1 00:00:00,300 --> 00:00:02,665 Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Stacey Hyde and I'm back with another 2 00:00:02,766 --> 00:00:06,092 episode of Better Financial Health in 15 Minutes or Less. 3 00:00:06,092 --> 00:00:10,566 And today I'd like to talk about financial FOMO, fear of 4 00:00:10,627 --> 00:00:14,432 missing out or, in this case, comparing your money situation 5 00:00:14,473 --> 00:00:15,394 to someone else's. 6 00:00:15,394 --> 00:00:18,402 And why do we compare? 7 00:00:18,402 --> 00:00:22,589 Humans are wired to compare ourselves against others. 8 00:00:22,589 --> 00:00:26,254 Why do you think we scroll Instagram or Facebook or look 9 00:00:26,339 --> 00:00:30,870 around and advertisements are geared to make us feel like 10 00:00:30,890 --> 00:00:33,241 we're missing out if we don't have the latest thing? 11 00:00:33,241 --> 00:00:38,838 And you have to remember that Instagram and Facebook, that's 12 00:00:38,878 --> 00:00:40,020 someone's highlight reel. 13 00:00:40,121 --> 00:00:43,325 You're not seeing what's happening in real time, although 14 00:00:43,325 --> 00:00:49,273 you may see a lot of new clothes, a fancy new car, a 15 00:00:49,313 --> 00:00:53,905 really cool vacation or somebody just won big on crypto, and 16 00:00:53,926 --> 00:00:56,292 you're thinking, well man, I should have done that. 17 00:00:56,292 --> 00:00:59,908 But are you really looking at the hidden cost? 18 00:00:59,908 --> 00:01:04,147 Because financial FOMO can cause us to make bad decisions 19 00:01:05,010 --> 00:01:10,865 to purchase something or invest in something because we feel 20 00:01:10,885 --> 00:01:12,109 like we're going to be missing out. 21 00:01:12,109 --> 00:01:16,126 But the question to really ask yourself is what do I want? 22 00:01:16,126 --> 00:01:20,090 You know, I see people with new cars, but really, at the end of 23 00:01:20,090 --> 00:01:21,340 the day, I'm not a car person. 24 00:01:21,340 --> 00:01:24,087 I just want a reliable car that's going to get me from 25 00:01:24,128 --> 00:01:29,832 point A to point B and hold all my junk, and my husband likes to 26 00:01:29,832 --> 00:01:30,756 tell me I have a lot of it. 27 00:01:30,756 --> 00:01:34,164 So that's neither here nor there, but that's important to 28 00:01:34,224 --> 00:01:34,424 me. 29 00:01:34,424 --> 00:01:38,953 So that's what I'm going to judge my vehicle on, and so you 30 00:01:38,993 --> 00:01:39,900 need to understand that. 31 00:01:39,900 --> 00:01:44,167 And if you are a car guy or a car girl, that's okay too. 32 00:01:44,167 --> 00:01:48,453 You just need to realize that you need to carve out money in 33 00:01:48,493 --> 00:01:49,796 your budget for that. 34 00:01:49,796 --> 00:01:58,171 And what's crazy is there have been studies that show that 35 00:01:58,313 --> 00:02:02,126 somebody would rather make $70,000 when their friends make 36 00:02:02,268 --> 00:02:04,855 $60,000 than to make $100,000 when their friends make 60, than 37 00:02:04,855 --> 00:02:06,739 to make a hundred when their friends make 120. 38 00:02:06,739 --> 00:02:10,628 Basically, we just want to make more than everybody else. 39 00:02:10,628 --> 00:02:14,444 It's not really about us, but what I'm going to tell you to do 40 00:02:14,444 --> 00:02:22,025 is look to you, what is important to you, and so what 41 00:02:22,064 --> 00:02:25,050 you've got to do if you're going to have a financial win. 42 00:02:25,050 --> 00:02:28,534 Are you moving toward what you want? 43 00:02:28,534 --> 00:02:33,205 Are you moving towards getting closer to the point where you 44 00:02:33,225 --> 00:02:36,669 become work optional, or when you can take that vacation, or 45 00:02:36,710 --> 00:02:40,614 you have the money set aside for your kids college, or you have 46 00:02:40,674 --> 00:02:42,376 the money for the down payment on the house? 47 00:02:42,376 --> 00:02:45,087 What, what is your financial goal? 48 00:02:45,087 --> 00:02:49,268 So and that's what's so important, because you want to 49 00:02:49,429 --> 00:02:53,805 anchor back to that I'll tell you a case of a time where I 50 00:02:53,844 --> 00:02:58,798 didn't anchor back to mine and I gave in to peer pressure. 51 00:03:00,091 --> 00:03:06,342 My kids were in late elementary school and I knew we needed a 52 00:03:06,361 --> 00:03:06,883 minivan. 53 00:03:06,883 --> 00:03:09,772 I just did but I couldn't. 54 00:03:09,772 --> 00:03:13,372 And so we went and we put a deposit on one and then somebody 55 00:03:13,372 --> 00:03:15,539 made fun of me and I backed out of it. 56 00:03:15,539 --> 00:03:18,356 The Honda minivan was so popular at the time. 57 00:03:18,356 --> 00:03:21,008 I was able to get my money back and I bought another vehicle. 58 00:03:21,008 --> 00:03:21,406 It was awful. 59 00:03:21,406 --> 00:03:22,181 It did not accomplish what we needed. 60 00:03:22,181 --> 00:03:22,793 It was able to get my money back and I bought another 61 00:03:22,771 --> 00:03:22,932 vehicle. 62 00:03:22,932 --> 00:03:23,091 It was awful. 