")

The 80s is when the wheels started to come off this shit.
The 1980s said "hey, want to see how rich people live?" and introduced us to shows like
"Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."
Now suddenly wealth wasn't theoretical it was on your TV every week.
You had Robin Leach walking you through “champagne wishes and caviar dreams” while you ate Hamburger Helper.
(Do they still sell that shit?)
To make matters worse, the 1980s also introduced the concept of "financial freedom" in the
form of choice. Fucking choice.
On a side note, I know understand why ultra religious people find life simple.
You have endless rules to follow and limited choices to make.
The shift from standard company pensions to pension choices meant you were suddenly
responsible for your own retirement.
Congratulations!
You're now a portfolio manager with zero training.
And to add fuel to fire, credit cards went mainstream, showing up on every campus and in the mail.
Yes, like just arrived.
(Who needs a job to pay them off anyway?)
Yes, just arrived.
EVERYONE SPEND!!!!!!
Suddenly you could look successful before you actually were successful.
Lease the car. Finance the furniture. Worry about it later.
“Don’t pay a cent events”? had us screaming “how the hell did a year go buy so fast and why didn't I save any money to pay this off?”
You suddenly had so many choices and absolutely no roadmap for making them.
For the first time in North American history, your lifestyle and your actual income could be
two completely different things.
And your financial future?
You were told to worry about it. But no actual instruction how to.
Good luck!

The 1990s: When Everything Became Performance Art

The '90s took that crack between the haves and the have nots and blew it wide open.
MTV Cribs walked you through the high end homes of people barely older than you.
Tech nerds became millionaires at 23 because they knew HTML.

To this day I don’t understand HTML.
Mansions exploded across suburbia. t.
Next to what you now deemed, “your shitty house”.
Luxury brands went "accessible" Well not accessible enough to actually afford, but accessible
enough to desperately want.
And your investment multiplied like bunnies.
Mutual funds, index funds, growth funds, value funds, international funds, bond funds.
Online trading platforms launched. E*TRADE and told you to take control of your financial
future from your living room.
Except, ummm, still nobody taught you how.
The tech bubble bursting is exactly what you get when you give people unfettered access to investments with a dash insane hype and zero financial education.
Fortunes were gained and lost.

The 2000s-Present: When The Fire Got Gasoline

Then came the 2000s, and just when you thought it could not get any worse, you were wrong.
Reality TV said "watch regular people get rich for no reason."
Social media turned everyone you've ever met into a lifestyle broadcast. I am still shocked to this day when people video themselves on the toilet.
Instagram influencers could now show you exactly what you couldn't afford.
TikTok financial gurus could tell you exactly how you were fucking up your money.
And your investment choices went absolutely insane.
Now you're supposed to know about:

• Traditional investments (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, REITs)

• Crypto (Bitcoin, Ethereum, or whatever new coin some influencer is saying they made
  millions in)

• Robo-advisors (algorithms managing your money... somehow?)
  NFTs (remember those?)

• Alternative investments (commodities, precious metals, peer-to-peer lending)
  Real estate crowdfunding

• High-yield savings accounts (which bank though? There are thousands)
  Fractional shares

• Options trading (puts? calls? what the fuck?)

Every day someone on the internet is telling you about the investment opportunity you're
missing.
The crypto bro says you're an idiot for not being in Bitcoin.
Someone else is telling you that your are wasting your money if you are not in index funds
and you're an idiot for trying to beat the market.
The real estate guru says you're crazy if you are not for not house-hacking.
On and on.
Of course influencers only show you the good so you believe only good happens to everyone.
Everyone except you.
But that is bullshit.
People don’t get brand deals by showing that they are leveraged to to the tits people!
Smile for the camera everyone.

The Paralysis of Infinite Choice

Here's the kicker.
Previous generations had almost no financial choices and limited information.
While you have infinite choices and unlimited information.
And that my friend, is exactly the problem.
Your grandparents didn't have to choose between 47 different investment vehicles.
They didn't wake up wondering if they should trust a robo-advisor or hire a human financial
advisor or just YOLO it into index funds or maybe crypto or perhaps that startup their cousin mentioned.
OMG stay away from the cousin!
They didn't have to decide if they should trust the Reddit thread that seems really confident about this particular stock?
My point?

All the choice in the world with zero financial literacy (not to mention a toxic inherited
money story) is just fuel on the comparison fire.

Not only will it make you feel like shit, it is a great way to lose money along with your sanity.

You can’t just blindly follow the sheep in front of you.
You may be comparing yourself to the friend who "got in early" on crypto.
The person bragging about their rental property income (while hiding the negative cash flow and tenant nightmares)
And even if ...
Even if the grass is legitimately greener in someone else’s lawn.
It is not your grass.
You will only have peace from worrying about your own damn grass.

So What Do You Do?

• Start by figuring out what wealth actually means to you. Maybe you don't want all that
  stuff anyway. Figure that out first before chasing someone else's definition of success,
  what does a good life look like for you?

• Turn off the noise. That may mean unfollowing the influencers that make you feel like
  shit. That may mean unfollowing certain friends that make you feel like shit.

• Stop taking financial advice from people with zero financial education or experience.
  There are plenty of good people in the industry.

• Stop thinking you have to pick one strategy. Diversification is a winning strategy for a
  reason.

And if you take away nothing else from this article, let it be this:

There is no such thing as easy, quick money.
Warren Buffett isn't one of the richest people on earth because he was the best investor who
ever lived.

He got there because he stayed calm in turbulent markets, started early, stayed invested, and
never put money into things he didn't understand.

Wealth is simple, boring, and consistent.