Lottery Losers - The Perils of Envy

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$10K is the median household income worldwide, the US does much better with $40K annually. Lawyers earn over $150K a year, while doctors earn over $250K. CEOs average $15M, while Lebron James makes more than double without even counting endorsements.

Moral of the story, wealth is relative. It's not hard to find someone who has more. It's natural to be envious of those wealthier, but envy is useless. It's bad for decision making and just plain bad for life.

“Envy is a really stupid sin because it's the only one you could never possibly have any fun at." - Charlie Munger

It's prevalent in investing. Everyone is comparing their performance to everyone else's. Seeing others get stronger returns is understandably difficult. It's even more difficult when you are financially more responsible than those who outperform you.

You save diligently and invest regularly into a risk-appropriate portfolio, but your co-worker YOLO'd into Telsa in 2010, now he's retired and touted as an investment genius. Jealously bubbles up and you start questioning your investment strategy.

Envy leads to destructive behaviour. This is especially true when you're comparing yourself with people who were effectively lucky.

A 2016 study found that neighbours of lottery winners had a greater risk for bankruptcy. Neighbours showed increased borrowing and consumption, spending on visible assets (i.e. cars, housing) to close the perceived wealth gap (keeping up with the Jones). Neighbours also took on more risk in investing, theory being they'll catch up to lottery winners by doing well in the markets.

Successful investing is about defining your goals and implementing a rational plan to achieve them. Ultimately it's about you and what you want to accomplish. Performance is best measured against your goals, not against other people. Envy will only push you to deviate from your strategy, make emotional decisions and take on unnecessary risks.

There will always be those who have more, in the same vein, there will always be those who have less. Be grateful for what you have, ignore the noise and focus on your goals.

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