Denial and Poor Financial Health

Denial is the bread and butter of American medicine. As a primary care physician, I see this phenomenon in all its stripes and colors. The typical story is the middle-aged obese man who comes to see me after his first heart attack. After a few minutes of interviewing him, I have ascertained that he still smokes, has not begun his cardiac rehab exercises yet, and is back to his 60 hour work week. And he looks at me across the examining room table as if this is the most normal thing. There is neither shock nor dismay. There is no realization that he has undergone a life-threatening disease process and will likely be dead in the next few years. It is much easier to continue his current behavior than to confront the horrendous void that is staring him in the face. Denial, however, is not only relegated to the medical field. Similarly, the poor financial health of a nation lies in the balance and our behavior is not changing.

We metaphorically keep on smoking, drinking, and working too much.

And our bank accounts are hemorrhaging.

Consumerism

There is no greater connection between denial and poor financial health than when it comes to rampant consumerism. We live in a society that not only supports this denial, but feeds on it. Every commercial, every billboard beckons us to buy, buy, buy.

Strangely, these messages are foisted not only on the wealthy but even more so on the poor. Advertising campaigns focus on the more meager neighborhoods to hock their expensive electronic devices and latest fashion apparel.

Credit is still being granted in the form of home loans, car payments, and credit cards to those who can least afford it.

The message is clear:

Deny Reality. Deny your poor financial health! You deserve that purchase. Let us help you manage the expense.

It’s like handing another cigarette to the heart attack survivor.

Financial Ignorance

It’s hard to take care of your mind and body if you are uneducated about basic health care. The same can be said for poor financial health. The populace is sorely lacking in understanding the basics of personal finance. Not only understanding compound interest, but compound debt. Not only having some vague notion of Facebook stock, but the theory behind index investing and market efficiency.

We practice denial as a community when we accept our own financial ignorance. We create financial markets that are overly complex, instruments that are laden with fees, and advisors who have conflicts of interests.

Our poor financial health is not only an accidental byproduct, but also the purposefully intended outcome of years of scheming from vested interests including politicians, businessmen, and wall street.

Deus Ex Machina

Definition: Plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and seemingly unlikely occurrence, typically so much as to seem contrived.

We live in a get rich quickly society. How else can one explain a system that glorifies the lottery? We hire lawyers at the smallest infraction to hit the jackpot. We throw around the concept of lawsuits as if they are just another business strategy.

Inheritance has even become part and parcel of our waning financial health.

Why save now when good old grandma is going to kick the bucket soon and leave us rich?

And even our internet fantastic, silicon valley coated reality favors the overnight success story.

We are in denial. There is no talk of sacrifice or failure.

Final Thoughts

Like my patient destined to die from heart disease, our financial coronaries are clogged by denial and our poor financial health is starting to show. As a nation, we support consumerism, financial ignorance, and the windfall mentality.

We, here in this wonderful community, are great at encouraging our own journeys to financial independence.

Our lasting legacy, however, may just be simply teaching basic financial education.

I am proud to announce I will be a featured speaker at CampFI South. If you want to see a blog post delivered in person, consider attending. You can click on the image below for details.