Once you hit high school, financial peer pressure becomes part of your life—one that never goes away.
The things you feel pressured to spend your money on will change. The urge to conform won’t. The trick is to learn to identify it when it shows up. When you know that’s what you’re facing, it’s easier to ignore it.
Oh, college. At no other time will you be more susceptible to financial peer pressure.
Why? Well, chances are, it’s the first time you’ve had to handle your own finances—and most of your peers are in the same boat. Your parents aren’t there to tell you what to do. And you’re surrounded by people from a wide range of backgrounds—including some who seem to have endless amounts of cash to spend.
As a society, we tend to emulate the lifestyles of those who have a lot of money. It’s easy to get suckered into trying to live a lifestyle you can’t afford—especially when refusing to do so can negatively impact your social life.
It’s hard to resist, but you have to try. You need to make sure you’re living within your own means and not somebody else’s. If you don’t, the consequences can haunt you for years.
Be honest with your friends and let them know you have to watch your spending. Chances are, they’re not going to stop hanging out with you because you can’t afford to do every single thing they want to do.
Besides, as every parent says, “If they’re going to stop hanging out with you because you don’t have a lot of money, then they weren’t really your friends to begin with.”
Financial peer pressure will still be there after you graduate, but it won’t be as in-your-face as it is during college.
Once you enter the “real world,” society will encourage you to spend money to maintain status.
You won’t want to be the only person your age or on your block who doesn’t have a big screen TV, or a nice car, or a house, or a fancy wedding, or (fill in the blank with expensive but unnecessary things).
But at the end of the day, you have to realize that stuff is just that—stuff. In the long run, you’ll be happier if you commit to living a lifestyle you can afford.
It’s one thing if the faceless “they” is pressuring you to do something. Resisting your family is way harder.
You’re always going to want to keep your spouse/partner and kids happy. Often, the easiest way to do it is to spend money on things—food, toys, entertainment, vacations, you name it. It’s a bad idea.
You’ll find that spending money on these types of things is only a temporary fix. It doesn’t really add to your long-term happiness.
If financial peer pressure is always around, what can you do to lessen it? Establish goals. Having a goal, whether it’s taking a trip to somewhere exotic or saving to buy a house, gives your finances purpose and gives you a justification for saying “no” to a request to do something that costs money.
It’s also important to understand that your perception of others’ finances may not be accurate.
Just because a person has a large house and nice car, goes on exotic vacations, or eats out and goes to bars every night, doesn’t mean they can actually afford those things. It could mean that they have accumulated lots of credit card debt or that they are using student loans to pay for all of that excess food (FYI: Don’t do this!).
In other words, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Focus on yourself. One great thing you can do is to start learning about yourself, your habits, your needs, and your wants. Knowing yourself will greatly help you stay grounded in your spending and help you avoid the temptation to live somebody else’s lifestyle.
Also know that you’ll probably make some mistakes based on pressure, and that’s ok. The important thing is to reflect on your errors and minimize the likelihood of making more of them in the future.
The sooner you can learn how to live your own life, the sooner you’ll be able to have a much more comfortable lifestyle and avoid the stress of financial peer pressure.
