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Understanding the public sharing of personal finance
Today on social media sites such as YouTube and Reddit you will see people sharing about their personal finances. They are likely asking questions such as how does my portfolio look or this is where I am now. Is this a marketing technique to sell a course or the desire to find validation? Regardless what it is there is a greater amount of sharing of your current spot in personal finance and it is harmful.
First, sharing the sharing of personal finances is often devoid of context. Many people don’t understand how fundamental the personal part of “personal finance” is. Its more than just about what you do consistently, its about the entirety of a life. Context is important because it fills in the gaps of knowledge for why a certain action occurred. You need context to understand how someone can save at a high rate or why you may have a lot of debt. A single sentence with just a number doesn’t tell the journey or story of how you got there.
The second thing to consider is that social media sharing of this information can be very misleading. Most of the time we are operating on less than perfect knowledge. We start and learn as we go. But when it comes to comments on personal finance you are likely to find there are more comments that may not always be founded on facts. When comments that aren’t grounded in best practices occur, it…
