“Too many people spend money they earned…to buy things they don’t want…to impress people they don’t like.”
—Will Rogers
It’s no secret that money and wealth are glamorized throughout society. But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why? Why is money so important—and why are so many of us so preoccupied with it? Everywhere we look, wealth is on display: the line of luxury vehicles at a restaurant valet, a billionaire’s yacht in our social media feed, or the designer bag draped over our neighbor’s shoulder.
It might surprise you, but this kind of display is hardly unique to humans. In nature, conspicuous traits serve as signals of fitness—the more extravagant the display, the stronger the underlying genes appear to be. Think of a peacock’s dazzling feathers or the thick mane of a lion.
Like many other animals, humans once relied on physical dominance to demonstrate fitness, but as we evolved beyond our hunter-gatherer existence and settled into more stationary societies, our signals changed. In addition to physical strength, we began accumulating and displaying resources. Evolutionary psychologists call this costly signaling theory—the idea that we flaunt things that are difficult to obtain as a way to signal status, success, and evolutionary fitness. An individual’s ability to accumulate plentiful food and build a well-protected shelter became a proxy for fitness because better resources meant a higher likelihood of survival for his family and offspring.
Recognizing our evolutionary impulses is the first step towards managing them, and this self-awareness cultivates wiser financial choices. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of prosperity, but they should serve our values, not our vanity—and material possessions must never become our master. A surplus on our financial balance sheet can create a deficit in the areas that matter most: family, friendship, purpose. Ralph Waldo Emerson stated it brilliantly, “Money often costs too much.” Don’t let it cost you what truly matters.