The Illusion of Wealth

Are all of these TV stars and Tiktok Influencers we see flaunting wealth, actually wealthy, or is it all a facade? We'll also talk about the impacts of doom spending, the increasing debt of Gen Z & Millenials, and more. Hope you enjoy!

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Transcript

Hi. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Unrelatable podcast. I first have to apologize for the absolute torrential downfall of my 1 year episode. I had no idea that the audio and quality of that was so bad until I actually finished recording the episode. And I have to be honest, I was so so tired and so exhausted that I said, who cares?

I'm uploading this anyways. Do I have a little bit of regret on that front? Yes. Yes. I do.

Hannah from episode 1 would be shocked if she knew that just 1 year later, the 1 year the 1 year anniversary episode would be it literally sounded like I recorded it in a parking garage. And so to all of you who listened to it and got through it, I appreciate you because, hey, it was a really good episode, and I think that's why I'm sad about it. But it's okay. Moving forward, welcome to today's episode. Today, we're going to be talking about the illusion of wealth.

We'll be talking about wealth, obviously, and debt and comparisons. This is because I recently finished the most recent season of the TV show called Selling Sunset, and it was awful. I mean, that's no surprise because it's reality TV, but the other seasons were at least entertaining. And I know that I actually did an episode after the last season of Selling Sunset. I think it was a a weekly Friday recap, if I'm remembering right, and I think I included that episode with the Hunger Games summary of what I thought about the most recent Hunger Games.

So it was pretty random, but I did touch on it and how selling sunset is, like, the most current day hunger games because it's like the capital. You know, they're dressing in the most ridiculous outfits and flaunting the most wild amount of wealth, but we know that not all of it is real. And it really just solidified, in my mind, the illusion of wealth, which I think we can all agree that we see so much of on TikTok, on Instagram, specifically with constant makeup or clothing hauls, the never ending consumerism, and simply comparing ourselves. I think that it has been really awesome though because there has been an introduction to people admitting to their debt and talking not even admitting because it's not like you have to admit to your to your debt. It's not as if it is anybody's business but yours.

But there have just been people that are being more open about it and their journey of getting out of debt, so that has been nice. There's also been an increase in de influencing, and so we're going to talk about it today. We will start with Mega Wealthy, and then we're gonna end with the wealth that we see in our everyday lives. And what is that wealth? What is what is the debt as well as doom spending and how it has gotten so bad?

And I think you're going to enjoy this episode. And so with that, I just wanted to say welcome back to another episode of the Unrelatable podcast. Okay. So one last thing before I jump into today's episode, I moved to Salt Lake City. Yeah.

Surprise. The details are in my hurricane Helene episode, I'm pretty sure. If not, then I might need to do a weekly Friday recap. And so, anyways, I am downtown, and that means there's a lot of noise. And while I never want to have a repeat episode, like the bad audio quality of my 1 year anniversary of the podcast, I do know that some things are not unavoidable.

And so, yeah, just keep that in mind as as you listen to my episodes as I'm controlling everything I can control at this point, but some things are gonna be inevitable. So, anyways, jumping into today's episode, we're gonna talk about performance of wealth versus reality, and I'm going to draw some comparisons from the most recent season of selling sunset because I feel like, you know, using it as a little bit of a case study is pretty relevant to our times today. Even with shows like the bachelor, the bachelorette, those women are wearing gowns that are so expensive, and they're wearing a new one once or twice a week. And so we really see this extreme this extreme case of wealth everywhere that we are. And so I'm gonna be using Silling Sunset, the most recent season today.

And so if you don't want any spoilers, then maybe skip forward. I mean, I'm just gonna be talking about very specific specific things. So let's jump into it. There's this girl named Alana, and part of the theme of this season is the fact that she owns a town. And it's actually not even a town that she owns, but we go into these episodes, and they go and visit her town.

And it's as if she owns an entire community, a huge piece of land. Of course, that's kind of a big deal, the fact that she does own what is called pioneer town, but it's actually an old movie set for old westerns. And so it's actually really an attraction. And, of course, you know, she's probably a multimillionaire. I think her and her husband own many retail shops in her town, and so I think that's the way that they pay for the town.

