We all know the phrase, “It must be nice.” Whether we have said it ourselves or have heard others throw it around loosely, we all are familiar with it. And guess what? I’m guilty of saying it in the early days of learning about finances and money. Whether that was looking at friends, family, other people in my age group, etc. And now, I cringe when I hear people saying it.
This not me trying to be condescending, but as a generation and as a society, we need to abolish this phrase from our heads. Immediately.
The reason? This phrase is a bad habit, like biting your nails (guilty of this too), but something with a bit more understanding and practice we can easily stop doing.
Below are three reasons why I think we need to stop saying the phrase, “It must be nice.”
Puts you in a negative mindset
To me, saying “It must be nice” about someone’s financial situation or what they have that is better than you instantly can make you negative.
Does anything good ever come from being negative? Hold on, I’ll wait.
The answer is clearly no. And this phrase not only makes you a negative person, it also puts you in a negative state of mind, which pretty much sets you up for failure.
Instead of looking at that person for inspiration or looking into how you can improve yourself, you most likely are thinking that it is unattainable for you.
When you already think something is not possible, it can make you frustrated, hopeless, or a “why bother” mentality.
Of course, this is easier said than done. Although I’ve removed the “Must be nice” from my vocabulary, I can still be a bit negative. It’s really common and is a hard habit to break.
But I’m a firm believer that what you put out there, comes back to you. Sometimes it can be tough when some bad things happen in life, but putting more positivity out there is truly better.
The best example I can give of my “Must be nice” mentality with finances was when I had little to nothing saved back in 2014. I had student loans, car loan, and some credit card debt. Saving $10,000 seemed impossible and thought it must be nice for people that have more or have great jobs to save faster.
But once I realized I can do this, stopped looking at this as an impossible task, and put in some work, I quickly realized how possible it was. Now, I’m approaching $60,000 saved with all loans almost completely gone and on track to past the $100,000 mark in the coming year.
Holds you back
I see this phrase and view it as something that holds you back from achieving your best in finances, life, whatever it may be. True, you may never be a certain level as someone else or have what they do.
But remember, avoid comparing yourself to others and focus on you.
So now, instead of trying and working hard to be your best, you shrug it off and say, “It must be nice.”
This might not be the case for everyone, so I don’t mean to generalize here.
But so many of my peers I observe saying this, literally have done nothing for themselves to change their situation.
I think subconsciously, it is just easier for us as humans beings to be passive about something or say that we’ll make changes, but then never do. But I think the “Must be nice” mentality is part of what keeps us from succeeding.
You don’t know others circumstances
It’s easy to judge others and outsiders without really knowing their circumstances. Sure, there is always someone who inherited money, that job, a company from family, etc. That’s life!
But you also do not know how hard someone worked to get where they are and behind the scenes of what it took to be in their position.
Saying “It must be nice” sounds more like you are belittling what they do/done or what they have, when it may not have been easy for them. It just appears like it was easy.
I’ve seen this happen first hand with some friends of mine.
One has worked to build his business, saved, and invested wisely to become pretty financially stable by 30. A few times with conversations with others who may not know him that well, they’ve said about his traveling, investing and cars, “Wow, must be nice.”
I cringe.
It took him almost 10 years to get this level. For the first few years, there was no glamorous lifestyle, it took time and dedication to achieve this status.
Now, that’s not to say any of those people were purposely being rude. It’s just the simple fact that the statement makes it seem like my friend was handed everything overnight.
It also made me think about the times I’ve said that how others may have felt by that simple statement.
So, this is a call to ban the phrase, “It must be nice” or any variation of it.