Lifestyle creep is what happens when your spending quietly rises every time your income does, until one day you have a higher salary and less savings than before. Ryan makes an important distinction: gradual quality-of-life improvements are fine. The problem is uncontrolled creep, where your savings rate quietly drops while your expenses climb to match your friends' habits.
Ryan walks through the math of how a raise can actually push retirement further away if the savings rate falls, and he offers two practical tools to keep creep in check: paying yourself first before lifestyle spending has a chance to absorb the raise, and using a two-day rule before making non-essential purchases. Small habits, compounded over years, are what separate people who build wealth from people who just earn more.
Find "Your Fiscal Physical" the book on Amazon
If you have suggestions or feedback, please email us at: Podcast@AlchemyWealth.com
And, as always, Stay the Course!
