A lot of fellow PF bloggers share their most intimate financial details online. How much debt they have, their net worth, their spending, their income….you name it, it is out there.
While I did share my debt amount, and how I repaid for it, I chose not to share many details on my finances , and here is why.
privacy concerns
Once you share something online, regardless of what it is, there is no way to get it back. No matter how hard you try, it will stay online.
I am of the opinion people don’t need to know everything about my finances, whether they are complete strangers , friends or acquaintances.
unhealthy comparisons
Society in general, and the PF community in particular, is using net worth as a measure of self worth. The 2 are actually not related.
If you are not killing your monster debt in less than 2 years, something is inherently wrong with you! Or if you haven’t saved a million by the time you are 25 , you are bad with money. If you are bad with money, you are probably bad with other things as well.
Does the above sound familiar? I bet reading about it wasn’t really helpful. It may even have made you feel bad.
Our own story is unique. We all have different lives. Knowing so-and-so paid x amount of debt or saved x amount of money won’ really do anything for us, at an individual level.
not a financial planner or advisor
A lot of PF bloggers have lists and spreadsheets of all their investments on their blog. Some of them even talk about their “top stocks” or favorite ETFs. I previously mentioned the majority of PF bloggers have no formal qualifications or certifications in Financial Planning.
I won’t be one of these bloggers anytime soon. I believe there is a level of personal responsibility when advertising or promoting financial products to complete strangers you don’t know anything about.
Final word
My blog is to share my passion for personal finances, but not necessarily to share everything about my own personal finances or my life.
I consider my blog to be a peephole into my life, but definitely not the complete picture. There is so much more to me than the contents of my blog….but I choose to keep it offline.
