My Flag is Higher!

I remember watching a commercial a few months back where a new family had moved into town. With their next door neighbors watching over the fence, they unpacked a few folding chairs that proudly displayed their favorite football team. Upon seeing this the observing neighbors propped up a few folding chairs of their own and a BBQ grill that displayed a rival football team. Not to be overshadowed the new neighbors hoisted a flag in honor of their team. Soon the other neighbors hoisted a flag, banners and memorabilia for their rival team. Back and forth it went until the commercial ended with some company offering their football product. It was a hilarious commercial and amusing to watch the two neighbors compete for football memorabilia supremacy. While it was a funny commercial to watch, the story of these two competing neighbors is what stuck with me.

While most of us probably haven’t battled with our neighbors over which football team flag flies the highest, we do compete in other more subtle ways. We see friends drive by in a new car and it sparks that desire in us to buy a new car. The neighbors trade in their old television for the new plasma HDTV and the following Saturday there we are shopping the big screens. Our visiting relatives talk about the remodeling project they just completed, and in return we start finding ways to change the house we were content with a few moments prior. The list could go on and on, and for many it hasn’t stopped yet. It’s that voice inside us that says we need that thing simply because someone else has it or because it’s the latest and greatest. Not that there was anything wrong with the stuff we currently had, we just wanted something newer.

Perhaps this type of behavior could be best related to the last 15 years of technology. We buy a phone or a computer and before you can blink an eye, a new model comes on the market that seems to do a little more. So we trade in and get the newest thing. Pretty soon another product comes out making our “new” one seem outdated. So on and on it goes with no end in sight. This mentality and behavior is a quick way to an impoverished, debt filled life. From a product or “stuff” standpoint, things almost always cost more when they first become available (laptops or Blackberry’s anybody?). But after the hoopla of newness wears off, the demand goes away and prices come down. It’s similar to the desire of needing to have something our neighbors have. When we step away from the fence and place our focus on all the things we already have, we find ourselves more content with where we are at and less concerned about keeping up with the neighbors.

Contentment is one of the great keys to becoming permanently wealthy. Contentment requires us to say no to self, media, and every other influence that tries to keep us in competition with the person down the street. Contentment helps keep the pride out of our decision making process. It’s a simple concept that can be difficult to live by, but those who do are far better off in life…and financially.