Act your wage

How often do we see people wearing the most exorbitant designer brands, driving exotic sport cars, living in multi- million dollar mansions, etc.? How about going to a club in Hollywood and seeing people with bottle service? I’m positive that if you’re a person living in Los Angeles, you’ve been exposed to either of these situations and if you haven’t, I’m sure you’ve seen something rather germane in the media. At some point you have either consciously or subconsciously asked yourself, “I wonder what they do for a living to live that sort of lifestyle”, or probably something along the lines as, “Where did they get that type of money to afford that”?. I believe it’s safe to assume that there’s a considerable amount of people that can’t actually afford that sort of lifestyle which leads me to this concept of acting your wage.

This concept is extremely simple and I don’t want people to think that there’s more to it . It essentially just means that your lifestyle should be a reflection of what you make. I’m not by any means stating that you shouldn’t reward yourself with luxurious items or with an expensive spa treatment, but if you’re someone that is in their early to mid 20’s, I think it’s safe to assume that investing in these items on a consistent basis is not reflective of what you make. There’s always going to be exceptions to this rule, but I just want to encourage those to not get caught up in these materialistic items. Being someone in your 20’s, more often than not your trying to establish your identity in life and you’re looking to find out who you really are. Somewhere along this process temptation becomes more prevalent and people will let these items of materialistic nature define who they are. They’re so caught up in who’s wearing what, who’s driving what, and who’s going where that they’re more focused on others than they are on themselves. This is one of my favorite quotes that sums up this concept of acting your wage:

“We spend money that we do not have, on things we do not need, to impress people who do not care.”

There’s an abundance of young adults who are financially illiterate and due to external factors they’re easily convinced that they need validation from others in order to define who they are. Being someone that is adequately simple but can appreciate the finer things in life, I’m constantly being tempted to indulge in something that I know I can’t realistically afford but I’ve learned that it takes a person with discipline to resist the temptation. It always goes back to what people value in their life. Some people don’t mind spending hundreds of dollars going to events like Coachella while others rather use that money on a plane ticket somewhere. Some people rather spend hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars getting bottle service while others rather spend it on a wine tasting tour in the Santa Ynez Valley. I can’t knock anyone for their values, but if you’re not making “baller” money you shouldn’t be living a “baller” lifestyle. You have champagne taste but have beer money.