Some people have the ability to make you spend your money and they don't necessarily know that they are doing it. They are called the Joneses and they make you spend your money trying to keep up with them.
Even though the Joneses may be your family, neighbors, or your good friends, for some unknown reason, you feel competitive with them. Every time they buy something new, you have to get something bigger and better and flex your purchasing power.
This is how it other people get you to spend your money:
•The Joneses invited you and your family over for dinner at the new home they just bought, a new single story residence in a gated community that you've wanted to buy in for years but couldn't afford.
•So what do you do? You buy the biggest two story in the same gated community just to show the Joneses that they can't get the best of you. You know that you are going to struggle making the payments, but you have to show the Jones.
•The Joneses send their daughter to private school, so you put all three of your children in a better, more expensive school.
•The Joneses bought a new Lexus, so you bought a new car, too. You bought a Mercedes Benz.
•Then the Joneses bought a membership in an expensive country club and you are just outdone. You are already struggling with your new mortgage note and the new car, but that doesn't matter. You don't want the Joneses to think that you can't afford it, so you purchase a country club membership, too.
Now something is happening that has never happened before. When you and your spouse get home at night, and the doors close, you start yelling and screaming at each other about money and anything else that sets you off, and you don't know why.
The kids are unhappy because of all the fighting and they may need therapy. For that matter, you and your spouse may need therapy, too.
You have so much outstanding debt that you find it hard to transact business of any kind because you are truly strapped for money.
You are behind on your mortgage, but instead of paying it, you pay the country club dues, which costs more than the mortgage. In your mind, the Joneses can never know that you are struggling and by paying the country club dues, you think it hides the fact that you are financially overextended and things don't look good.
When you see the Joneses, you put on a happy face and pretend that everything is lovely, but you are miserable and near bankruptcy. The misery is eating at your soul and it's making you sick.
The Joneses don't have a clue about what is going on in your home. They are genuinely happy when they see you at the country club. Why shouldn't they be? It was never their intention to make you spend money that you didn't have.
The Joneses think you are spending your money because you can afford it. After all, you bought the bigger house, you bought membership in the country club, you send your three kids to private school, and you bought a new Mercedes. In their eyes, you are doing great.
But they don't know that it's all because of them that you are struggling. Although it was unintentional, they prompted you to spend your money on things that you could not afford and they will probably never know that they had something to do with it.
Now you know how other people can make you spend your money. Trying to keep up the Joneses can have devastating consequences because excessive spending can easily get out of hand and you can spend yourself into a financial bind.