Avoid Buying Products that Only Serve as a Social Signal

If you don’t know what social signaling is, basically it is when you have something that has a sole purpose of showing other people that you are valuable. Want to show the world that they should value you? Then buy Versace, Lamborghinis, Ferraris ect. Im not saying that you cant enjoy those things, for example if you are a car guy and wanted a Ferrari for your whole life and you can afford it, then get the Ferrari. However if you couldn’t care less and are buying one just to show people how rich you are, don’t.

People who social signal end up blowing massive amounts of money and gain little benefit in the long run from wealth. Our society on television constantly shows people who care only about social signaling blowing millions of dollars, which is why when people become rich, they spend it on stupid things. You are better off living your life like a normal person and buying nice things that have more function. Live your life following the idea of buying products that have function over form, don’t buy a 100k car when one at 40k will work just as well and last just as long.

In many other ways social signaling is just a way to try and signal that you are superior over someone else because of the money you have. Lets be honest, many people who have become very wealthy in the crypto space (me included), are not incredibly intelligent that we saw this great investment before anyone else, in many cases we just got lucky when we did and liked the idea. This doesn’t make me better than anyone else, it simply makes me fortunate and even if I become more fortunate, I am never going to use the money to shove in people’s faces.

Ill be honest, im not 100% comfortable in my skin to the point where I don’t care about what anyone thinks of me, but im trying. Im only human, I do have desires to social signal with nice things and have people like me. However I know that the things I buy and the cool gadgets I show to friends isn’t going to help me have any deeper relationships. I want to have relationships with meaning and in many cases, money and wealth gets in the way of that.

There are exceptions, but people for the most part who social signal aren’t secure in their own skin so they try to influence outside people to like them by showing they have cool stuff. The friends you make when you social signal are the first to disappear if anything goes wrong and the first to leave you high and dry if you become broke. Don’t make the mistakes that many people have learned the hard way and burn your money on stuff that doesn’t matter. The importance of financial freedom is being able to go after your passions and support your family, not to signal your superiority.

Thanks to @Elyaque for the badges