In the past, people usually avoided discussing financial affairs in daily conversation. During these days, however, there is a increasing number of individuals who tend to include their income figures and expenses as part of a casual chit-chat. From my point of view, this is attributed to factors including desire to fittingly construct a financial plan given the accelerating inflation. Despite good intentions, this can also have a destructive impact on individuals due to its visible downsides.
The root cause of people’s tendency to open up about their financial dealings appears to be rapid inflation rates. These, in turn, contribute to the desire to learn about reasonable spending. This is because they want to receive advice in terms of expenditure, which often help them compare spending allocations for different aspects of their lives with others. Furthermore, such discourse can allow individuals to make well- informed financial decisions, as sharing personal experiences allows people to learn from one another’s successes and failures.
However, this trend can also be perceived as pernicious. For many, discussing their financial standing can counter-produce feelings of financial incompetency. More specifically, they are likely to suffer from mental stress and diminished self-esteem if they were to learn about other people having a stronger purchasing power than they do. Moreover, this practice tends to lead towards societal materialism, whereby individuals are judged upon their financial bearings rather than intrinsic qualities, such as loyalty and sincerity. To expand, this might result in people conversing about their careers and salaries than health and family, often leading to feelings of isolation and depression.