Can peer pressure make you richer? Does who you hang out with impact how much you earn? Are you - as motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said - the average of the five people you spend the most time with?
It’s pretty well documented that our social network can affect our choices and behavior. So much so that at some point your bank could check your Facebook friend lists before granting people credit for things like a mortgage or car loan!!
One survey found that 39% of people looked into a purchase or vacation solely because they saw it on someone else’s social media, further proving the power of peer pressure. Guilty as charged!
In the past couple months I’ve explored a trip to Scotland, bought a new brand of yoga pants, and tried yet another brand of all-natural, aluminum free deodorant cream solely because of something I saw on Instagram.
(So far I’ve found that washing with Dial and going deodorant-free is just as effective as putting anything I’ve purchased under my arms, for what it’s worth.)
How peer pressure made me better with money
When I first meet people and tell them I’m a financial coach, they typically assume that I’m “perfect” when it comes to money — that I must stick to a strict budget, that I never spend impulsively and that I would never dream of carrying credit card debt.
The funny thing is, before I started my last corporate job as a workplace financial wellness coach, I was far from perfect. I knew what made a perfect financial plan, but I didn’t have one in my life. I had credit card debt because I had spent frivolously, I had very little saved for retirement and I lived paycheck to paycheck as a habit.
All that changed, at least partly I think, due to the healthy peer pressure of working with other financial planners who were making better financial decisions. My financial life also changed because my daily work shifted.
For the first time, I finally got to help clients who were like me - “normal” people, not people with eight figures in the bank. This is very rare in the financial planning industry. That’s work I continue to do in my life today even though I’ve gone out on my own - my clients, often without even knowing it, have a LOT in common with 5 or 10-years ago me.
In my desire to help “normal, everyday people” overcome the financial challenges that are more common, I inevitably started to walk my talk even more.
See, in order for a typical financial planner to make a living these days, you have to work with pretty wealthy people who invest money with you. I’ve become one of those wealthy people that more standard financial planners want to have as clients, but I’m still also pretty much your average working person who falls victim to Semi-Annual sales and has to put hacks in place in order to avoid overspending.
Having the opportunity to talk with others who have the same struggles has actually helped me to overcome those struggles more effectively as time has gone by.
How you can use peer pressure to get richer
My point? Peer pressure can be positive if you take a minute to contemplate how it works (or doesn’t work) for you.
If you’re someone who tends to be overly influenced by what your friends or peers are doing (what’s sometimes called “social comparison”), rather than shame yourself and wish you were different, own it! You are who you are, and while there’s always room for positive self-improvement, you are also perfect the way you are right now.
Put the power of peer pressure to work for you in your financial life by trying some of the following:
Talk to your friends about your financial goals Challenge them to join you, especially if you’re someone who is motivated by a little competition ! What about a challenge to save a thousand bucks over the next 90 days? When you all achieve the goal, celebrate with a spa day.
Look at who you follow on social media Consider adding positive financial influences, like Stefanie O'Connell, Women's Personal Finance or of course me! If you suffer from FOMO, you might also want to mute some of the bigger bragsters in your network . Trust me, their lives are not as fabulous as you think or they wouldn’t have so much time to be posting on social media!
Become a role model Model good financial choices for your friends and family and then talk about them at gatherings. Before you know it, people will be calling you for guidance and you’ll feel the positive peer pressure to practice what you preach. It worked for me!
The bottom line is, if you don’t like your current financial situation, take a look at what affect your interactions with friends and family may be having. There are some you can’t avoid, like a sister who is constantly coming to you for money when in a pinch, but you can neutralize the negative peer pressure by putting positive money peers more deliberately in your life.
Do you want 1:1 support in making better financial choices? I can help with that! I offer money coaching in one-off sessions, packages, and (my favorite) a six-month subscription with a monthly coaching session and unlimited email support!