Don't Use Money to Impress Others | Morgan Housel

Recognize the game that's being played and to ask yourself, do you want to use money as a tool to give yourself a better life or as a scorecard for other people to measure you by? And most of those people are not even paying attention to you to begin with. And that's a big part of it. You wake up every morning running as fast as you can to impress strangers who are not even thinking about you. They're busy thinking about themselves. And so I think once you identify that game, then your social aspirations can decline. Not to zero. Everyone wants to look good and be fit in and fit in with their friends. But I think they can decline and your willingness to show off really diminishes. I heard this great phrase recently, which was a high end Toyota is a nicer car than an entry level BMW because a high end Toyota is filled with things that make you happy. Nice seats, a good sound system, like moonroof, whatever it is. The entry level BMW is just bragging rights. Right. Other than that, like, so like, I think you should go through life wanting the proverbial high end Toyota. It's not showing off for others. It's making you happy.