How do you measure your financial success?
Posted
Jul 03 2009, 11:21 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This guest post comes from J. Money at Budgets are Sexy.
A question stood out in an e-mail I got from AskMen.com asking if I wanted to participate in a survey.
Now, normally I just glance over and then delete/archive, as my ADD brain can only take so much. But seeing how it was the "Great Male Survey of 2009," who am I to turn it down? OK, in reality they were smart enough to bold some of the financial questions in the e-mail. While most of them got my brain thinking, there was one question that really got my attention:
How do you measure your own financial success?
Good one! First, each of us should probably define what "financial success" is. Is it money? Job title? How big your house is (better not be)? Everybody has their own thoughts on it.
The first things that come to my mind are net worth and my budget (naturally). Net worth because it gives me an overall financial snapshot of how we're financially holding up in life. It's something I can track on a monthly basis and see how successful (or not) we are. I think of my budget next because if I'm sticking to it and it's working, then I've had a successful month.
OK, keeping in mind what you think financial success is, here are some of the possible answers listed in the survey for the question (along with my own experience):
- Against that of my friends. No way! Well, maybe partial way. What they do doesn't affect me financially by any means, but I do notice that whenever one buys a new car or a bigger house, I tend to analyze how exactly they were able to do that. Stupid, but true.
- Against that of my industry colleagues. Hmmm, nah. I don't really compare anything here. I probably get paid more for what I do at my current job than similar positions in my industry, but that's just because I lucked out and found a perfect fit.
- Against that of my father. Wow, good question. I feel like I would, maybe down the road when I get into my late 30s or 40s, or probably even when I have kids, but at this moment of time it's not a thought for me. I do, however, totally listen to his thoughts on personal finance and investing.
- Against my own financial goals. Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! I 100% believe this is where we should all fall. I say "should" because most of us still keep those previous people in mind whether we want to or not, but that's just human nature.
Overall, it's a good idea to track your success through the goals you set up for yourself, not anyone else's. At least in theory. As long as you're working on bettering your situation, though, I say you're moving in the right direction. Maybe one day the Joneses will follow you.
Related reading at Budgets are Sexy:
My No. 1 financial goal each year: Max out my 401(k)
Do you need a ‘story' to be respected as a blogger?
All financial books from the past 10 years should be burned