Honestly, we have no idea, but the way that it was portrayed was that she was like this mayor of some sort and that she is doing so good because she owns this town, and it's just a huge exaggeration. Another exaggeration comes from Amanza, which we talked about her during the last recap of selling sunset. And, again, today is not a recap of selling sunset. These these are just the examples I'm I'm using today. But, essentially, in the last season, she had the she had on the most insane, luxurious I don't know if I wanna say luxurious outfits because if I was living in top luxury, I would not be wearing those outfits, but they were absolutely insane.

And she essentially sold a painting in this newest season, and it says that it's sold for 18,000 when it was really sold for $75100. That's still incredible to sell it for 75100, but why are we inflating it to be, you know, 13 to 18000? I don't know. It's just not realistic, and it's not real. And even though I know that reality TV isn't real, you'd think they wouldn't straight up lie or fabricate things, but they do.

And maybe I'm the last person or the yeah. Maybe I'm the last person to find this out. But, yeah, it was just really interesting. And, actually, even in the last season, Amanda had so many conflicting stories about her finances because one of the agents, Chrishell, ended up firing Amanza from her design job. Chrishell was going to have her design her place, and then she changed her mind.

And Amanza was really upset, and she said that her kids are going to be starving because she was fired from this design job. But then a few episodes later, she goes to an open house with a Chanel basketball as a purse. A Chanel basketball. And now we know, of course, that those things and by the way, a Chanel basketball purse is anywhere from $7,500 to 15,000 or so it's showing on Google right now. So this is a huge amount of money.

And, yeah, we know that they are renting a lot of their outfits and their bags. But come on. You know, either your priorities are wrong here or they're just trying to fool us viewers, and it's just really, really crazy. And I'm gonna give you 2 more. So there's another person named Bree, and she's driving this $200,000 I think it's a Lamborghini.

And she has an episode that she brings the the owner of the Selling Sunset Corporation. I don't know if it's Jason or Brett, but she brings them to her place to get a estimate of how much the repairs will be on her home. And I was actually shocked when I saw her house. Of course, it's you know, they she has a small yard and whatnot. She's in LA, and it's still probably a $1,000,000 home, but she is talking about her financial struggles and being really afraid of how much her home repairs are going to cost when she literally drives a $200,000 car.

And she's also explained on, I think it was TikTok or Instagram about how she can't afford a night nurse. And it's it's like, okay. This is there's just so many inconsistencies. Right? So many inconsistencies.

There's not a lot of transparency and especially with the way that their commission works. I mean, we open a show and we see that it says the commission is $1,000,000. But the past agents have exposed that they're only taking 1.75% home from that sale. And so it is just absolutely ridiculous how inflated it is. And drawing this to really everyday examples that we can see in our lives is social media and social media's role in perpetuating these this kind of wealth and the illusion of wealth.

I mean, we see constant hauls and luxury lifestyles, which reinforces the idea that wealth is equated to consumption when it's not. You know? It really it really isn't. In fact, I'm sure a lot of you have read the book, The Millionaire Next Door, but but that's what it talks about is the fact that most people that look like they're ultra rich are actually the ones that are not. And, you know, it's no secret that doctors I'm pretty sure that's the fastest the fastest or the number one profession of individuals that I think they declare bankruptcy or something the quickest because they're used to living this lavish lifestyle and buying all the boats and all the cars and all the huge vacations and business class or first class flights, and they actually can't afford it.

So then when they retire, they lose everything. And so I think social media has such a big psychological impact on many people because we're comparing ourselves and our lives to curated wealthy personas. That's what they are. They're personas. They're not even real most of the time, and that's why it is so extremely wild to me when I still believe, you know, when I see a show like Selling Sunset, and I think, oh my goodness.

That's crazy. She just made $18,000 off of a piece of art. I'm probably never gonna be able to sell my art for that much. Well, first of all, Hannah, you don't even you don't even sell art. Second of all, she didn't even make 18,000 off of that.

She made 75100. And so it's unfortunate, but we really have to take everything by, like, the 2¢ that it is. We just cannot believe everything anymore. And so there was this submission that I wanted to read about our life experiences and kind of how that can shape our perception of wealth. So this comment said, in college, I worked for a government subsidized retirement facility.

