Say No To Numbers Porn
Numbers Porn
I used to do it. I used to post monthly updates, budgets, income reports, and net worth calculations. And I wasn’t alone. There are many content producers in this community who write these monthly blogs. For some, it is our most popular posts. Not only writing, but reading them is common. Who wouldn’t metaphorically like to take a peek into the bedroom? Peer under the financial rock and see what crawls out? It’s all good in the beginning, but can also lead to discontent. For many reasons, I have decided to say no to numbers porn.
I no longer write monthly reports on the blog, and tend to skip these popular posts on my favorites bloggers websites. I don’t begrudge them the content, it is just not what I currently want to consume.
Why?
Camera Angles
I am not a big fan of the adult movie industry. Yet, I think the parallels are quite clear. If you do consume this type of material, you’ll notice that (the quality) films are likely highly produced. It would be assumed that the producer takes hours and hours of live footage to condense to a much shorter product. Multiple cameras are used, and every angle is recorded.
What you see if you watch the film, however, is the best of what was captured. The awkward camera angles, the not so pretty segments, and the mess ups and bloopers are all removed.
Monthly income and spending reports are similarly highly produced. Unflattering angles are glossed over or removed completely from the picture. All action is shown in the best manner with the best lighting. There is a certain amount of artificialness here. It is numbers porn. Fun to watch, but not necessary realistic.
I wouldn’t call it dishonest. I would just say that the data is highly scrubbed and put forth in the best light.
Emulate The Pros
Adult film stars are pros. They spend countless hours, days, weeks, and years perfecting their craft. They take their work very seriously. The point is to create a stylized, entertaining movie for fans to watch. While maybe some fans try to pick up a few pointers, it would not be advisable for the average person to attempt such hijinks. Swinging from the chandelier might be interesting, but probably is not feasible outside the adult film industry.
Monthly income reports, similarly, reflect the machinations of the highly skilled and professional personal finance gurus. They are numbers porn. Tax hacks, frugality plays, and extreme budgeting are taken to a level unlikely to be emulated by readers. Who has the time or energy to put forth so much effort to save so little?
It’s like extreme couponing. It sounds great, but you have to be really dedicated to follow through. Most don’t.
The Art of Exaggeration
Pornography exaggerates adult sexuality and the ease of physical relationships. I mean really. How often does the scrubby pizza delivery guy really score the beautiful and buxom woman answering the door? A lot less than the adult film industry would like us to believe.
Everything is an exaggeration.
Monthly income reports can be much the same. Every victory, no matter how small, is made out to be a nobel prize winning discovery. Every bad month is the worst ever. How many “oops I did it again” moments do I have to relive because some blogger decided to splurge on a nice dinner and now is paying penance?
In reality no one is perfect. Most wins and losses are minor. And most people’s finances are just not that interesting from month to month. Why all the pomp and circumstance?
Numbers porn gets eyes.
Final Thoughts
Look, I don’t really have issue with income and dividend reports. But like the adult film industry, they are a distorted view of actual personal finance. The angles are cleaned up, the highlights are overly professional, and there is a lot of exaggeration.
Numbers porn no longer does it for me. To each his own I guess.
Disclaimer: all claims about the adult film industry are based on conjecture, hearsay, and flat out speculation. No pornography was watched in the making of this blog post.
An important question I ask myself is: “In what way does reading financial reports help my own financial situation?”. Since I still haven’t found the answer, I still haven’t looked at one.
I’m not sure it does.
Very interesting and spicy comparison!
Seems to me whether you are obsessed with looking at either the numbers in reports or the spice in another’s bedroom, you are
stuck in voyeurism. A passive state. Watching is not the same as doing or achieving.
Is voyeurism ever positive?
In this instance, I believe, getting fixated on the numbers and reports will detract from the doing process.
In general I do think voyeurism can be positive, especially when I begin to think about mindfulness and perhaps that is voyeurism too , on a whole other level.
“Everything is an exaggeration.” Precisely.
Do you think there are any income reports that are better than others?
i just put out a post of investment performance and asset allocation. i do it because i go against the common FI dogma of index investing is the only way and everybody who doesn’t do it that way is an idiot. i poke a little fun at the vtsax worshippers and also like to disclose “here is what we own and in what proportions” so you can laugh when they sink.
an old friend in s.f. ended up in the bondage porn industry. she no longer answers my emails.
Bond porn vs bondage porn?
I do a monthly report now to see how I’m doing in my savings goals, though I don’t break down my budget (mainly because I don’t budget by category but instead by overall spending). I try to be honest and not gloss over any mistakes, though I’m sure I do it subconsciously to some extent, and I do my level best not to beat myself up or wail and gnash my teeth overly when spending goes up. Still, I think most of the points you made here are pretty salient. It’s easy to get carried away comparing yourself to the pros, which doesn’t lead to good things — either in porn or numbers porn.
Yep, comparison definitely can spark unhappiness.
I think the numbers are important. That’s how I found this site.
Yes, there can be exaggeration and a continuous stream about someone else’s finance is not so useful.
But I think snapshots help. When I comes to emulating the pros, can I execute every strategy of a pro to perfection? Of course not, but it’s helpful to look at someone who is financially successful, understand how they got there and which strategies they are using and then try to implement similar strategies in one’s life.
There’s a lot of content out there and there isn’t time to read and listen to everything. I have to be selective. How do I choose what to consume, that’s partly driven by the numbers. If like to learn from those that have ‘been there, done that’ and have been highly successful in the process.
HH
Yes. There is also a positive side. It depends on if the numbers are used in a positive way or not by the reader.