Does it matter how much your friends are worth?
Growing up, I had very little idea how much my parents were worth (although I knew it wasn’t much) nor where any of their friends stood.
Now, however, there are stacks of web sites like NetworthIQ and Mint that allow just about anyone to post their net worth (the number you get when you subtract what you owe from what you own) and compare it with others.
Some do it anonymously, while others post more details along with a history of their spending to provide a bit of context.
But their major purpose is the same: To draw attention to their nest egg, highlight any progress they’ve been making, and help the less fortunate do a little reflective benchmarking. Here’s a recent example.
But is your own magic number more useful to you when you have someone else’s to compare it with? Or does seeing it in front of you lead to pointless striving in search of some ever-elusive target? And who’s to say any of those numbers are accurate to begin with.
Curious to see where you stand? Here’s one quick snapshot, although it’s American. Here’s another ‘lucky you’ global look.
This Royal Bank calculator offers some general on where Canadians might expect to find themselves at certain points in their lives.
Do you think comparing your net worth to others online is helpful or hurtful? If you've done it, where do you fit in?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: Elmo | Jan 10, 2022 10:06:32 AM
Comparing your net worth with others online is the cyber-equivalent of trying to keep up with (or compare yourself to) the Joneses. And any intelligent person knows where that leads. Buy only what you can afford and be satisfied with what you have... especially in the electronics gadgetery department.
Posted by: SP | Jan 11, 2022 10:13:27 AM
This would be interesting to see across time.
You know, a comparison of how the average 30 year old couple with 3 children is doing nowadays compared with the average 30 year old couple with 3 children 40 years ago (adjusted for actual inflation).
We could then compare the financial situation of a university student in Ontario with grants 40 years ago to a university student in Ontario with massive tuition and book bills now. And then we could compare average top rate tax payers then with now and perhaps even companies that sell products to Canadians then and now.
Though, I suppose if we did that there might be a taxpayers strike/revolution.
Probably best as is, ignorance is bliss
Posted by: Sean | Jan 11, 2022 4:25:46 PM
Yeah, that's what we need in our already sickening culture of narcissism. A bunch of self-absorbed douchebags with more money than brains, screaming their alleged superiority out to the world...
Posted by: Randy Kubbernus | Jan 12, 2022 12:53:05 AM
can you judge a persons worth by their wealth?
Posted by: which1ru | Jan 12, 2022 8:33:06 AM
The real problem is we are in a culture that values the educated more than the non-educated. Therefore, the politician, the lawyer, the teacher, the doctor makes more than the garbageman, the brick layer, the roof layer. My question is, are the educated really worth more? (I need to stay healthy but I also need a place to live.) Our society says educated is worth more and we wonder why they are a bunch of snobs? It seems to me self explanatory. To answer the question: hurtful