Most of the people who lived there were women. There was an interesting pattern where you could quickly distinguish the woman who had been poor their whole lives from women who became poor when their husbands died. For the woman who had always been poor, that home was one of the nicest places they've ever lived. For the woman who had been middle class or rich, they were never happy with the circumstances. And so I think that the perception the perception of wealth and happiness that we have really, really depends on our baseline expectations and our life experience.

I think I've shared before that oh my gosh. This story is so embarrassing and horrific. But when I was I think I was 15 I think I was 15 years old. Well, Black Friday came around, and I really wanted this pair of boots. And the boots, I think, were $70, and that was, I think, $25 over our Christmas budget.

And so I ended up having to pay the 20, $25, you know, that the boots were or more to pay for the boots. And so then Christmas comes around, and my parents set the expectation of, hey. You know what our Christmas budget is for each kid. And they had 5 kids. So it's like when you have a lot of kids, of course, your budget is a lot smaller, and that is how our Christmases typically were.

I mean, my parents worked really hard. My dad worked really, really hard to give us the holidays that we had, but, you know, we were low income. And so it was something where I wake up Christmas morning, I open up my one and only Christmas present, and it's these boots where I contributed 20, $25 to. And I had the I had the, the audacity to be upset. And it was because I was comparing myself and my Christmases to everyone else around me.

I had friends where I would go over to their house after Christmas, and they would show me every single thing they got. And it was easily, I don't know, 10 times more than I had or, you know, the the amount was just so high. And that might have been, you know, my own fault for being friends with kids whose parents had a lot of money, and that's not something that is their fault either. Like I've said in previous episodes, I want to be able to give a great lifestyle to my kids too, of course, not to spoil them or to create a, you know, a really spoiled person. But my friends, I mean, they didn't act spoiled.

They were just, you know, showing me their Christmas gifts. And I was so unhappy and ungrateful that I ruined Christmas. I just threw the biggest fit, and it was not fair to my parents. It was not fair because they had told me the expectations and the realism of our Christmas from the beginning. And so I think that, you know, having that the baseline of wealth and life experience really does shape the way that we then jump into the world.

If you're used to a certain lifestyle, it's going to be so hard for you to budget and to live off of your own means when in today's world with inflation and the rising cost of everything since, you know, COVID happened, it's just absolutely crazy. And so, you know, jumping into now the the part with debt. I mean, debt and the illusion of stability, people take on so much debt to sustain these luxurious lifestyles. You know, Brie pretending that she's wealthy, but she can't afford a night nurse is a prime example. And all of these people just renting outfits to seem wealthy or, like, they have more.

And I'm not saying that renting outfits is bad. In fact, I'm pretty sure there is a really, quote, unquote, affordable option where you can literally pay a $100 a month. I think it's a subscription. And you can pick 4, 5, or 6 pieces where they will send you, you know, different shirts, tops, pants, coats, maybe even shoes every month, and you just send them back. And it's essentially you know, you're renting these clothes, and it's obviously not as luxurious as I'm speaking about about the woman on Sewing Sunset.

But, you know, it's still a nice option if you are someone that really values fashion, but you don't want to be spending 100 of dollars a month. And, yeah, I don't know. I just it is something that I have to keep in mind, especially when getting on TikTok is, you know, of course, there's people that can afford it, and they do buy it. And we'll talk about that later, but it just makes everybody accrue debt due to the lack of income or financial safety nets because of the pressures to to keep up. In fact, Gen z has had more than a 15% increase in debt since 2013 with men with millennials, to use I can speak, having an 8% increase.

And this is terrible. It is it, of course, is not only due or not, you know, primarily due to people trying to keep up. It is due, you know, to the low minimum wage and not being able to keep up with inflation. But then we have the added pressures of what we see on social media, and so it just spins us all through a huge loop. And, you know, boomers will say, you know, don't buy iced coffee or sodas as if that $5 latte is making everyone broke.

Obviously, it's not. In fact, like I was saying, I'm gonna throw out some more stats for you. So adjusting for inflation, 22 to 24 year olds in 2013 were making $52,000 a year. Today, that's down to 45,000. Okay?

