It’s 5:00am the alarm goes off, you roll out of bed because it’s time to go to work.

You like your job but it’s a grind. The money is good. So, you keep plowing forward.

You are dressed, so you grab your lunch and walk out the door. As you unlock your car- you look up and down your street. Always checking out the cars and homes of your neighbors.

In you head- ” I do better than them. I make more money than them.”

….and that’s where it all falls apart.

In financial planning it’s you who sets the standard. Do not be defined but constantly competing against everyone else.

This financial journey is a personal endeavor and success is only reached by getting to a place where you live comfortably in your own skin.

By constantly competing you will set yourself for failure. You will eventually take unnecessary financial risks.

I know because I have seen it first hand in my life. Professional and personally i have taken unnecessary chances that have gone against me in an effort to get ahead.

The risk greatly outweighed the rewards but I didn’t see it. I was blinded by the potential chance to get “ahead”.

The solution

I suggest you spend some time really defining what’s important to you and your family. After that you need to put blinders on. This is not easy but very possible. The blinders are there to keep you focused on what’s important.

You have to set the standard in your life. Do not be defined by others.

Remember – just because the neighbor has a nicer car or home, it only means that they chose to spend money on those things.

That’s all– spending money is a choice not a rite of passage.

Set your own standard.

-Jared