How are you feeling?
As I talk to clients, I sense a pervasive sense of anxiety about the future. Forty-year high inflation rates, the negative news cycle and seeing your investments lose value will do that. However, it’s made me think about a report I read a couple of years ago.
A national bank recently surveyed Americans about their finances. It posed the question: “What do you feel you need in order to consider yourself successful?” At every point along the income and net-worth spectrum, respondents said they felt they needed more than they currently had to feel successful. Why is this so? The report examined several areas, and here is a short list included in the report.
HOUSING
Our home is the place where we grow up, raise families and make memories. It makes sense that this would be a key component of how successful we feel. However, respondents wanted, on average, a house worth more than two times the amount of their current home, and in some parts of the country, the multiple was higher.
TRANSPORTATION
We Americans have a love affair with our cars, and the automobile is one of the most popular status symbols in America. In the success survey, Americans on average felt they needed to own a car worth twice their current car’s value to feel successful. The ideal car averaged $53,000. Again, it didn’t matter where they fell on the spectrum — a more expensive car was the key to feeling successful.
TRAVEL
We’ve entered a golden age of travel. There are educational trips, charitable vacations, foodie tours, wildlife excursions, grandparent-grandchild-themed trips and more. The world has never been so accessible. Of the respondents, 87% said the ability to take vacations was the best luxury that made them feel financially successful.
TIME
Time is a funny thing and a great equalizer of the human condition. It is the essential commodity of our lives and the one that can’t be increased. I often tell clients nearing retirement to slow down: “You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time.”
So how about you? How much is enough?
The study was interesting, and, for me, there are two important lessons. The first is to recognize the innate desire to attain more than we have. Harnessed constructively, this can be a powerful tool that can genuinely make us more successful. But it can also be a trap into which we unwittingly fall. If feeling successful is always obtaining larger and more expensive things, it can never be attained.
The second lesson is the classic Stephen Covey principle: Begin with the end in mind. Achieving financial security is obviously closely tied to the American idea of success. However, at some point, pursuing more wealth will not make us happier. Don’t let your feelings get in the way of enjoying the success you already have in your life. Ask yourself, “How much is enough?” You may find you’re already there.
