Do people really try to "Keep up with the Joneses"?

It's one of the most cliched of financial advice tips, to advise to stop "keeping up with the Joneses". But is that really what drives people to buy stuff that isn't as important as investing or retirement or debts or charity or whatever?

It wasn't a mindset I grew up with in my thoroughly middle-class family. When my parents bought (or built) something new, it was because the old one had ceased to be worth fixing or maintaining. If it had cool features, it was because they would be useful, not because we were going to show them off. Other neighbors weren't in the habit of showing off their new things, either.

I'm sure some people have this mindset of always having to outdo one another in material possessions, but is it really that prevalent? Or is it as overdone as assuming we all spend five dollars a day on coffee?

 

You don't have kids or live in suburbia. I know many, many families that do this so their kids will have a similar status to the popular kids. "Timmy, the star Quarterback, down the road got a golf-cart so he can putz around the subdivision. Well, then my little Johnny must have one too!!!"

 

Do you feel like buying stuff just so your kids have 'status'?

 

Its been my experience, that spoiled brats that get everything they want don't appreciate anything.
Toys are like Kleenex to them.
Then that blasé attitude translates to everything in their life.
Never seen one that didn't end up that way.

Meanwhile, I'm keeping my Playstation 2 going like it's The Millennium Falcon, or Willie Nelson's guitar.

 

I bet you walk around with Google Glasses too huh?

 

I was playing my dad's Atari before it was cool!

 

Thank you oh so much for making me feel old.

 

Me too! I'm glad he could finally afford a real one before I outgrew the screen.

 

Absolutely not. But, I know a whole lot of people that do.

 

I bet more people do than will admit to it.

 

I'm curious about Elwood's mention of suburbia. Is it more relevant there? I don't much notice the phenomenon where I live, but my neighborhood is very mixed income, and the housing stock matches the varied socio-economics. Maybe it is the lack of front yards -- no need to prove my grass is greener.

 

People seldom admit it but it is pretty obvious. I don't remember where I read it, but I seem to recall some study about if a person in a neighborhood got a new car then the chances of their neighbors buying one rose dramatically.

 

Of course, it's hard to tell if that's motivated by competition, or if it's just that somebody you see every day doing something you want to do increases your "top-of-mind awareness" of the idea.

 

Statistically, you'd also expect that when economical conditions are such that a certain group is likely to buy more cars, you'll observe one person buying a car, and then another.

 

Not as an outward, conscious decision, no. But if I'm on the fence about a purchase and I know lots of people who have it and enjoy it, then that's taken into account.

I live in an upper-middle class neighborhood. If I did the whole "keeping up with the Joneses" thing, I don't think I'd be able to live here anymore. Some people around here give their 16-year-olds brand-fucking-new cars!!! That is just an idiotic idea (Let's spend $30-40K on a car for someone who barely knows how to drive and will likely wreck it within a year...)!

 

I live in a very nice neighborhood.
I drive a '96 Dodge Stratus.

I wear my clothes until they literally fall apart.
My casual clothes cycle from going out, to around the house , to gardening.

I moved to Oklahoma in 2000, I bought my dress shirts and shoes when I lived in California.
My dress pants are Dockers, which I bought for my 40th high school reunion, in 2005.

I do put a lot of effort into maintaining my yard at the same level as my neighbors,
who use professional services for mowing, fertilizing and weed control.

We have a lot of pick-up trucks around here, red or black.
We have one guy whose kids drive an off road vehicle around the neighborhood;
but that's not status, that's just annoying.

I have status because I park my car in the garage.
Everybody else parks at least one vehicle in their driveway.

 

In my neighborhood, there appears to be a contest to see who can have the biggest, loudest, most powerful leave blower.

 

I'm trying to keep up with The Reverend Jim Joneses!

 

Sure they keep with the Joneses or there would not be any new cars sold. A new car is just vanity and the worst financial investment you can make.

 

Disagree - some people (like myself) are terrible mechanics, and a new car is pretty much guaranteed to be running when the loan is payed off. BTW my "new" cars are economy compacts, probably costing less than a used sedan.
It's like homes - I could have bought a cheaper one, but lived in a county where they have a less than 50 percent graduation rate, thus I chose the county with safer, better schools to better benefit my kids.

 

I know my sister does and to an extent everyone does. I think for kids whose parents don't have a lot, they can get made fun of not having the next new thing. I guess that's why parents buy them those things. I get that mindset, but at the same time, you have to find a balance between spoiling your kid and just getting them nice things. I don't have kids, but I imagine its a fine line.

As for adults, they do it for other reasons. My sister does it and she can barely pay her bills. I guess it can be embarrassing, what's worse, not having the newest gadget or not paying your bills?

 

I think it's much more common in Suburbia because "status items" are more visible. Sure, you may own a $500,000 motorhome, but where are you going to park it in your neighborhood? In an urban/semi-urban area like I believe you live in, the big ticket items don't have a place simply because your property isn't big enough. You simply don't have yard/garage/storage space for the RV, Boat, ATVs/UTVs/Golf-Carts, the hobby car in addition to your daily ride(s), etc.

 

I think parents use that as an excuse, really. A kid can be driven to school in a used van just as well as a 2014 off the lot SUV that costs 35K.

I see a lot of this in the enlisted side of the military, too. Often times, the E-5s and E-6' are driving better cars than many of the officers that are making considerably more. Me, I'm just thankful to have a car when this was unthinkable that I'd even have money for lessons (long story I'm not sharing in the RR). That it happens to be the type of car I've wanted for years is an added bonus.

 

I think the economic homogeneity of many suburban neighborhoods has a lot to do with it as well. Directly across from me I have 3 4 unit apartment buildings packed full of Vietnamese families. On my same block are two homes that last sold for >$500k, over twice what we paid.

Who am I keeping up with?

 

Oh, housing. I remeber some McMansions that opened up in my hometown eight or nine years ago that folks were paying 900K for. Cue to the finacial crisis and the builders are selling the empty yet to be moved in properties for 450k. Some folks were practically shitting kittens over that.

 

Me, I guess. Isn't everyone?

 

It's called keeping up with the Jones's, not the Jahn's.

 

This is true, and in fact, many of the housing units in my neighborhood have limited or no parking. My driveway can fit two small cars, but we park one of ours on the street. And many of our neighbors have no driveway at all. Is that BMW parked out front mine, or does it belong to the guy two houses down? Makes it harder to use a car as a status symbol. And rather than the RV, people are more likely to have a place on the Cape or in Maine or something, so again, no way to conspicuously display it.

That's what I meant when I said the housing stock in my neighborhood was varied. We have large multi-unit buildings (20 to 40 units), two and three family buildings, and detached single family. Where is the competition when we are all in different games?

 

HA! My HS graduation gift was a suitcase. Damn I need to write a country/blues song about that.