So how do we avoid “Conspicuous Consumption?” Well, the best way to prevent over spending is to create and live life from a budget that makes sense to your own situation and circumstance. Once you know how much to put away for your bills, your mortgage, your savings/long-term goals and your weekly spend you can determine the remaining funds available that you can spend on whatever you like.Įssentially, do not purchase items that you do not need with money you do not have. It’s a fast track to debt. What would happen if one of you lost your job? How would you make repayments on your mortgage, your car loans or your credit cards? Is insurance really the answer? To us, Insurance is like a lottery that you really don’t want to win… While not trying to stereotype, this could be the perfect case of “Keeping up with the Jones’s!” A life on credit… or as mum used to call it “the never-never.” (as in never-never going to pay it off!).įrom the outside, life looks grand. Our stereo-typical couple look like they are extremely fortunate, living a life of ease with high incomes and everything they want. But what if everything is credit? All owned by the bank or lender, or heaven forbid, AfterPay or ZipPay. It might be that our very successful couple are living a life of luxury all owed to the bank.Īny obsession with over-consumption can have an impact on your financial position.
CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION GETTING MORE ONSTAGE TV
They have a fabulous multi story house on the beach front, a Mercedes and land rover in the drive way, a 85 inch flat screen tv or better yet a projector in their home theatre! They both always wear designer clothes and handbags and can be seen with coffee in hand in designer active wear on the way to yoga.
Imagine a couple that always have the best things in life. But for many people it can become an obsession and this “keeping up with the Jones’s” mentality can lead to financial ruin.
It doesn’t matter if you are on a high income or a median income sometimes it’s very tempting to overspend on a new iphone or big flat screen tv. The phrase “Conspicuous Consumption” was coined by American writer Thorstein Veblen in his 1899 book “The theory of the leisure class.” The term refers to consumers who buy expensive items to display wealth and income rather than to cover the real needs of the consumer. The relevance of a book from 1899 in today’s world of buy-now pay-later is ever so appropriate to share. Let’s have a think about modern day consumption and “keeping up with the Jones’s.”Įveryone I’m sure has been guilty of overspending at some point.
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