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Are Your Joneses Killing You?
I have a sometimes annoying habit of beginning many of my stories by issuing disclaimers, and this one also does.
My first disclaimer is that I am typically the one who preaches things like steadily Paying Ourselves First, working hard, and continuing to invest even when I am tens of thousands of dollars down.
My second is that I am also the one who would typically write that you should not, may I repeat NOT worry about “keeping up with the Joneses.”
I am also quite masterful at procrastinating. It is one of many weaknesses and one that I have made some small strides at improving upon. But suffice it to say that I had long planned on writing a story along the lines of why you should NOT worry about keeping up with the Joneses with a title referencing that.
But here I am, a middle-aged married suburbanite worker-bee who has somehow slowly been sucked into at least being jealous of and commiserating with the Joneses in our family’s lives. It’s impossible not to since many of our Joneses are my own family.
Because our son currently lives in Denver (I’ll be helping him relocate next month) and partially relies on what some would refer to as some Adult Economic Outpatient Care, i.e., I still send him money most months, he is not…
