Status Sickness: The Cost of Impressing Others

Hey Satsmate Stackers, 

We've fallen into the dangerous trap of trying to impress others at the expense of our financial freedom and mental well-being. Modern consumer culture has trained us to believe that our worth is tied to the brands we wear, the cars we drive, and the experiences we share on social media. Specifically, in this podcast I go over the following topics: 

• Designer handbags often begin in sweatshops before receiving final touches in Italy to earn the "Made in Italy" label
• Over-the-top parties thrown for social media content rather than genuine celebration drain resources better used elsewhere
• Exclusive memberships, country clubs, and luxury gyms often provide little value beyond status signaling
• Luxury cars come with higher insurance, maintenance costs, and anxiety about damage
• Financing concert tickets and constantly upgrading technology keeps consumers trapped on the hamster wheel
• High time preference behavior feels good momentarily but leads to long-term regret
• Purchasing luxury items places "golden handcuffs" on yourself, restricting future freedom

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Best Regards, 

SatsMate Stack

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Financial Disclaimer: Nothing stated in this video is a recommendation from SatsMate to buy or sell a particular security or asset class. It would help if you wisely considered your tolerance for risk, time horizon, and financial goals before investing. With investing, you risk losing money, always read an invest

Chapters

• 0:00 The Problem with Designer Luxury
• 1:24 Parties and Travel: Celebration Culture
• 3:10 Memberships, Cars and Concert Tickets
• 6:14 High Time Preference and Golden Handcuffs
• 9:34 Living On Your Own Terms

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey, what is up, Satsmate Stackers? In this podcast I'm going to talk about how people are truly sick trying to impress others. Now I'll tell you, I've been following this tariff stuff pretty closely. I've been following a lot of things that have been going on over the past couple of years in the economy and I am just shocked by what I'm seeing Now. The purses is one thing. We saw the tariffs come out and we saw how a lot of these hermes and louis vuitton purses are really made. They're made in these sweatshops, guys, and they're made in sweatshops in china. They get sent to italy for their final touch and then it's made in italy, right and so like.

Speaker 1: 0:40

I find it mind-blowing that people are willing to spend over $1,500 to $3,000 on a lot of these handbags, purses, designer clothes and stuff, when we all know how it's made. It's all made in the same sweatshops in China or Vietnam or Indonesia and our consumeristic society. We don't see. We don't look deeper than the surface, right. Once a new peel of the onion back, you can see how things are really made, and I'm sure you wouldn't be happy when you see that. So it's just mind blowing to me what the reality of the situation is and why people are always trying to impress others with these $3,000 handbags when they're really just made with slave labor in China.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Now, another thing I see a lot of people doing is hosting a lot of these over the top parties. They do catering, they rent venues, they do things for the gram and, look, I don't think there's anything wrong with throwing a party here or there. But I think there's some times where it's like what are you? What are we celebrating? You know? Like, do we need to celebrate every single weekend? Do we need to celebrate every single month? Like, maybe celebrate, you know, once a year? Or maybe if you get a big accomplishment completed, right? Why throw another party for another? You know birthday, right? I mean a lot of it can be like why don't we focus more on building and really working to make the best lives for ourselves and the people we care about, instead of a nonstop celebration? So I think a lot of there's a lot of people that throw over the top parties. Well, I think it's good to celebrate and live in the moment. Sometimes I also think there's situations where it can be over the top.

Speaker 1: 2:22

Now, my one vice and I'm not perfect, but my one vice is international vacations. I truly love traveling. I love these vacations, something I love to do, and I think you know I don't. I don't, I genuinely don't do it to impress others. Sometimes I like to be like, oh yeah, I've been here, I've been there, but I genuinely like the experience of travel, seeing the world and then getting to meet different cultures, try different foods, different beers from around the world, like it's a lot of fun and I love that. So, um, but you know I don't do it to impress others. I know a lot of people do. They'll, you know, do a big Snapchat, instagram reel where they are just traveling nonstop. You know, as I get older, I'm becoming less and less interested in social media and more and more interested in finding my passion and doing what I love.

Speaker 1: 3:10

So another thing I know a lot of people do is exclusive gyms, country clubs and memberships. Now, there is some value, I think, if you're going to actually use them to their full capacity. But oftentimes people will sign up for these things and they'll just do it as a status symbol, like, oh, I'm part of this club or I'm part of this gym, and it's like for what? Like what, are you getting the value out of it. So, for the country clubs, maybe you're getting value out of it. If you're doing sales right and you have to take clients to go golfing and try to close a deal, okay, maybe that makes sense. But like, are you just doing it to brag to your neighbors that you're part of this community? If so, cut it. What's the purpose of it? People don't care. People are in their own lives and, in the end, focus on your own financial autonomy and independence.

