Are you guilty of comparing your financial decisions to others? In this episode of Women's Money Wisdom, Melissa Fradenburg, delves into the pitfalls of financial comparison. It all started with the outrageous ticket prices for a Detroit Lions home playoff game, reminiscent of those Taylor Swift tickets at Ford Field. Melissa shares her personal insights and explores how comparing finances with others can be unproductive. Discover the importance of financial planning, building emergency funds, and setting clear financial goals. Learn how having a tailored financial plan allows you to splurge on what truly matters to you without falling into the comparison trap.
Join us for a candid conversation about why comparing yourself to others can steal your financial joy and how you can take control of your financial future. Don't let comparison rob you of your financial contentment; empower yourself with the wisdom of financial planning.
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Speaker 1:
Welcome to the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. I'm Melissa Joy, a certified financial planner and founder of Pearl Planning. I'm Melissa Freidenberg, financial advisor. We dive deep into topics like work-life balance, financial planning, personal growth and the intricacies of the sandwich generation. Tune in for money conversations that every woman needs to have.
Speaker 1:
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Women's Money Wisdom Podcast. This week it's Melissa Freidenberg and I am going to be talking about some financial planning basics, really kind of tying them back to my own experience this past week with the Lions Playoff game and ticket prices and sort of my own feeling of FOMO as I was sitting putting together an economic update on my computer and watching from home, while, of course, simultaneously scrolling and seeing pictures of my friends there at the game or with their face painted and or people talking about going to Vegas for the Super Bowl and really not comparing your financial situation to others. I did a similar episode around the time of the Taylor Swift concert, kind of relating it to teenagers and that disappointment if they weren't able to go to. Now I did not actually go to the Lions game. I would be lying if I didn't say that I looked at ticket prices halfway into the first quarter to see if they had gone down and if they had really gotten reasonable. I may or may not have jumped in the car and gone down there to watch because I totally was so excited seeing everyone there. But I had looked at ticket prices and they just weren't something I wanted to spend that kind of money on. But I found myself on game day you know, seeing people that I knew in the crowd or seeing their posts on Facebook and thinking like, oh my God, you brought a six year old to this event like you spent $750 on a seat for a six year old who probably is more excited about like the popcorn than the actual game, and I was judgy and I hate that. I absolutely hate that and it got me thinking.
Speaker 1:
So many clients and people that I talked to about this get into, which is not focusing on your financial plan and your priorities things that are important to you to spend money on but really feeling bad about your financial picture when looking at what others are spending money on. Comparison is the theft of joy. When it comes to finances, I can truly say as a financial professional who does financial plans for individuals and couples, I see all sorts of categories of wealth. Right, I get to look under the hood and see what's actually going on there. Is there debt? Is there, you know, an emergency savings? Are they spending within their means? Are they overspending and again putting things on credit or counting on assets that really should be used for other things? And I can tell you with certainty there are people who spent way too much money, based on their financial picture, to go to that game on Sunday. However, that should not make you feel bad if you couldn't afford in your budget those tickets and not to go down that rabbit hole of questioning like how much do they make? Did they inherit money? Did somebody else you know give them tickets? It's just, it's kind of crazy.
Speaker 1:
But I think, especially with social media these days, people work themselves up into such a frenzy and one of the biggest mistakes I see people make is where they just give up. They say oh, you know, yolo, I am so bad with finances, I have no emergency funds saved, I'm behind in retirement savings, so I'm just going to buy the shoes, book the trip. You know, you only live once. I see these quotes all over Facebook and really that's irresponsible and I don't want people to give up and really, you know, start comparing themselves to others and just say forget it, or maybe I'll win the lottery, or maybe somebody will leave me an inheritance. I'm just going to live my life and not plan for the future. I think that's one of the biggest threats when we think about this comparison and how everybody is living their best life on social media. And you know what? I don't blame them. If I had spent around $1,000 per ticket, surely I would get a picture posted on Facebook with my face painted in a lion's jersey with my fabulous view behind it. So I'm not really hating on anybody who had a fabulous time. I'm very excited that the Lions won and, whether you were there or not, we all can celebrate that here in Detroit.
