Keeping up with the Shah

Have you ever wonder why you are unable to save and invest even though you are making decent Ringgit from your works? Also, you might, or might not, realize that you are spending too much of your Ringgit and frequently upgrading your stuff to the latest and greatest in the market.

These are indications that you might be "keeping up with the Shah".

"Keeping up with the Shah" is adapted from "Keeping up with the Joneses". It is a kind of mentality by which we try to keep up with our vision for success, and it usually revolves around keeping up with our neighbours who seem to be more wealthy than us. It is the constant interpersonal evaluation of haves and have-nots and comparing our material accumulation and visible signs of wealth with our immediate relatives, friends, peers, and neighbours.

In the era of social media, this Keeping-up Mentality has grown dramatically. This is mainly due to the increased exposures to other peoples’ spending habits and our corresponding increased desire to “keep up.” The more we look at how others are spending, the higher the desire to keep up with them. Other people will have the same mindset when they look at how we are spending and would try to keep up with us. This, in turn, increase our own expenses and the cycle would never end.

However, if we can realize what is actually happening, we can actually break away from this cycle. Instead of the never-stopping desire to spend, we will be able to control ourselves and step out of the cycle. We can make better use of the money to enrich our lives. We can buy assets that would, in turn, produce income for us.

To remove ourselves from this endless cycle, we must, first and foremost, tell ourselves that we do not need to keep up with anyone. We can have things that others have not but before that, we must first build our foundation. We would need to buy income-producing assets so that there would come a time when these incomes would be able to pay for the things that we want. Even if you can't pay for all of it, these income-producing assets would help in reducing the money that you need to take out from your own pocket.

In the end, if you want less by no longer keeping up with the Shah, you will be happier and happier.