The Fear of Missing Out is a concept that isn't relatively new, but with the increasingly strong presence of social media in pretty much everybody's lives, it is something that is even more prevalent today. With social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc, all of your friends and families daily activities and purchases are constantly being shoved in your face. How you react and respond to seeing these things will determine the level of FOMO you might be suffering. Whether it's someone flaunting a new vehicle purchase, their daily or weekly meal out at the best new restaurants in town, weekend get togethers with your friends clubbing at the hottest bars, or maybe some vacation photos that are captioned "Best time ever!!", everything is available to see with just one swipe of your finger.
According to a Forbes study via BankRate (bankrate.com), more than half of millennials spend money they hadn't planned to because of what they saw their friends doing on social media, with 50% claiming they spend more on going out than on their mortgage or rent. 71% of people in this study admit they post their experiences online to at least partly show their friends that they have a great life. 88% believe social media is mostly to just compare wealth and lifestyle with others.
So, big whoop, right? Well, it isn't a big deal for some people who can afford to splurge while still saving money for other essentials each pay cheque, but the fact is there are a lot of people succumbing to these societal pressures and spending money recklessly. Many of these people are also avoiding saving for the future, and/or taking on debt to do so.
Let's look at a couple common FOMO splurges for the average 25 year old Canadian (let's call him Joe Cool), and crunch the numbers to see what avoiding these temptations could mean for his retirement years. We will assume any additional savings received from resisting FOMO temptations will be invested in a TFSA returning an 8% annual average return during accumulation until age 65 and 5% annual average return during withdrawal from age 65-85. Here's what Joe could do:
The $5 latte/cappuccino every day.
-all of your friends are drinking these fancy coffee drinks and posting them to Instagram with "kissy" faces saying how great they are, so now we want one too! Now, let's not be cruel and cut these out completely, but maybe Joe will divulge only 2 or 3 times a week instead of everyday which could mean an additional $80/month cash flow for him. $80/month savings from cutting back Joe's lattes invested until retirement could grow to a whopping $281,000. This could mean an additional $21,400/year in tax free retirement income for Joe, or he could withdraw that cash tax free and likely buy a vacation home in Florida if he felt like it. Not bad.
The expensive destination vacations at approximately $2000.
-everyone seems to travel a lot these days, or maybe we just think they do because we see it constantly on social media. It is pretty easy to get the urge to travel seeing everyone's cool pictures and videos and seeing how much fun they are always having in these exotic locations. But, do we really need to go on these holidays twice, thrice or even four times a year?? Let's give Joe a break and let him go on one destination holiday per year, but for his other yearly vacation he can drive to Moose Jaw and take a picture with the giant moose to make all of his friends jealous. The $2000/year in travel savings invested in his TFSA could grow to a considerable $559,000 by retirement. This could potentially pay out $52,700/year tax free in retirement! Not only could this afford Joe to take many exotic vacations during his golden years, but by simply cutting back on some travel expenses during his working years could possibly fund his entire retirement income needs. Pretty good chunk of change for Joe Cool I'd say.
Okay, it's easy to see that Joe would be much better off in retirement if he was able to cut back his lattes and vacations. The ability to avoid FOMO temptation at an early age and redirect those savings for the future, taking full advantage of compounding interest is also a huge advantage for Joe Cool. A lot of people might counter this saying life is more enjoyable when you're young, so it's better to spend your money now and enjoy life today instead of waiting until you're "old". YOLO! (You Only Live Once)
Honestly, I can't really give a blanketed answer to the YOLO idea or the cartoon above as everyone has different situations, but I would take a wild guess that someone who is very active socially, enjoys going out, and enjoys travelling while young will likely also want to be active and travel in retirement instead of just sitting around collecting dust.
The key here then, would be creating a healthy balance of spending on your "wants" in life today and saving today for your "wants" in retirement. Completely withholding from life's luxuries including fancy coffees and tropical holidays obviously won't work for most. If you're able to create goals for yourself for the short and long term it will make it easier for you to see what you can truly afford to spend today and what you should also be saving for retirement at the same time. Like life, financial priorities also change over time, so once you set financial goals for yourself it is important to revisit these goals regularly and make changes if needed. Once your financial plan is in place, you should know exactly how much you are able to fall victim to FOMO from time to time. Happy Savings!
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