Speaker 1:
But what I want to point out if you are one of those people who sort of either feeling like you wish you were there and couldn't afford tickets, or maybe you went and know that you really shouldn't have bought those tickets and you're feeling a little bit of remorse, I do want to just kind of tie it back to those basic financial planning things. First takeaway is really clarity on what's important to you. So if you map out your goals which I will link some other episodes really that go into greater detail on that but prioritizing what is important to you, not to someone else, because even though I was thinking about how jealous I was of those who were at the game while I was sitting in my living room watching the game, in actuality that amount of money would be worth it in lots of other things than tickets to a live event. I'm not even a live sporting event person. Generally Don't like the crowds, don't like to be cold walking to my car trying to find an Uber. I like football.
Speaker 1:
I still don't completely understand it. Even after years of watching JP, my son, play, I still like there are new calls and I'm like what is reporting? Like what does that mean that somebody didn't report? Like I really only half understand the game anyway. So if I put it in that perspective of like, is this really something that's a top priority for me? Absolutely not the prices that I was looking at for two tickets for J&I to have gone to that game. I would much rather have that in like clothing. That, to me, would be much more exciting if I were going to splurge on something or a spring break trip because, let's be honest, the price per seat is a ticket to Florida, and now in February, as we're approaching our like third snow or cold day in 10 days for kids in the public school system here, yeah, I would much rather spend that money on a ticket to Florida. But those are my priorities, those are things that I want to splurge on when I have extra money. So really honing in on what's important to you and what brings you the most joy with your financial splurges, if you will. So that would be the number one takeaway.
Speaker 1:
Number two is having an emergency savings right. So I would say, if the game on Sunday was a priority or just maybe had season tickets for a long time and obviously this is really exciting for long time, lion's fans and it may be a priority to go to this game and then potentially the Super Bowl if they get there, and that's okay. But in order to be able to splurge on those types of things, you need to make sure that you have an emergency savings for things like vehicles, breaking down, roofs, leaking, medical expenses, all those sorts of things. Generally three to six months worth of living expenses for an emergency fund, meaning you could pay your expenses with no income for three to six months. That's usually what we recommend in cases where it's a single income household with lots of dependents young children, a stay-at-home spouse, maybe even more. If your comfort level is higher and you'd like to have more cash, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. But again, having an emergency fund allows you to book a trip to Vegas to go to the Super Bowl, if that really is a priority and you decide that it is. So that would be financial planning.
Speaker 1:
Takeaway number two having an emergency savings and prioritizing that. And lastly, is really just making sure that you have a financial plan and that those longer term goals or bigger goals whether it is sending your kids to college, funding your retirement, maybe purchasing a bigger home or relocating, whether they're short, medium or long-term goals really making sure that they are funded. The first priority I mentioned is really figuring out what your priorities are and checking in to make sure that you are going to be able to reach those goals that you have set for yourself, because there is absolutely nothing wrong with splurging on Taylor Swift tickets or Lions tickets or clothing or throw pillows which is another one of my kind of splurges if you have the other things covered. So, those longer term goals that are important to you, making sure you're on track. So often the misconception with financial planning is it's all about saving as much as possible for going those things that bring you joy, that maybe are a little bit splurgey, if you will, when in actuality, nine times out of ten, I find myself giving people permission to spend to do the things whether it's travel or experiences such as life sporting events. You are able to do them and not feel buyer's remorse and guilt if you have those three things set. So prioritizing your goals, emergency savings for the what ifs and maybe those what ifs involved buying tickets for Super Bowl. And, lastly, making sure that you're prioritizing and funding and on track for those bigger goals that you have set for yourself.
Speaker 1:
So I hope you enjoyed this episode. It's just a short and sweet one. This week. I will link some other episodes that go into more detail on all three of those points and go Lions. Thank you for listening to the Women's Money Wisdom podcast. If you found value in our conversations, please take a moment to like, follow and subscribe. Wherever you're tuning in from. It helps us continue to bring these valuable insights every week. Head over to women'smoneywisdomcom. There you'll find tools, tips and a supportive community to help you gain financial confidence.