09/24/2026
Stop comparing your financial life to someone else’s highlight reel.
You have no idea what their income is, what their debt looks like, who helped them, what they’re sacrificing, or whether the lifestyle you’re seeing is actually sustainable.
A car loan in your 20s might feel normal because “everyone has one.”
But $40,000 of debt at 24 is very different from $40,000 invested and compounding for decades.
The hard part is that nobody walks around with their net worth floating above their head. You only see the car, the trip, the house, the clothes, or the lifestyle.
You don’t see the payments.
Make the boring long-term decision.
Your future self is the one who has to live with it.