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In any competition, there are always ways to measure competitors. You could look at the time it takes them to finish, the distance they compete in, and the level of difficulty, just to name a few. The world’s best athletes set their first priority as competing against themselves and trying to better what they scored before. Competing against other people will only make things worse, as there will always be somebody that appears who can do one thing or another just a little better than you can.

When I’m looking at any run, I don’t look at the top winners from previous years and try to beat them. I look at what I have done before and set a target of several percentage points better than I have done before. Setting benchmarks against other people will only frustrate and disappoint you, eventually leading to giving up or doing things you would later regret.

This can be called “the keeping up with the Joneses” phenomenon.

In your Money Marathon, you’ll want to avoid competing with the Joneses or anybody else for that matter, and only compete against yourself. There are many ways to do this. Look at the previous year. How much money did you save? How much did you invest? How much did you spend? How much did you earn? How much did you keep for yourself? How much time/energy did it take you to do all of the above?

Now, you can add 5% to 10% to those numbers for the next year. Aim to earn 10% more this year, to save 10% more than you did last year, to increase your savings rate by 10%, invest 10% more in P2P loans on Lending Club, and so forth.

If you are comfortable and you have previously achieved 10% growth across the board, you might aim for 15% or more improvement. But don’t try this the first time; you want to see how you initially compete against yourself first and then set bigger goals.

As long you as you improve performance from year to year, you will never lose. You will always be winning, while others will be chasing the next big thing. Stick to the basics of bettering your numbers each year and then you’ll look like one of the “Joneses” to other people.

In my recent post about financial advice from friends and family, I discussed how those around you are the most likely sources of your financial advice. These people are also the ones who will influence your spending and savings habits.

This happens because your friends are usually your basis for defining what is “normal.” Seeing the majority of your friends act a certain way will probably lead you to believe that the majority of all people act in that way. While large groups tend to be indicative of smaller groups of average people, the reverse is seldom true.

This idea is especially true when we consider our most influential financial role models: our parents. I have a friend who assumes that everyone is a hyper-spender mired in credit card debt because that’s the way her parents live. She can’t understand why we don’t spend more money, despite repeatedly being told that we have everything we need without overspending. Not surprisingly, my friend is not in a very good financial position. Luckily for me, it’s just my one friend who lives this way, so her influence on me is balanced by that of other, more fiscally responsible, friends.

Your friends also form the basis of your support group. If they don’t understand the importance of setting a budget, for instance, then they likely won’t be supportive when you cite your budget as the reason for not spending. If they see more value in appearing affluent than becoming affluent, then they won’t understand your rationale. Similarly, if your friends are spending every penny they make (or more), then financially responsible investments like social lending on Lending Club are going to be way outside their line of thinking.

These types of discrepancies in thinking will likely either weaken the friendship or force one of you to change. Since applying financial discipline is more difficult than the alternative, it will likely be you that will change if you’re not vigilant about maintaining this discipline. This is especially true if it’s a “you against many friends” scenario.

By not changing to your friend’s financially irresponsible ways, you’re left with the alternative of the friendship weakening. While even good friends can surely disagree, allowing yourself to adopt a friend's poor financial habits may not be worth the value of the friendship.

Brandon Hanson recently shared an experience which reminded me how even the very financially savvy can get burned by "free" credit reports:

"I hate credit checks - specifically, the 'say-it's-free-but-really-it's-not' kind. I went on to [a site] promising a free credit report to get, surprisingly enough, a free credit report. Although I'm usually aware enough to identify the catches, one must have slipped by, as a couple of months later I realized an errant recurring charge had been on my credit card statement starting from a month after I secured the credit report. Luckily, my wife peruses our statements for things like this…"

Three years ago the Fair Credit Reporting Act was amended to require each of the credit reporting companies (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) to provide you with a free copy of your credit report every 12 months. Most people are aware that they can get free copies of their credit report, but there is often confusion over where to get it. A Google search will turn up hundreds of sites that offer free credit reports but nearly all of these come bundled with extras you must pay for. Some of these sites seem to use deceptive or confusing tactics as they provide you a "free" credit report bundled with options you may not want or need.

So, where you can you get your free credit report? The only authorized site to get your free credit report is AnnualCreditReport.com. After verifying your identity with AnnualCreditReport you have the option to select which nationwide consumer reporting companies you want a credit report from – Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. After that you are directed to each individual company which you have selected, where you verify your identity again.