Speaker 1: 3:57

Luxury cars is another thing. I love vehicles and, it's funny, I love cars, I feel like more than most people. I've been a Forza player my whole life. I've always loved cars. My dad had a Cadillac Eldorado from the 60s, like I gen in my. My grandpa has a model, a model a from 1927, and so I genuinely love cars. And it's funny because, for how much I love cars, you would look at me and you'd be like this guy does not like cars that much. Because I drive a 2015 Honda Accord. Well, guess what it's paid. I don't owe a penny on it and I feel great. I feel great not owing other people money, and it makes me sleep better at night.

Speaker 1: 4:43

I do think people buy cars because they want to show off, they want to show how successful they are, they like the status of it. But in the end you know an accident can come out of nowhere or it can easily get dinged, or you know you pay higher insurance. You have to worry about people keying it. There's a lot of things that can happen. So I think don't buy cars to impress others. Buy cars because you like them and you're going to get the value out of them. Kind of the same thing with the sales. If you're taking out clients, maybe it's worth investing in that Tesla or Mercedes for 80 grand, but if you're just doing a corporate job driving into the office, what's the point? What's the point? So I do see a lot of people nowadays also doing the like buying front row Taylor Swift tickets, getting these really nice Coachella tickets.

Speaker 1: 5:34

You know, I think like we all have things we like to spend money on, but you know, if you have to finance your ticket and I did this on one of my previous podcasts but if you have to finance your ticket, maybe you shouldn't be going Like that's really sad that you know 60% of people finance a Coachella concert and many people are probably doing the same with Taylor Swift tickets front row for a thousand, two thousand dollars. Just try to avoid anything like that because at the end of the day, it sets you back in life and unless you really, really, really truly love the artist, like, is it worth it? I don't know, maybe that's just me.

Speaker 1: 6:14

Every other year, people also try to upgrade their phones, their laptops, their iPads, their devices, and at the end of the day, it's like they're keeping you on that consumerism hamster wheel. There's only so much, you know, improvements they're making every year. Right, some of these phones you get it's funny, it's been three years and I can't tell the difference between the new phone and this one that I have right now. Like, maybe there's a couple of tweaks, but they look exactly the same and I think it's getting harder and harder for them to make improvements on some of these phones now and it's like, why do you need to upgrade every year or two? Right, is it to show off? I don't know. Right, is it to show off? I don't know.

Speaker 1: 6:58

So I think, like you know, another thing people are looking at is, like I even think, fancy jewelry. That's like kind of crazy, it can get lost. I know people actually relatives, in fact that actually had their tens of tens and tens of thousands of dollars of jewelry stolen and it's like, okay, even if it wasn't stolen, even if it's like just misplaced or lost, like what? Like? Why do you genuinely like, love that jewelry? I don't know, it's just, it's a very materialistic thing, I think. So, um, yeah, most, most people, in my opinion. They just need to stay humble, stack sats, be chill and not try to focus and chase all these ways to impress others.

Speaker 1: 7:44

You know, now more than ever, we're living in a very high time preference society. We're all trying to pull our consumption forward and live for today, for tomorrow doesn't exist. But you know, the thing about being a high time preference is it feels good now. It's like it's like eating the donut or eating the McDonald's, like, of course it's going to feel good in the moment, but are you going to feel good four hours from now? Hell, no, you're not going to feel good, you're going to regret it.

Speaker 1: 8:11

Same thing with buying a nice car, living in a nice neighborhood, pay a high HOA, getting that nice luxury car or gym. It's going to feel good in the moment, but instead of it being like a four hour turnaround where you regret it. It'll be a nine month to two year turnaround where you're like, man, I shouldn't have done that, that set me back, I don't have as much freedom to travel, I don't have as much freedom to do this or that now and you just kind of put, you put your own golden handcuffs on yourself, right. And so we already are handcuffed enough as society with all the debt our society's in and our high taxes, and you know there's a lot of things that can keep us just completely under. But I think why do we need something else to do that? Right, if you can easily afford that Mercedes for 80 grand, do it. If you can easily afford you know, fancy jewelry or front row tickets, do it.

Speaker 1: 9:11

But I'm saying like there's, the point of this podcast is like people are sick trying to impress others, and I think it's so important to not care what others think and to do things on terms that suit you, because in the end you have to live with the decisions you make and friends come and go, acquaintances come and go and random people come and go. Don't ever do things to impress others and I think if you can live by that, you will be very successful. It's not sustainable in the end, uh, and over the long run, to sacrifice tomorrow for the expense of today. Plant those seeds, start working now and try to live the best life you possibly can. Anyways, guys, if you like this, feel free to share it. Leave a like comment. Also, feel free to also, if you want, share it. The links in the description. They've helped support my channel, my podcast. Feel free to click any of those and I will see you guys in the next one.