Did you see? The Jones family just bought a new car for Mrs. Jones. We should get a new car too. Our old one is approaching 50,000 miles and it’s brown. I don’t like brown cars. I saw an ad on T.V. yesterday that says that Global Lincoln-Mercury-Kia-Mazda-Ford-Chevy-Mercedes is having a sale. And, since I mentioned a T.V. did you see that Dave got a new 90 inch 3-D Plasma TV. Best Buy is selling those for only five thousand dollars. That’s a savings of almost $2000 off the normal price. Heck, with the money we saved, we could go on a cruise like the Taylors did last month.
It may not be that obvious, but keepin’ up with the Jones family is killing us financially. I watch it in my congregation and in my group of friends. I saw it at the company I used to work for. Whenever someone gets a new car, a new computer, a new T.V., a new cell phone, or some other new toy; several other people immediately go out and get one too. And then, since everyone else is doing it, then even more people have to go get theirs too.
The idea is: if they can afford it, then we can too. The problem with this thinking is that the Jones family is dead broke. They are buying all this stuff on credit. They are so deep in debt with credit card bills and car loans that they don’t see an end in sight.
Frankly, it all comes down to locker-room mentality: ‘Mine is bigger than yours.’ This ‘mine is bigger than yours’ competition is crushing them financially, and if you try to follow them, then you’ll be crushed too.
I used to catch a lot of flack at my old job for driving a Kia. I worked with a bunch of electronics geeks who thought a souped-up rice burner was the be-all-end-all car. If it didn’t have ground effects, a custom paint job, and a turbo; it wasn’t worth driving. You know, the Fast and Furious type. They can’t afford the payment, but they can get from here to the grocery store in 58 seconds. The dark, ugly truth, though, is that they are all drowning in payments. My Kia on the other hand is paid for.
My family has a nice big-screen television. It was given to us second hand. We saved for our computer. We are saving up a little at a time for a nice vacation next year. There is a lot less stress now, when it comes to paying bills than we used to have when we believed that debt was the way to get stuff. You can actually be at peace with money without being a millionaire.
There are two fallacies to look at here:
First – Debt is a tool to get ahead with. That’s just not true. Debt is an anchor that holds you back. Very few people are disciplined enough to really make debt work for them. And even the disciplined ones are only one financial problem away from trouble. Work hard, do without, scrimp and save to pay off that debt and you’ll be able to save and invest your money to work for you, not be its slave.
Second – Stuff makes you happy. Again, it’s just not true. You want to be happy, be debt free. Bills coming in that you don’t have money for are stressful. Credit collectors calling at all hours are nerve-wracking. All the stuff that you thought would make you happy may bring you some joy for awhile, but in most cases, it ends up in the garage sale tomorrow.
Learn to do without. Smile when the Jones’s show you their new car and tell you about their giant plasma. Congratulate them and then go drive home with your family and enjoy a movie together on your normal size T.V. Later, as you are able to walk in and plop down cash for the new toy that you saved for, you can smile again when you realize that they are still paying through the nose for the item that is now an out of date clunker, while you are paying less in cash for the newer, better model.
Don’t keep up with the Jones’ Those poor guys are broke!
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