The debt to income ratio for the same age group, 22 to 24 year olds, was 11.6% in 2013, and now it's 16%. That is a huge increase. Even the median median income fell by 5.85.8 percent for 15 to 24 year olds. And this is why the youngest generation is having the toughest time. And so with boomers walking around having no empathy or no sense of reality, it can be so frustrating to to Gen Zers and to millennials too because we are all I mean, I don't wanna say we're all struggling with this, but, I mean, can I assume that it's something that all of us have in our mind, whether you own a home and you're paying down the debt of your home, or you're trying to save up for a home, or you're trying to pay off your student loan debt?

There is just so much financial anxiety and the struggle for stability these days. Most people don't have safety nets, and most people don't have parents financially backing them. And then it pushes people to credit card use, not to mention health care, rising housing costs, student loans. There is so much happening and so much that adds to this. I mean, I've seen and heard it so many times that it is such a far fetched dream now for so many people to buy a house.

And it's actually insane because we were paying $22100 in Asheville to rent a 2 bedroom apartment, A 2 bedroom apartment. Now paying $1300 for a 1 bedroom apartment in Salt Lake City that's literally 700 square feet. And what is my mortgage for my house? It is $1100. I mean, that was bought in 2020, so, technically, that's not even realistic anymore either.

And, obviously, we don't have to pay that. We have renters in there, but it is just absolutely insane. Of course, we can't skip over tuition. I know I mentioned it briefly. But in 2010, the average tuition was 15,000.

And in 2020, it's jumped to 21,000. Now adjusting for inflation, in 1970, the equal the equal amount was 10,000. And so that's still a huge jump. It's a huge jump. And so, of course, this means that college enrollments are dropping, but it also means that many college kids are working during school, which increases stress and anxiety even so much more.

And I won't stick around with these stats forever. I know that that's boring. Right? But I mentioned that because it it adds to the anxiety, and it increases doom spending. Now what doom spending is is, of course, splurging on luxury goods or even just goods that we can't afford to soothe our our despairs over finances and financial struggles.

And there's actually study oops. Sorry. I lied. I'm adding another study in here that shows that 35% of Gen z doom spends and 43% of millennials. Why?

Of course, the dopamine. Everyone wants a little slice of dopamine, and hitting the purchase button and the checkout button and all of that gives that to you. Not to mention everyone wanting a lifestyle like they see on TikTok and Afterpay making it easier. You know, those buy now, pay later options that are out there, it is not helpful, and it's making debt climb so much quicker. There was actually a study.

Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry. Study who? But there's a thing called fatalistic tendencies. And there was a study on people who have fatalistic tendencies, which shows that they have little or that they believe they have little or no control over future outcomes anyways, which then leads them to throw their hands up and say, well, what's the point?

Why worry about it? Because what is the point if housing costs are, you know, 5 to 600,000 and you're getting a 10 foot backyard? What is the point? You know, half of a $1,000,000 when I was a kid, oh my goodness. Can we just can we just think back to when we were children and teachers asked us what our dreams were?

And these teachers were all, you know, in their twenties or thirties and already had their first home that cost anywhere from 60,000 to $200,000. And we thought, oh my goodness. I'm gonna be a millionaire. And when I'm a millionaire, that means I can buy a house that's half a $1,000,000. And I'll be a millionaire so quick because I'll save my money and invest, and I'll get out of college and immediately make $70,000.

And it's like, so many things about that is not realistic anymore. I remember when Caden and I were looking to buy our first house, and there was a condo in Logan Logan, Utah that was $70,000. It was a townhouse as, you know, similar style to what we ended up buying later for 200,000. But, you know, 200,000 is still a good a good deal compared to what they are going for today, but this was $70,000. Too bad we were 19 years old and still couldn't afford it.

Too bad we didn't have health care and had to pay I think it was $30,000 cash for surgery. Yep. That was really cool. I don't even wanna talk about health care because health insurance, I you know, if anyone has any recommendations for this, please let me know. Because it is November, insurance enrollment is here now, and I think it's about time that I get health insurance.

I mean, I'm not getting any younger, and I just want to be smart and be prepared. And so if anyone has any suggestions, send them my way immediately because, you know, I'm pretty sure it's gonna be over by the end of November. Okay. Anyways, so, you know, of course, people are upset and thinking, what is the point? Why worry about it?

