If you are worried that you are falling behind in life, mostly your financial life, while everyone else is leaps and bounds ahead of you, Humphrey Yang is here to tell you that you are not alone. In fact, most people are not ahead at all, with many falling behind and potentially worse off than you know.
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Yang is a financial expert and YouTube personality who has a video called “You’re Not Behind: Why Everyone SEEMS To Have More Money Than You” that breaks down the myths behind the rat race we all feel like we are in and the Jones we all try to keep up with.
Here are Yang’s seven reasons it seems like everyone has more money than you.
7. Judging a Book by It’s Cover
Appearance of wealth does not equate actual wealth. Many times, people who are flaunting a certain lifestyle might actually be spending more than they earn, getting into debt, and struggling to pay their bills.
This is especially true of coworkers, when you know you are making the same amount of money, but perhaps they are driving a nicer car than you are.
Yang recommends focusing on what you can do and can control with your own personal finances and stop paying attention to what other people do with theirs.
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6. Spending Habits Are Invisible
We all have expenses. While some of us save up for a big trip or a fun concert, others are trying to have a lifestyle that’s fabulous, yet also costs a lot. Cars, jewelry and big homes all add up.
Yang noted that while you might not have the material possessions of others who like the finer things in life, chances are you have investments that are making you money, not to mention things that bring you joy which do not cost an arm and a leg.
You might be building your wealth in the shadows, as Yang described it, not putting it on public display.
5. People With Actual Money Do Not Show It Off on Social Media
Humans are flawed, and one of the biggest flaws of modern life is turning to social media for a comparison of one another.
According to Yang, this happens with money as well, though his take is that people who are actually rich do not publicly display it online.
“In my opinion, true wealth is pretty silent and not that visible at all,” Yang said. “Wealthy people want to keep their wealth a secret so they can remain more private and anonymous.”
4. Comparing Yourself Upwards in Society
Yang has noticed that most of society does not compare themselves downward-in other words, they do not look towards those who are less fortunate than they are. Instead, they tend to look upwards as dreams of aspirational wealth dance in their eyes.
Job title and career path comparisons are typically how we tend to view and judge each other, even though Yang shared that these titles do not have a blanket set of duties, status or salary based upon the company and where it is located. So at the end of the day, they are not as noteworthy as we might believe.
3. Expecting Too Much, Too Soon
When we turn to social media or any other type of public display of wealth, typically we are only seeing the wins, not the losses. After all, why would someone want to outwardly admit that they lost money in an investment.
Rather, the stories shared on platforms like Reddit only focus on the very rare, often once-in-a-life time return on investment stories.
“For 99.9% of people, there is no such thing as a quick buck and oftentimes making money does take a lot of sacrifice and diligence when sticking to something day in and day out,” offered Yang.
2. The Grass Is Greener Syndrome
We all make assumptions about each other. In terms of money and wealth, we might think a certain person got to where they are with little-to-no work involved.
True, circumstances do play some part in how our financial lives look, though Yang reminded viewers that no one truly knows what another person had to do in order to get where they are today. It all comes down to sacrifice in terms of what we are willing or not willing to do to earn a big salary.
1. The Silent Cost of Family Wealth
Yang points to the fact that many people still work hard, sacrifice along the way and get to where they are today through a combination of factors. One, however, that is not always on the surface is their family circumstances.
They could have been born into generational wealth, have been given an inheritance or be set up by their families with jobs that will guarantee they make a lot of money. All of this gives them a leg up in growing their own personal wealth.
The key take away for Yang is that “family wealth and generational support can create an illusion of financial success that’s not solely based on their own achievements.”
The influencer continued by saying it is not something anyone can control, so shifting the focus away from this kind of financial success is important when looking at where you are on your own personal finance journey.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 Reasons It Seems Like Everyone Has More Money Than You, According to Humphrey Yang
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