The Wall Street Journal ran an article last week about the slew of new sites allowing you to share information on your personal wealth. Flexo over Consumerist Commentary give a good run down on the article. I’m not here to rehash the article, but rather discuss to what degree of information sharing is common and good.  Some choose to share nearly everything with everyone. While many of my fellow bloggers would certainly be listed in this group, I am not. I share many aspects of personal financial situation, and if you take the time to read all the articles, you probably have a good sense of what it might actually be. However, I don’t publish my net worth, or how much money I make. That’s too much sharing for me given this site is not exactly anonymous. People know who I am. Sometimes I even know who they are.

However on the relative scale of things I’m probably on the more open side. I’m always up for a discussion on personal finances. If I’m chatting with you over dinner and the conservations turns to 401ks, I’ll gladly tell you how much I have stashed away in blow by blow details on which funds. If we’re having a couple brews at the pub, and I learn that you’re interviewing for new jobs, I’ll tell you how much I make to better guide your own salary negotiations. I don’t do this to brag (as there’s scant evidence that I have anything to brag about), but because I believe acquiring financial knowledge starts with your family and friends (not to say that your family and friends can’t be dead wrong). It’s one thing to read about finances from a book, but it’s another to see things play out with people you know. A lesson learned from someone’s actions is so much more valuable than a lesson gleaned from a book. Personal finance is really more personal than finance.  Being able to talk openly about personal financial matters amongst family and friends is a useful excercise - everyone learns something.  Ideally it’s not about bragging or whining.

One danger of not talking openly about personal finances is that it can lead to false assumptions about family, friends, and indirectly ourselves. Not talking about money means that you only observe other people’s consumption rather than the whole financial picture. The only way to keep up with Joneses is consuming more. When was the last time most people tried to one up their neighbor by how much they put into the 401k? While, I’m personally not an advocate of trying to compete in consumption or savings for that matter (everyone needs their own plan), I would rather see people compete to save more rather than buying flashier cars. 

While I do think being open is almost always a better way to be, there are are limits as well. I doubt I would be ever perfectly comfortable discussing details of salary with coworkers. I’m completely open with my immediate family, divulge as much detail as possible to friends in the course of any discussion.  I am happy to answer most questions from acquaintances, but unlikely to volunteer my salary or networth information.  I share the outlines of my financial life (via this blog) to the entire world.

{democracy:7}