I'm never gonna own a house anyway. So, yeah, I'm gonna go to brunch each weekend with my friends. And I think that it's just been forcing people to take on more debt, to live the same lifestyle that previous generations lived. And that is so, so not fair. It is so unfair.

There was this comment that I that I read that said, I have a good paying job. I make a $100,000 a year, no kids or significant other, and I prioritize living life to the fullest. Traveling, going out to eat, going out with friends 4 days a week, and having nice things. I drive a luxury car and live in a vibrant expensive neighborhood of an East Coast city. I have a lot of school debt, and I have credit card debt, but nothing can take my experiences away from me.

I love traveling, and I love being around people, trying new restaurants and breweries and wineries. I have zero incentive to pay off my student loans, but I am on a pay program where I pay basically nothing a month for x amount of years. So long story short, yes, I have a lot of debt. But if I died tomorrow, what good was it that I spent my thirties paying off school loans? If I die tomorrow, I'd be happy and people would know that I did everything I wanted to do every day.

YOLO. Right? And I can't say I blame this individual. I mean, I hope that they don't get any any health care, you know, expenses because that kind of stuff can just sink ships, and I can't say I blame them. I really I really can't.

I am lucky that I don't have any student loans, but that's because I didn't go to college. So I also don't have a college degree. So is it luck, or is it stupidity? I don't know. It could definitely go either way.

This other comment said, I'm 28. I'm still living with my parents, and I refuse to go into debt. I travel only once a year, and that's it. So I think that it's definitely valid to have the to have the anxieties or the pressures of wanting to keep up. Because when rent keeps climbing and you have tuition, spending money on on nice things can soothe your despair.

It really can, but only for a short time. Okay? Only for a short time. I'm not condoning this behavior. Wait.

Not condoning or promoting. I'm not promoting this behavior. So I'm gonna switch gears a little bit. I saw a quote today, actually, that really stuck with me, and it said that men back in the day only saw 5 to 10 drop dead gorgeous women or models in their entire life, in their existence on this Earth. They only saw 5 to 10.

But now, thanks to the Internet, they have access to 100 of 1000 of women. Their Instagrams, videos, photos, OnlyFans, etcetera. And this got me thinking, you know, just like beauty, our perception of wealth has completely shifted. Because back then, you only really compared your financial situation to your neighbors or people in your immediate circle, to your friends, maybe to people you went to high school with. But now with social media, I mean, we are constantly bombarded with images of people with their luxury homes, videos of, hey.

Come design my home with me. Come shopping at these designer stores, and really extravagant lifestyles. You know? Hey. We're gonna go live in Hawaii for 1 month and bring all of our 18 children.

I mean, go you. Right? But it's like we've been conditioned to believe that this level of wealth or beauty is not only attainable, but normal. And it's not. You know?

It's really not. Just like how some men might chase those unattainable beauty standards, many of us doom spend trying to keep up with these curated versions of wealth, and it's all a part of the same illusion. And then we get to those who can actually afford it. I know. Don't turn off this episode just because that might be annoying.

There are some people that can afford it, so they do it. And then there are others that can afford it that don't. I think we've all heard the stories of the people who wear the same t shirt. You know, they have 10 black t shirts or 10 white t shirts, and they only wear that every single day. And they don't drive a nice car.

They drive a beater car, but they are richer than anyone that they meet. And so I think that it's just something where we can't assume. It's not really safe to assume that when you see someone driving a luxury car or eating at really nice restaurants that they are in a lot of debt. Because at the end of the day, we simply don't know. Wouldn't it be nice, though, to look at everyone and say, oh, well, I'm not gonna be like you, and now I'm not jealous because you're probably in debt.

Unfortunately, we simply don't know, and it is none of our business. Yep. There's a comment that said, I'm 34, and I'm a millionaire. I've never made more than $80,000 a year. Just a lot of saving and investing for 17 or so years.

And I think I've mentioned this before, but it's Dave Ramsey. Was he the financial guy that nobody really listens to anymore? But I remember I was driving to I think it was in between classes when I was in college, and he had on 2 teachers. They were married, and they were millionaires. Even with the lower salary, which we know teachers receive, which they should be paid the highest if we are depending on them for the education of the children that are eventually going to grow up and be leaders in the world.

