Are you a victim of keeping up with the Joneses? If you find yourself comparing yourself to your next door neighbor, people on TV or the virtual Joneses, here are nine reasons to quit - now.

1. You too will get old. Before you keep up with the Joneses or the Smiths or anyone else, you have to be able to keep up with you. If you hope to retire someday, you need to start planning for it today and now. Do you know how much you’ll need to retire? If you don’t, run this calculator. I think the results may shock you.
2. Maybe the Joneses are faking it. You may feel compelled to keep up with the Joneses to have an outward appearance of wealth. Maybe it’s tied to your self-worth. But, consider for a moment that maybe what you see is not what you get. Maybe they are up to their eyeballs in debt or they have $0 saved up for their retirement. Maybe they are just faking it.
3. Who cares? So, let’s just assume that the Joneses aren’t faking it and they are in fact really well off. Maybe they earn more money then you. The answer certainly isn’t to continue to be act like them. Isn’t that like competing with Lance Armstrong in a bike race?
4. Unplug. Whoever it is you are measuring yourself against, consider unplugging. If it’s a TV show, stop watching it. If it’s your neighbor, spend less time with that person. While you’re at it, unsubscribe from temptations too. If it’s going to the mall so you can buy whatever the latest thing is, find something else to do with your time. Unsubscribe from those irresistible offers that litter your Inbox.
5. Define your goals and be yourself. The best guard against the Joneses may be to come up with a different goal, other than to keep up with the Joneses. Maybe your goal is to save money for your children’s college education, or buy a cabin in the woods, or retire at 62, or donate your time/money to worthy causes. Pick a goal and break it down into tiny steps so it’s achievable. Want to be a millionaire? Start saving $16 per day and in 30 years, you’ll be one.
6. Who else are you hurting? If you have kids, for example, there are a couple of issues. They will learn from your behavior, and leasing that new BMW to show off is probably not a very good lesson when you really can’t afford it. And maybe it’s better to save for their future. Whether you want to help them out when needed or provide for them in a will or trust, competing for material things now restricts this ability.
7. Empowerment. It’s hard to break habits, and spending to compete is surprisingly competitive and a hard one to break. But the feeling of overcoming a bad habit and making what you know is the right decision at the end of the day will make you feel really good (and you’ll laugh your way to the bank).
8. Money can’t buy me love?
9. It may be holding you back. Some people spend so much time/money/energy keeping up with the Joneses that they never actually keep up with them. For example, a friend that wants to buy a house, but she is so set on outdoing everyone by buying the biggest-bestest house that she has been looking for 3+ years and will keep looking till the end of time because a new friend or acquaintance always comes along with a bigger house that she always wants to outdo.

Thanks to Jessica LaRusch and Nicole Flusche for contributing to this list!

Image credit: antwerpenR