DEBT048 Keeping up with the Joneses: The bad habit that costs you (594 words)

This article explains what drives consumer spending and discusses ways to control your finances while avoiding the downward spiral of trying to keep up with the Joneses.

There’s a quote that says, “Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you a yacht big enough to pull up right alongside it”.

True if you’ve got that sort of money. For the rest of us, our spending is usually clothing, gadgets and cars – the kinds of things that make us happy.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data suggests that consumer spending is influenced by job security and economic factors like interest rates and inflation.