Like, come on now. I know we all agree agree with that, but, he was interviewing them. And they had spent their lives saving and doing modest gifts, modest Christmases, modest vacations. And they were now millionaires, and they were able to give back to their children and help them throughout college. They had invested.

And if there's one thing I want to learn in 2024, I feel like it is wait. Oh, I meant to say next year. Next year is not 2024. Next year is 2025. It's officially gonna be 5 years since COVID happened.

How is that real? I don't know. Anyways okay. I lost my train of thought there. But in 2025, I want to learn how to invest.

Yes. That's what I'm saying. And I have mentioned my travels in my traveling episode and the ways that we've paid for that and how you can't compare yourself to everyone because we are all living in extremely unique situations from one another. I don't have children, obviously. If you're listening to this, you probably already know that because either you know me in real life or you've listened to another episode where I've mentioned that because of the financial aspects.

And that is a huge amount of savings. That's a huge amount of money that I'm not spending compared to those who have children. And having a double income with kids, you know, being or sorry, no kids, Being dinks is something that you simply can't compare yourself to. Even a single income no kids is something you can't compare yourself to. Because like I said, none of us know each other's situations at the end of the day, and that's why we are completing this episode with the fact that comparison is the biggest thief of joy, and we have got to stop it right now.

I feel like this is my 10th time saying that I have mentioned this before, but it's true. Comparison is the thief of joy, and it's such a simple phrase, but it's something that resonates so deeply, especially in today's hyperconnected world. I mean, think about it. How often are you scrolling through Instagram or TikTok, and then you suddenly feel inadequate or jealous or what is that word called that's not jealous? It's higher envy.

Envy. Right? Like, it actually ruins your day when you get on social media because you compare yourself so much. You know, you might have been perfectly content with your day, but now you're wondering why doesn't my life look like that? Why am I not that successful and rich?

Why do I not have that type of style and those clothes? I know I've mentioned oh my gosh. I am never going to say that phrase again. Sorry. Who cares, Hannah, if you've already mentioned this?

But I have practiced not following people that make me feel envious or jealous because it is the simplest, most easy way to allow your brain some cushion, Allow your brain some reprieve from feeling those emotions. I mean, tying it back to everything that we've talked about, the illusion of wealth, social media just amplifies it. It does. And so try to find a good balance with social media. And I did a social media episode over over a year ago now, or maybe it's exactly a year ago now.

I think it was my first was it my first episode? It might have been my very first one, if not my second one. But I kinda talked about how I balance social media, and that hasn't changed. I still balance it in those ways, and I actually use it for motivation sometimes, especially recently when I've been in the gym and I need motivation. I will just get on Instagram on my fitness account because that's curated more towards fitness.

And I would just see all these the coolest women lifting super heavy, super big muscles, super motivational music, and that gets me hyped. And your social media should get you hyped. It should excite you. I mean, I'm saying, like, if you have social media. If you don't have it, obviously, don't go and get it for these reasons.

But it should be something that influences you to be better, not to spend more, not to spend more. And luckily, there are influencers or or maybe creators out there that focus on de influencing and telling you, no. You don't need a 10th blush. You don't need to shop the Sephora sale. I mean, think about it.

If today, you had no intentions of buying anything and you got on your phone and suddenly you're checking out from TikTok shop or you're checking out something on Amazon because you saw somebody else wearing it and you thought they looked super cute, so you want to look super cute. Think about when you woke up. Did you have the intention and the budget to pay for that? Most likely not. And something I like to practice is adding everything to my cart and then leaving it in there.

And if in a week, I still want it, then I will double think about it again and think, okay, Hannah. Do you actually want this, or are you just thinking about it and ruminating about it? And if it is something I want and ends up being pricey, you know, I will add it to a list in my phone of things that I would like, and then maybe that's something that I ask for Christmas or gift myself for Christmas because it isn't normal to spend as much as we do. And but at the same time, budgeting really allows you the money to spend where you want to. Maybe you don't care about traveling.

Maybe you're happy to stay within your 4 walls or the 4 walls of your state or wherever or your city or wherever you're at. So you do spend money going out for drinks or for soda or to spend time with your friends. And maybe you don't, and you spend that traveling abroad. We'll never know, so stop comparing yourself. So thank you so much for listening to today's episode.

