7 Signs You Are Doing Well Financially

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Is it just me, or are you noticing there are a lot of people who are doing really well financially but just aren't feeling like they are doing well with money? I have talked to so many people lately who earn a high salary, but think they are behind, feel unhappy, are unmotivated to work a job that involves working for someone else, or just want work to be optional.

Many people are actually doing better with money than they think.

Now I do realize that, depending on which survey you read, anywhere from 65% to 80% of adult Americans feel like they are living paycheck to paycheck. But I've noticed a good number of people who are struggling to realize they are doing an awesome job with the money.

Why is this?

The culprit making everyone feel so unsure about their financial situation could very well be social media. Social media puts a tremendous amount of pressure on people in a very subliminal way. If you spend lots of time on social media, it is easy to believe that everyone around you is doing better than they are, which has an effect on how well one thinks they are doing, relative to others.

Social media is simply one long reel of the selective sharing of highlights from everyone's best life. When you scroll on social media enough, your subconscious begins to think everyone is doing great, and better than you. Your brain has a hard time separating the real facts of life from the fiction of what social media is telling you on your "feed".

So, what are the 7 signs you are actually doing well financially and you may be richer than you think?

1. You have an initial emergency savings: According to a 2024 Bankrate survey, 27% of U.S. adults have no emergency savings, which is the highest percentage since 2020. So, if you have as little as $1,000 or $2,000 saved up you are doing better than almost 30% of all Americans.
2. You are actively investing money for your future: According to the same 2024 Bankrate survey, 33% of Americans have zero saved up for their retirement. So, if you are putting money to the side for your retirement you are doing better than 1 out of 3 people in America.
3. You do a unique written monthly budget: According to somestatistic, about 60% of Americans don’t make a regular monthly budget. So, if you are doing a written monthly budget, then you have 60% of Americans beat!
4. You have a healthy cushion between your monthly income and your monthly expenses: This cushion gives you the ability to increase or replenish your monthly savings, pay off debt, and increase your investments, if you choose to. Calculating and being intentional about this cushion is critical. If you pay attention to it, you are doing better than most.
5. You can occasionally splurge on impulse: You are doing well financially when you don’t have to save up for a luxury item and can afford it easily. If you look around and you have more financial choices at your disposal than the people around you, you are doing well financially.
6. Your financial foundation is in tact: On top of the things already on this list, if you have written financial goals and actions steps, have little to no debt on depreciating things, have a fully funded emergency fund with 3 to 6 months of your needs saved up, invest 15% or more of your income towards a diversified set of investments, regularly figure your net worth on paper, and are engaged in learning, giving, and increasing your skills, then you are doing well financially.
7. You have a net worth that is at or exceeds the median net worth for your age: There's the average, which allows the higher incomes to skew the data higher, and there's the median. The median is always a more accurate determining factor to consider when looking at net worth.

There is a growing sentiment of financial insecurity among people who are actually doing quite well financially. Social media adds to this confusion.

Here are some tips to mitigate the impact of social media on this feeling:

• Limit Social Media Usage: Reduce the time spent on social media to minimize exposure to unrealistic portrayals of wealth.
• Practice Gratitude: Focus on what you have and be grateful for your financial achievements, no matter how small they may seem.
• Set Realistic Goals: Define your financial goals based on your circumstances, not on what you see others doing.
• Educate Yourself: Increase your financial literacy to make informed decisions that align with your personal financial situation.
• Curate Your Feed: Follow accounts that promote financial wellness and realistic lifestyles, and unfollow those that make you feel inadequate.
• Help other people: When you engage in helping others, the feeling of inadequacy tends to take a backseat to the realities of life, which are rarely portrayed on social media.

Be careful with what you absorb on social media. Social media creates this well-crafted illusion that you're not doing well financially because it feeds you a reel of everyone's best highlights with curated content through the algorithm, wile creating a comparison in your mind between you and others. This distorted reality leads to peer pressure, and often times creates FOMO (fear of missing out).

You got this!

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