According to Bankrate.com, "the FTC has required the agencies to make the process simple, uncluttered with advertisements and as minimally intrusive as possible." However, based on my own experience, you will be presented with several opportunities to purchase additional items including credit scores and credit monitoring. If you click through your options too fast, you may purchase some of these options and also accidentally sign up for unwanted monthly emails from the agencies. Here's a quick look at some of the offers you will receive even when ordering via the official free credit report website, AnnualCreditReport.com:

TransUnion

When you receive your free credit report, it does not include your credit score. TransUnion offers to sell you this credit score for "just $7.95." In fine print they also disclose, "Our Credit Score may not use the same credit scoring model used by a lender when making a lending decision." Typically, when someone talks about their credit score, they are talking about their FICO score. On another page TransUnion features, "VantageScore, the only credit score developed and used by all three national credit bureaus." As reported in a recent USA Today article, "TransUnion and the other bureaus are trying to wrest control of the credit-scoring market from Fair Isaac" by promoting their own credit scores. There can be a significant numeric difference between a FICO score and other credit scores offered by credit reporting agencies.

Experian

Experian offers to reveal your Experian Credit Score for only $5.95. Again, this is not your FICO score. Experian also offers Triple Advantage Credit Monitoring (the same credit monitoring package Brandon accidentally signed up for). To avoid the add-ons you have to click on the boring, grey "no thanks" button at the bottom of the page.

Equifax

Unlike TransUnion and Experian, Equifax attempts to sell you your actual FICO score. The price is $7.95. They also attempt to sell credit monitoring for $7.95/month. Here, to avoid the add-ons, you click on the text link at the bottom of the page which reads, "No Thanks, I Don't Want To Know My Score."

With a better credit score, you will obtain a better rate on a P2P loan at Lending Club and more favorable credit everywhere else. That makes it very important to monitor, maintain, and fix your credit. The best place to start is with a free credit report through AnnualCreditReport.com. Many will also find value in ordering credit monitoring services and viewing their FICO scores. However, my caution is click carefully to avoid accidentally ordering these services if you don't want or need them.

For many Americans, the end of the year also means having some time off from work. Whether it’s through company paid holidays or vacation time to travel and be with family, people often have a little more downtime than usual between Christmas and New Year’s Day. In her recent article, Jennifer Openshaw offers a suggestion of how to spend some of that time: read books on personal finance.

She recommended these books in particular:

"Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich," by Robert Frank.

"All the Money in the World: How the Forbes 400 Make -- and Spend -- Their Fortunes" by Peter W. Bernstein and Annalyn Swan

"The Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas Stanley and William Danko.

"The Millionaire Zone: Seven Winning Steps to a Seven Figure Fortune." By Jennifer Openshaw

I really liked the suggestion to read books on personal finance, even if the author did recommend her own book. I’m always on the lookout for new ideas and sources of personal finance information. When I chose to take decisive action on my own personal finance plan, it was through books that I did the majority of my learning. I committed to reading at least two finance or business books a month. That was a practice that I kept up for well over a year. I believe that what I learned has had a major impact on my life.

As we come to the end of another year, we’ll likely take time to reflect on our lives and make resolutions for the coming year. Those looking to improve their investment returns may want to consider P2P loan portfolios through Lending Club. Those who spent a little extra over the holidays might want to request a loan on Lending Club to consolidate their high-interest credit card debt. Whatever you decide to do, by starting a good habit during the year-end downtime, when you have the time to make it successful, you may increase your likelihood of success.

There are some stories that we can listen to time and time again without growing weary of their message. Allowing that message to influence our habits is more challenging. On Christmas day, I ask all of you to consider the messages in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to see how they might influence your lives, both financially and personally.

The story has multiple themes with varying degrees of emphasis. The two most important ones, in my opinion, are that money can’t buy happiness and that drastic change may be necessary to alter our fate.

On the first point, we see the argument from both sides. Not only do we see a man whose great riches cannot prevent his misery, but we also see a poor family that finds happiness in each other despite their financial hardship. How often is this evident in our own lives? Once Christmas day arrives, we realize that the gifts we have bought rarely bring more enjoyment than the time spent with those we give the gifts to.

On the second point, we see that only by modifying his attitudes and behavior was Ebenezer Scrooge able to cause change. It often takes a clarifying moment to realize the error of our ways. Have you had your epiphany yet? It may take a major event for us to change our mindset. For Ebenezer Scrooge, it was seeing his past joys, the reality of the current world, and the grim future that awaited him. For others, the moment of clarity may not come until they hit rock bottom.

You can learn from these scenarios to save yourself the pain and suffering that reaching such a low point can cause. Take a first step towards a better financial future and start applying the tips we’ve shared on this blog every day. It’s never too late to make a fresh start. Consolidate your credit card debt with a P2P loan from Lending Club. Use social lending to help make a difference in other peoples’ lives while you improve your own state of affairs.

As I’ve said many times in the past, there are certainly much more important things in life than money. Money is, however, a necessary part of our lives and a means by which we can enjoy more intangible pleasure like time with family and friends even more. The strain that a poor financial situation puts on all aspects of our lives exists regardless of whether or not we acknowledge its presence. I urge you to make a positive change in your financial life. You’ll likely see improvement in many other areas of your life as well. I sincerely wish all readers of this blog a Merry Christmas and a New Year full of new possibilities in all aspects of their lives.