Most of us can identify a few friends or family members who really seem to have their financial acts together. We can learn many things from them, but not necessarily everything that is helpful for our own personal situations. That’s why I love reading financial blogs. They are so enlightening. I can communicate vicariously with hundreds of people across the country and be informed and/or inspired by their words to make positive financial changes in my own life.
I recently stumbled across a link that led me to a list featuring 50 of the most popular financial blogs on the internet. I had never heard of most of them prior to finding this site. The ranking system was developed using statistics related to traffic, SEO (search engine optimization), and social activity. The final ranking given to each blog was quantified using scores totaled from eleven categories, such as Alexa Ranking, Google PageRank, MozRank, Twitter, Facebook, and so on.
I’ve had a lot of fun checking out the various blog sites over the last couple of months. I haven’t been able to look at all of them, but most of the ones I checked out had articles of interest from which I learned something. I have to admit, most of my initial clicks went to the blogs that were ranked in the top 10. But after scoping those out, it was the name of the blog in the lower rankings that drew my interest.
One that really hit home featured an article titled “Coping with Financial Judgment.” It described the author’s struggle to try and not be judgmental when she saw family or friends making purchases they could not afford. The example she referenced (and I admit it is one that I have struggled with myself) is to not criticize what others spend on weddings. In the first paragraph, the author wrote:
“When’s the last time you went to a wedding where you didn’t have a critical thought cross your mind? The debatably most celebratory (and expensive) day of a lifetime is chock-full of judgment– entire reality shows are fueled by critiques and debates over the dress, the venue, the music, etc.– whether the budget is $5,000 or $500,000. The truth is, no matter what the occasion or how much you spend (or don’t spend), people will judge.”
How many of you reading this column right now are sheepishly raising your hand admitting that you have done this same kind of financial judging or shaming? In addition to the wedding example, I would also add graduation parties that resemble wedding receptions and over-the-top birthday parties for kids.
Judging others’ financial choices or decisions is a conundrum, because we rarely ever train the same financial judgment lens on ourselves. Why are we so adamant that our choices are “right” and others are always “wrong?” Let’s be honest here–most people have made financial decisions they regret. The takeaway for us to remember is that we all have different priorities. No one priority is better than another. Judging others, while recognizing that it is human nature, is essentially destructive and wastes the time we could have spent getting our own financial houses in order.
