Social media could be detrimental to your bank account

Let me guess, you could use a little more money in your pocket.

There’s actually a secret to getting it, believe it or not. There’s a secret to creating wealth and it’s pretty simple: live below your means and save the difference.

The trouble is it seems to be more difficult than ever to save money these days. And social media could be to blame.

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Catey Hill with MarketWatch writes “roughly four in 10 adults with a social media account say that seeing other people’s purchases and vacations on social media makes them look into a similar purchase or vacation.” That’s according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which surveyed more than 1,000 Americans over the summer.

So it’s no longer just ads that make us want to buy things, it’s the platforms we use on a daily basis. Hill says looking at friends’ posts and tweets spring them to buy something they may have otherwise not purchased. Thirty percent of Americans admit social media has had some influence on what they’ve purchased, Hill writes, citing a 2014 poll.

And that makes sense, based on how people post on social media. Hill says when you look at Facebook, for example, and constantly see people on vacation, you begin thinking that you should be doing something similar — maybe so you can post it on social media!

“By nature, we compare ourselves to others, and social media makes that so easy to do,” Hill said.

There certainly is pressure to keep up. Traditionally that has been fueled by television advertising. But could social media be given a run for its money? After all, advertising on social networks is expected to reach nearly $36 billion by 2017, up from $24 billion in 2015, according to eMarketer.

“It’s hard to say what is more influential at this point,” Hill explained. “But on social media, these are your peers and friends. You can easily see what many people are doing.”

There’s also a high percentage of lies being told on Facebook. An investigation by Consumer Reports found that one in four users lies on their profile. The Daily Dot noted the six biggest lies everyone tells on Facebook: inaccurate personal information, age, pretending to have read something, fake photos, death hoaxes, and — maybe the most relevant for this topic — convincing people how awesome your life is.

“People are posting their best self,” Hill said. “What they want the world to see. So that’s what you’re comparing yourself to and have to imagine it’s not a healthy cycle to keep up with.”

So what’s the secret to saving money these days? Logging off those social media accounts could be a good start.

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