Just know that if you see someone's designer bags or luxurious vacation or their perfectly curated home and suddenly your perfectly nice weekend feels inadequate, just know that it's not normal. Know that that is just the, really, the 2% that we're seeing. Of course, it's gonna be a video that pops up on your feed because it's really popular. Why? Because most people don't have it, and they want it.

And back in the day, that comparison was so limited. It was so limited. I know I already said this, but comparing yourselves, it really only happened with your neighbors or coworkers or family. Wealth and success were mostly private things. If your neighbor got a new car, yeah, maybe you'd feel a little envious, but that was the extent of the exposure.

And now we have an entire world in our back pocket. We're not just comparing ourselves to to the Joneses. We're comparing ourselves to celebrities, influencers, these TV TV stars, and strangers halfway across the globe, and their parents could even be funding their lifestyle. You know what I mean? I'm not saying to assume that, but it's just another it's just another thing that is good to good to remember.

And it's important to surround yourself with a good sense of normalcy. It's important to try to lower the constant comparison and the inadequacy that you're feeling. Because even when you are doing well, you might still not feel like you're doing good enough. You know what I'm saying? I feel like this goes directly into into doom spending and into debt, obviously.

I mean, there's so many reasons why there's debt right now, and, of course, a lot of it has to do with the insane inflation with health care, with student loans, and the fact that a lot of us are just kind of sent into the world with no idea on how to budget or how to invest. And those two things, I just feel I wish those would have been taught to us in high school. I mean, I remember when I had to take out my first student loan, it was only $3,000, but still, $3,000 is a lot of money. And thankfully, it's paid off I paid it off, I think, within 6 months of dropping out of college. But it's just really annoying.

It is annoying, and it's really hard to not feel not feel the comparison and to not feel and to fall into despair and to then make impulsive decisions. But recognizing the fact that it is an illusion is the best thing that we can do. Knowing that what we see online is often not the full story is so important, and focusing and looking inward is so, so, so beneficial for us. You know, are we making progress towards our own goals? Are we better off than last year?

Something I've been telling myself recently is, Hannah, you are doing so much better than you were just a week ago. A good friend of mine taught me this recently, and they said that, you know, you might still feel like today is the worst day ever, but you are stronger than you were a week ago. Maybe a week ago, you were crying 5 times a day, and this week, you're only crying once a day. Or a week ago, you were buying and spending and spending and spending and without a second thought. But now you're thinking twice, and you're being smarter where you're putting your money.

Next, I feel like, of course, the importance of gratitude. Gratitude is one of the most powerful things we can do to combat comparison. And with Thanksgiving coming up, I mean, I might as well just throw in gratitude in here. Right? But, no, it's so true.

When you focus on what you have, it's so much harder to feel envious of what you don't have. And so it's it's just something as small as your health. Health isn't small. Health is not small at all. Health is a luxury.

And so treating it like a luxury and and taking care of it, that I feel is a good way to practice your gratitude. And sometimes the best thing you can do is just take a step back. If you find yourself constantly comparing, consider that social media detox and try to gain a new perspective. Try it for a weekend. You might you might be surprised.

You know what I mean? So my final thoughts is to, of course, spend within your means, eat at home where you can. Why am I even saying this? I feel like we all know these things. Right?

I feel like we all know these things. But one thing I do wanna mention, one last stat for the day, is that 36% of credit card consumers are still paying off Christmas gifts from last year. And knowing that the holidays are coming up, I had to mention this. And I understand it because I'm a gift giver. But just know it's not worth it to go into debt or continue building your debt.

So can we say homemade gifts for 2024, for Christmas 2024, and then all of 2025? I don't know. I I just feel like that is really something that we should normalize is being happy to not only give homemade gifts, but to receive them. I feel like they are the best, and they're so thoughtful, and they mean so much. And so I feel like anyone else, if you end up doing that, is going to be grateful as well.

But, yeah, this episode was kind of all over the place today. When are they not? But I hope that you related to it in some way, and I would love to hear your thoughts. I would love to hear what else you wanna see on the pod for this next year of podcasting. And, yeah, thank you so much for joining me today on the Unrelatable podcast, and I will talk to you later.

Bye.