You don't mind me asking...

Why is ego so attached to the amount we pay for things? A few weeks, my neighbour came up to me and asked how much I paid for paving a new parking spot over part of my lawn. He prefaced his question the same way most of us do when asking these things, "you don't mind me asking...?" As if I'm going to be mortally offended by the gall to help him not overspend!

We value ourselves based on how much money we have in our bank accounts. We keep this as a personal pride - if we knew that others were making more than us, well, then we'd think that we were worth less than them. We keep our money habits private so as not to take a chance of offending our egos. And we do so at our own peril.

What if you knew exactly how much everyone on your street paid for paving? You wouldn't be likely to overpay for it. The same goes for everyone of your purchases. The veil of secrecy we place on the money we spend lessens the value of the things we spend the money on. So if someone asks you how much you paid for something, tell them... and ask them how much they paid for something else.

By the way, it cost $1000 to get the new spot paved (after five different estimates).