{"id":891844,"date":"2026-10-23T10:26:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T10:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/891844\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T10:26:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T10:26:34","slug":"its-human-to-care-how-much-money-others-make-can-it-be-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/891844\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s human to care how much money others make. Can it be healthy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

About 20 per cent of On Money survey respondents say they compare themselves to others financially all the time.sasirin pamai\/iStockPhoto \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

In my last newsletter, I asked readers<\/a> if they compare how their own personal finances stack up against others. Hundreds of you weighed in \u2013 either through our survey or over e-mail \u2013 and the short of it is: You care, a lot. <\/p>\n

More than 70 per cent of On Money readers who responded to our newsletter poll said they compare how they stack up against others financially either all the time (about 20 per cent) or sometimes (52.5 per cent).<\/p>\n

Success in investment performance was more important to you than your total savings, salary, buying and paying off a home, quality and number of holidays, and nearly every other benchmark. <\/p>\n

What was perhaps at first surprising was that the vast majority of you (78 per cent) felt either happy or inspired when comparing yourself financially to others – both positive adjectives in my book. And yet, many left comments cautioning others against it.<\/p>\n

Which got me thinking: Is there a healthy way to compare how we stack up against others financially?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have something neurologically called mirror neurons,\u201d said Kelley Keehn, a financial educator and CEO of Money Wise Institute, which creates training resources. \u201cThat gets us very excited to see what other humans are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is how we verify that information and use it.<\/p>\n

Ms. Keehn remembers the panicked reactions to a big bank survey released earlier this year that suggested people needed $1.7-million to retire<\/a>. \u201cPeople were like, \u201cOh my god, no!,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The survey triggered a wave of reactions, with experts pointing out that the number varies from one individual to another and that most people manage to retire well on far less than that<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone with a paid-off home, a workplace pension and modest expenses will have very different retirement needs than someone renting without a pension,\u201d Ms. Keehn said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger with financial comparison isn\u2019t always envy. Sometimes it\u2019s hopelessness. When the goalposts seem impossibly far away, people stop playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there can be a good way to approach financial comparison. <\/p>\n

For example, rather than asking whether you\u2019re on par or ahead of others, ask whether you\u2019re ahead of where you were six or 12 months ago. \u201cHave you reduced debt? Started an emergency fund? Increased your savings,\u201d Ms. Keehn said. \u201cYour financial progress matters far more than your financial ranking.\u201d<\/p>\n

And peer pressure itself isn\u2019t always bad either. <\/p>\n

Take recycling programs. When they were first introduced, incentives and encouragement did little to persuade people to participate. Until they saw their neighbours putting out those bright blue bins, that is. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey felt compelled to do it,\u201d Ms. Keehn said. <\/p>\n

Even envy \u201cgets a bad rap,\u201d she told me. \u201cIt can actually tell us something useful about ourselves. If someone\u2019s financial success triggers jealousy, get curious about why. What are you really longing for? Is it freedom? Security? More time with your family? The ability to leave a job you don\u2019t love?\u201d<\/p>\n

Use that feeling as a clue to what matters to you, she said, then create a goal that reflects your own values. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to eliminate financial comparison. We just need to make sure it\u2019s moving us forward rather than making us feel inadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the On Money newsletter<\/p>\n

Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail version to you? If so, you can sign up for On Money here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mariya\u2019s money reading list<\/p>\n

Canadians are still bombarded with betting ads<\/a><\/p>\n

As the federal government prepares to vote on new laws to rein in gambling promotions, a CBC analysis found viewers faced 3,000 gambling messages across just seven televised games featuring Canadian teams.<\/p>\n

Is 40 too old to buy your first home?<\/p>\n

Forty, fabulous and finally a home owner. As more Canadians buy homes later in life, homeownership is increasingly competing with another major financial goal: saving for retirement.<\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s episode of the Globe\u2019s award-winning Stress Test podcast<\/a>, we meet two Canadians who bought their first homes in their 40s to learn why they waited, how they made it happen and whether they have regrets. <\/p>\n

Then, Meera Raman speaks with certified financial planner Adam Jenkins about the risks of buying later in life and how to balance mortgage payments with retirement savings. <\/p>\n

Chart of the day<\/p>\n

The trend of living a healthy life longer has reversed<\/a> \u2013 and not just because of COVID-19, says Fred Vettese in this chart. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s financial tool<\/p>\n

When it comes to teaching kids how to spend their allowances, the \u201cfour-jar\u201d method<\/a> still wins, says this CFP.<\/p>\n

Calling all art collectors<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re an art lover planning to pass down your prized pieces to your children or grandchildren, or you\u2019ve inherited art from a parent or grandparent, journalist Kelsey Rolfe would like to speak to you. She\u2019s working on a story for The Globe about the significant amount of art and collectibles that baby boomers have accumulated over their lifetimes, and what their children and grandchildren will do with those inheritances. If you\u2019re open to an interview, please reach out to her at kannerolfe at gmail dot com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: About 20 per cent of On Money survey respondents say they compare themselves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,121113,4910,121110,147,121116,121111,121114,121115,530,121112],"class_list":["post-891844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-high-interest-saving","tag-newsletter","tag-onmoneynewsletter","tag-personal-finance","tag-personal-finance-advice-canada","tag-personal-finance-canada","tag-personal-finance-newsletter","tag-personal-finance-planning","tag-personalfinance","tag-saving-strategy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}