63 00:03:23,091 --> 00:03:24,997 It did not accomplish what we needed. 64 00:03:24,997 --> 00:03:26,536 It was hard to get in and out of. 65 00:03:26,536 --> 00:03:30,278 Nobody liked it, but I had to live with it because I couldn't 66 00:03:30,319 --> 00:03:33,334 get rid of it for at least three years because it just didn't 67 00:03:33,373 --> 00:03:34,157 make any sense. 68 00:03:34,157 --> 00:03:37,036 And then I went and got the van that I should have gotten in 69 00:03:37,056 --> 00:03:39,282 the first place and loved it. 70 00:03:39,282 --> 00:03:41,365 Yes, it was a minivan in the first place and loved it. 71 00:03:41,365 --> 00:03:41,810 Yes, it was a minivan. 72 00:03:41,810 --> 00:03:42,753 This is my PSA. 73 00:03:42,753 --> 00:03:44,372 You've got little kids. 74 00:03:44,372 --> 00:03:47,094 A minivan's great, because you're not gonna have to worry 75 00:03:47,115 --> 00:03:49,877 about them, opening the door into the car you're parked next 76 00:03:49,918 --> 00:03:53,474 to when the spots in the parking lot are too small to begin with 77 00:03:53,474 --> 00:03:53,474 . 78 00:03:53,474 --> 00:03:56,175 But that's just my PSA. 79 00:03:56,175 --> 00:03:58,758 It also gets better gas mileage and is cheaper to insure. 80 00:03:58,758 --> 00:04:04,222 So you have to understand does it meet your needs? 81 00:04:04,222 --> 00:04:06,395 And so you've got. 82 00:04:06,395 --> 00:04:09,967 And everybody's needs are different and everybody's goals 83 00:04:10,008 --> 00:04:11,332 are different, and that's okay. 84 00:04:11,332 --> 00:04:14,923 So how can we prevent this financial FOMO? 85 00:04:14,923 --> 00:04:19,836 Limit your scrolling Just another reason that being on our 86 00:04:19,836 --> 00:04:24,435 phones is something we should do less of and celebrate your 87 00:04:24,456 --> 00:04:25,017 milestones. 88 00:04:25,017 --> 00:04:28,237 If you had set a goal to pay off your credit card and you got 89 00:04:28,237 --> 00:04:30,622 it paid off, that's something to celebrate. 90 00:04:30,622 --> 00:04:34,819 The other thing is automating your savings and investing so 91 00:04:34,858 --> 00:04:36,622 you don't have to think about it every week. 92 00:04:36,622 --> 00:04:41,199 Just make it automatic, because our brains can only make so 93 00:04:41,259 --> 00:04:45,033 many decisions at a time before they just get tired, and so if 94 00:04:45,074 --> 00:04:47,639 you just automate it, you don't have to think about it again. 95 00:04:47,639 --> 00:04:49,651 And then find your money tribe. 96 00:04:49,651 --> 00:04:53,620 Find people that like to do the same things you do, that have 97 00:04:53,661 --> 00:04:54,543 the same values. 98 00:04:54,543 --> 00:04:58,538 Maybe they like to be outdoors, maybe they enjoy sport, maybe 99 00:04:58,579 --> 00:05:00,343 they enjoy going to free concerts. 100 00:05:00,343 --> 00:05:03,720 We have a place here at Memphis called the Everton Park Show. 101 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:07,319 They have all sorts of free concerts, some very low cost 102 00:05:07,399 --> 00:05:12,697 ones, and that's a way that you can get out, enjoy music, hang 103 00:05:12,716 --> 00:05:18,377 with your friends and also have a fun entertainment on a 104 00:05:18,517 --> 00:05:19,661 weeknight or a weekend. 105 00:05:19,661 --> 00:05:23,680 So find your group, go forward. 106 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:29,060 And so what you want to do is you want to focus on your 107 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:33,495 scorecard, not somebody else's, because when you look at that 108 00:05:33,615 --> 00:05:37,517 fancy thing they're posting, you only see the tip of the iceberg 109 00:05:37,517 --> 00:05:37,517 . 110 00:05:37,517 --> 00:05:42,014 You don't see that they have all these payments and they're 111 00:05:42,053 --> 00:05:46,115 freaking out because their account, their checking account, 112 00:05:46,115 --> 00:05:49,562 has $5 in it and they don't get paid for another eight days. 113 00:05:49,562 --> 00:05:51,334 You're not seeing that. 114 00:05:51,334 --> 00:05:53,543 You're just seeing the flashy thing they posted. 115 00:05:53,543 --> 00:05:58,740 Or when they bought that house but then something went haywire, 116 00:05:58,740 --> 00:06:01,771 like they had to have a new roof and all of a sudden they're 117 00:06:01,771 --> 00:06:03,716 all upside down and they're worried they're going to be 118 00:06:03,757 --> 00:06:04,459 foreclosed on. 119 00:06:04,459 --> 00:06:06,216 You're not seeing that. 120 00:06:06,216 --> 00:06:10,800 So make sure that you're not caught up in somebody else's 121 00:06:11,242 --> 00:06:11,682 iceberg. 122 00:06:11,682 --> 00:06:16,180 Focus on your own and focus on making your garden grow. 123 00:06:16,180 --> 00:06:19,098 So thanks so much for tuning in . 124 00:06:19,098 --> 00:06:22,642 This has been another episode of Better Financial Health in 15 125 00:06:22,642 --> 00:06:23,404 minutes or less.