Some Americans are crying poverty with a $1,500 iPhone in one hand and an $8 Starbucks latte in the other. They say groceries are unaffordable, but somehow the restaurants are packed, airports are crowded and the neighbor just pulled into his driveway with a brand-new $90,000 SUV.
Apparently, we’re one bad away from bankruptcy and one Instagram post away from booking another trip to Cabo.
Consumer confidence is in the basement. Consumer spending apparently didn’t get the memo.
US ECONOMY NOTCHES REMARKABLE NEW RECORD, SPARKING CHEERS: GOOD JOB EVERYONE
In September, the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell to 81.9. Yet it has been reported that consumer credit and debit card spending per household increased 6.2% from a year earlier.
So, what’s going on?
ITS NOT THE ECONOMY, STUPID. AMERICANS VOTE BASED ON THEIR PERSONAL ECONOMY
As a financial advisor, I think the answer involves something more powerful than inflation or interest rates. Human psychology.
And there are five reasons our spending habits aren’t matching our economic anxiety.
WE ALL ARE DESPERATE FOR A FINANCIAL CHECK-UP. TIME TO SAY, SHOW ME THE MONEY!
Thirty years ago, you compared your lifestyle with the neighbor who bought a new Cadillac.
Today, you’re comparing yourself with 5,000 people on Instagram. There are even college degrees on how to become a influencer. None of them get lots of likes by telling you to eat ramen noodles and skip third-row seats for the latest rock concert.
Someone’s vacationing in Italy. Someone remodeled their kitchen. Someone bought a new Porsche. Face it. Someone is always doing better than you are. Or, it seems that way.
You’re comparing your everyday financial reality with everybody else’s highlight reel. Social media has turned keeping up with the Joneses into keeping up with the Kardashians.
Except the Kardashians can actually afford it.
3 BIG QUESTIONS TO ASK MOM AND DAD BEFORE YOU MAKE A MAJOR FINANCIAL COMMITMENT
Remember when people saved money before buying something? Its called layaway. Today, almost anything can be financed.
SKIP TWO YEARS OF COLLEGE DEBT AND GIVE YOUR FAMILY A LIFETIME OF WEALTH
That $1,200 purchase? Just four easy payments of $300. The vacation? Monthly installments. The furniture? Zero down.
We’ve become experts at making expensive things look cheap by dividing them into smaller payments.
GEN Z IS WORKING HARD, BUT THE ECONOMY IS PUTTING THE AMERICAN DREAM OUT OF REACH FOR MANY
The problem isn’t necessarily buy now, pay later. It’s forgetting how many things you’ve already agreed to pay for later. And eventually, later shows up.
Not everybody spending money is financially struggling.
Higher-income Americans with subs
