From the desk of Harsh Strongman
Subj: Why many high earners stay poor
Imagine this:
You make $8k per month. Let’s say there are no taxes and you don’t save any money (for simplicity) i.e. You spend $8k per month.
Your boss is very happy with your work and this year you get a nice 25% raise. You now make $10k per month. That’s great news!
You should be saving $2k per month now since your expenses are the same and your income has gone up, right?
WRONG.
Here’s how it actually goes for most people:
For a few months, you’re happy to get an extra $2k and you keep it in the bank.
Then you start getting used to having $10k in income and you start spending more.
You go to better restaurants, buy more things you don’t need, buy more expensive versions of things, etc. – after a while, you start spending your entire $10k paycheck.
You then become accustomed to that lifestyle and it becomes your baseline.
If you were to suddenly get demoted and have to get back to an $8k per month income – you will feel like your life sucks (even though earlier you were perfectly happy at $8k/month in income).
This is called lifestyle inflation.
If you aren’t mindful enough, your lifestyle will inflate and eat up your entire paycheck – no matter how big it is.
You will never earn “enough” to both spend and save because your spending habit will increase.
Be extremely careful of this because if you don’t – your net worth will be low forever.
How to prevent Lifestyle Inflation
This is advice I gave to all my salaried clients back when I operated my legal/financial consulting firm (handled by family now):
Live like you’re earning what you used to earn 2 years ago.
If you currently make $10k but were making $8k in income 2 years ago, live like you still make $8k.
The extra $2k goes into some kind of investments – equities, mutual funds, whatever.
You act like you only make $8k and the remaining $2k doesn’t exist.
This means if you planned on saving 20% of your income, it must be saved from the $8k i.e. you save an extra $1.6k and spend $6.4k (you act like the $2k literally doesn’t exist).
This way you never fall for lifestyle inflation.
If you lose your job or have some kind of setback (like many did during COVID) – you don’t suddenly feel a big pinch as you are already used to living well below your means.
Of course, over the long run, the only way to get rich is by starting a business, but if you’re hell bent on working a job – this one thing (living like you earn what you did 2 years ago) will ensure you never have to live paycheck to paycheck.
Hope this helps.
Your man,
Harsh Strongman
