Big Hat, No Cattle

Most of us don’t like being asked how much money we make.

We’ve gotten really good, however, at building a material world around us that implies great wealth, even if the reality is something else entirely.

WITH OUR CARS, OUR HOUSES, AND THE CLOTHES WE WEAR, WE ARE CONSTANTLY SIGNALING WHAT WE WANT THE WORLD TO THINK ABOUT THE VERY QUESTION WE HATE TO ANSWER.

And while we often treat these material things as a sign of our success, in reality, they’re usually just a front. In fact, most of us would be better off (financially speaking) buying a less expensive car and putting the leftover money into mutual funds.

Ironically, if we all just walked around with a big sign around our necks saying how much we make, we wouldn’t have to do all this posturing and pretending. Our relationship with money would change considerably if our financial decisions were transparent to the world.

For instance, what if the home in which we live could no longer hide that we’ve saved nothing for retirement?

Maybe then we would find it easier to focus on the financial choices that help us instead of hurt us.