Stop Publicly Bragging About How Much Money You Make (2024)

Posting on social media about how much you or your significant other earns or has is not impressive; it’s tacky and classless

If you weren’t taught this growing up, let me be the first to tell you: it’s impolite to talk publicly about how much money you make or have

Before anyone takes this too far out of context, which the internet loves to do with any sequence of words, let me be clear that this moratorium is not absolute. You can talk about money with your immediate family or close friends you trust and who are comfortable with it. The idea that parents shouldn’t talk to their kids about money is silly, they must learn about it somewhere, and we all know schools do an abysmal job of teaching financial literacy. I’m thankful my parents taught me about money and not to act like a classless buffoon.

For example, my parents made it clear we weren’t supposed to talk about what we got for Christmas at school because not everyone had such lovely Christmas mornings. We weren’t rich, but many people forget how poor most Americans and Canadians are. I won’t belabor the statistics; suffice to say, most people struggle financially; Christmas mornings are not the bountiful consumer occasions for all that Hollywood leads us to believe.

My parents emphasized this because we lived in a small community and shared classrooms with kids whose families had no money, to the point where four or more siblings had to share a bed, and families couldn’t afford two dollars to send their kids on field trips. Would it be kind or classy to walk into school and rub our fabulous Christmas gifts in the faces of these poor kids knowing they received very little or nothing that morning? No. How is the teacher supposed to explain why Santa neglected those kids? Tell them they were terrible, and that’s why they got nothing? That will help encourage the next generation and keep their self-esteem high…

Social media braggers are … the worst

Talking about what you have in a public forum in any context, Christmas gifts or not, is inconsiderate, rude, and mean. It makes other people feel bad about themselves and envious of you. Don’t believe me, read this article by Lisa Marie.

My sister and I understood the social grace inherent in this lesson right away. It required little explanation because we cared about our classmates and didn’t want them to feel bad. Others, it seems, missed the memo or didn’t think this lesson applies to them; the problem is particularly pronounced on Instagram.

I started using Instagram about a year and a half ago, and I maintain a love-hate relationship with it. I’m a guy, so I like it for obvious reasons, but I also hate it because it exposes me to so many people who are just the worst. As you can probably imagine, I’ve never been a fan of the Kardashians, and a large portion of Instagram influencers behave just like them. It’s a cesspool of vanity.

Some people have Instagram followings centered solely around bragging about how much their husband or wife will make in the future based on his or her career trajectory. Others brag incessantly, tacitly or explicitly, about how much their partner currently makes, how much they earn, how much their parents make, what they have, etc.

The whole thing is one big demonstration of a “look at me and how great and easy my life is” attitude with one aim in mind: exploit others’ envy to gain their attention and serve the purveyor’s vanity (and hopefully earn more money by building a following of wishful onlookers). It’s a real-life manifestation of the rich getting richer (you can’t brag about being rich and get attention for it if you’re not already rich) where the toll is levied on the emotions of the less fortunate.

These people, these “influencers” (I still don’t know who is influenced by them), seem to pay no attention to the fact that in leveraging envy, they’re making many of their viewers feel worse and contributing to the destruction of their mental health. Don’t delude yourself into believing these self-serving demonstrations are motivational to others; Google social media and depression.

Lest you suggest that most people following these influencers’ luxurious lives live luxurious lives themselves, please understand that is borderline impossible based on probability alone. Look at a distribution of incomes in America, then do it worldwide, and try to stand by that position with a straight face given the number of people on social media platforms like Instagram.

Social media has not changed the essential components of social grace; stop bragging about money

Whatever you may think about how the world has changed in the last decade as social media has embedded itself as a norm, little has changed about what is classless, inconsiderate, and rude. It’s still classless, inconsiderate, and rude to brag about what you have in front of others, especially those who have less.

Today, people with less are bombarded by visuals of those with more. In that context, it’s more important than ever that the haves show more grace and class in the viewing eyes of the have nots. How frustrating it is to be constantly pummeled with visuals of a life you will likely never live while being (essentially) algorithmically forced to observe it from the outside.

Let me put it simply: if you’re an” influencer” whose entire brand and following originates from the fact that you are wealthy or live a life reaping the benefits of wealth, and you suck people into envying your lifestyle rather than appreciating a skill or talent of yours (cooking, humor, etc.), for your gain, you’re the worst and you have no class.