Money Dysmorphia
As time marches on, the younger generations become increasingly unprepared to face reality. It’s more obvious than ever… and we now have a new term for one facet of modern delusion:
Money dysmorphia: (A “condition” where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their financial appearance.)
My generation (GenZ) and Millennials enter adulthood like kids at a carnival. They have no idea how much the tickets, cotton candy, and lunch really cost, nor do they care.
In fact, they have no clue of what money is or how it should be handled. They want to get on as many rides as possible, and they want everyone to know about it.
Money dysmorphia is the ticket they need to ride the financial rollercoaster that’ll put them in the hole forever.
“A recent Wells Fargo survey found that a third (34%) of affluent millennials sometimes lie or exaggerate about their income, savings or spending to maintain an appearance of financial success, and 40% of affluent millennials have taken on more debt than they want in order to live larger. These are higher percentages than among Gen Xers, boomers and members of the silent generation.”
Cognitive Dissonance
Something isn’t adding up, there’s a disconnect. On one hand they go out of their way to seem successful, but on the other hand they are worried that they aren’t?
“More than 40% of both generations report having money dysmorphia and 48% of Gen Z say they feel behind financially and 59% of millennials feel the same.”
You could attribute this to stupidity, but it’s much more likely to be blunt ignorance. Young people are spending egregious amounts of money to maintain the appearance of abundance.
The awful part is…our culture demands it.
Material possessions rule over the minds of most in modern times. The measure of success isn’t financial stability, a happy family, and a reputation for good.
No, a person’s success is measured by how much stuff they have and how many vacations they can go on.
Chuck Palahniuck had it right in Fight Club.
“We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.”
-Tyler Durden
Let it all burn
The other day, my family and I had the opportunity to meet Joel Salatin. Joel is a remarkable man, he co-owns Polyface Farm in Virginia, he has written more than 20 books, produced a documentary, and he is the face of regenerative agriculture.
More about his bio here: https://www.thelunaticfarmer.com/about
Over the course of several hours there were many conversations. Yet, the one that stood out to me was the conversation about debt.
Growing up on a farm in Virginia, many of Joel’s neighbors were farmers. In his community there was a group of highly esteemed farmers. They had expensive tractors and big reputations.
They were loved by their community and viewed as models of success.
To everyone's shock, when these men passed away they left enormous amounts of debt for their family to repay. Some families had to scramble to sell everything to settle the debt.
The animals, tools, vehicles…it all had to go. Some had to resort to selling nuts and bolts. Yes, it was that bad.
The farmers crippled their families with debt after living a life of lies by trying to seem wealthy and admirable in the eyes of their community.
Money dysmorphia has been around for a long time, but it’s getting a whole lot worse.
While preparing this article my dad told me about a popular saying in the 80s:
Clearly nothing has changed.
What happens next?
Those in my generation are entranced in a materialistic mess. The culture of dopamine hit after dopamine hit from new purchases has now been handed off to us.
A new hierarchy has presented itself. The “winner”, the man at the top, is the man who has the most crap, no matter what the cost.
It’s a race to the bottom. Some are headed there faster than others. Without knowing how to face the world as a prepared adult they will continue to be like the kid at the carnival.
Instead of moving toward a bright future, they truly think the right thing to do is to sacrifice their future all together to extract as much pleasure out of the moment as possible.
At least the Virginia farmers had a family farm their parents had left them. They lived off the fat of the land, and when that wasn’t enough they mortgaged their birthright too. But, at least they had assets. With easy access to credit and big aspirations, Millennials and Gen-Z are revenge spending money they don’t have.
Never mind the fact that so few people around my age (18-25) aren’t gaining many real-world skills. Many of us don’t have a clue how the world works in the first place. With the skills gap plus spending like there is no tomorrow, it won’t end well.
The future looks bleak, but the world isn’t going to end tomorrow. The future will come and each of us needs to learn to reckon with it. And the sooner, the better.
The way out
…younger generations are shrouded in enough bubblewrap to look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
What started as an effort to protect kids from the unpleasantness of the world while their young, has evolved into individual and collective delusion. “Money Dysmorphia” is just the latest example.
The solution:
A slap in the face or a dip in the ice cold water of reality.
Now, it doesn’t have to be as harsh as that, but young people should be prepared to face the world while they are young. Understanding money and what real work is like are the fundamentals.
If you were to prepare someone for the world, would you lock them away from it for more than twenty years?
Of course not. You’d gently bring them face to face with the truth.
The solution to the problems of reality lies in acting consciously in reality.
The Preparation for Adulthood
Acting consciously in reality is the path I’m taking.
At this very moment I’m being used as a beta-tester for The Preparation, a program designed for ambitious men looking for an unconventional route in life, a route of their own.
The Preparation isn’t just about what you can have, but who you can be and what you can do. For less money and a lot less time than college, you could become a competent fighter, healer, horseman and pilot. And that's not all. You'd still have time and money left over to learn to sell and know how to start your own business.
You could know how to design and build your own home. You could obtain the skills to survive in the wild and comfortably speak a second (or third) language.
Each week I post an update on what I’ve accomplished. By doing this I’m holding myself accountable, while also trying to show other young people like myself what is possible.
“The solution to the problems of reality lies in acting consciously in reality”. Sounds like something Doug would say which, is 100% correct.
Great job, Max! You’re a fantastic writer and you have much wisdom beyond your years. Your dad should be very proud as well as you. Great job, leading by example and trying new things that go against the mainstream narrative. Men like you will be the future of the world. keep up the good work.!