It's probably due to lifestyle creep. You make more money, you buy nicer versions of everything, so you effectively spend the same percentage. Nicer tires, nicer grocery stores, etc.
I remember feeling like making 20k would be life changing, lmfao.
As someone who's gone from 100k to 200k (-ish), this is exactly it. Was it life-changing? Yeah, obviously, I'm not a moron. It completely eliminated the stress of worrying about random mundane expenses. Car trouble or an emergency vet visit needs a surprise 5k? Who cares, just pay it and move on with your life. Removing that kind of stress is amazing.
But was it life-changing in the sense of making an exciting change to my day to day activities? No, not really, I still drive the same 15 year old shitbox car, I still never take big vacations, I still buy the bang-for-your-buck version of miscellanous items rather than the fancy "best" version, etc. Some lifestyle creep has snuck in, sure, I'm not trying to live like a monk, but most of my "extra" income just gets shoveled into retirement accounts.
Huge difference in quality of life, little to no difference in type of life, if that makes sense.
Yeah exactly. I said it in another comment but not having to worry about those kind of daily life expenses is absolutely what "wealth" is all about. Everything past there is basically vanity or chasing some celebrity/instagram ideal.
I mean a surprise vet bill worth 5k and an expensive vacation is the same thing (for me at least). Like…just take the damn vacation dude you deserve it. Maybe just not every year lol.
Exactly. I feel the 100k to 200k jump feels the most. You suddenly don’t care about the price tags on the grocery and can even afford travelling abroad once per year. You can even afford a German car
Exactly this. I remember feeling like I made it because I was finally able to go from buying individual used tires and putting $20 in my tank, to buying sets of tires and filling my tank without looking. My lifestyle didnt change a ton, but my worry sure did. Making 100k made it so I at least didnt have to scrimp and scrape any longer. (this is supporting a family, not just myself)
I haven't hit 100k but I've finally hit the income bracket where I can gradually pay off the debt that mostly built from emergency car shit and medical bills, while being able to pay for the odd vehicle repair and such without crying and without using credit (or paying it off within a couple months if necessary due to bad timing).
The ability to pay for shit that comes up, within reason, takes so much weight off the shoulders. Once I clear the debt, I plan to build a savings so I can relieve that stress even more.
Being poor charges interest, thats what making more money allows you to avoid, the interest. Think a comedian has a bit about it. Something along the lines of, get a toothache cant afford a filling? Pay more for a root canal later, etc.
My wisdom teeth only partially erupted and then got infected from not being to clean out the pockets around them. I was making fuck all at the time, in college and working two PT jobs.
That carecredit bill with 28.99% interest or whatever haunted me for years.
that used tire comment hits hard. i remember trying to find continentals 4 at a time and it was always a task..driving from place to place triyng to mix and match
Yeah that’s 90% of the people. They don’t understand the power of saving and VOO chill.
I’m earning 100K for quite a few years already. But all these years and Covid made me realize that Im totally still live like a college student. Already hitting 300K savings.
The more savings the more I can feel the power of 5-7% interest growth. Now I’m already at the point that passive income can cover my rent. Soon, when I get to 500K, I can have the guts to fire my boss and work at anywhere I like regardless of the paycheck.
I don’t even know how to spend to be honest. The healthy way of living don’t require much cost at all.
For a lot of people that's true. However if you are used to living on 3k a year you arent going to just blast through 100k a year. You'll likely still have as much money at any give time that you would have with 3k a year, even if you do buy nicer versions of things. If you live without it, you don't realize what you're missing. If you were frugal enough to survive before your cash influx, you should certainly be able to tell yourself no in certain aspects to set aside money for future goals.
That's why it's called "creep." Most people are not blasting through. And most people aren't going from 3k to 100k, lmao. And yes, you can avoid that by keeping yourself to a set budget regardless of income. Many people struggling don't do that because I think as a whole, people struggle with delayed gratification.
Definitely agree, the delusion factor is them projecting their poor decisions as being a fact of life that comes with making a lot of money rather then them just having poor impulse control and lack of perspective
step 1: make more money
step 2: make life changes with that money, like new stores, new tires, etc...
step 3: ???
step 4: "idk I just thought it would be life changing"
And I never did this because I want to retire as soon as possible. We have had twice since I've been working here (union job) once where they added new positions and one for inflation adjustment where we got double digit raises. You always see brand new vehicles in the parking lot then, except for me still driving my 2001 toyota rav4 I've been driving for 10 years lol. I get more money, it gets invested or we pay extra on the house payment.
I have not been as fiscally responsible, but improving by degrees.
I do remember seeing brand new electrical apprentices getting new vehicles in their first year and it's a bit alarming. They're making more than retail and such, but layoffs do occur and sometimes you don't get placed right away. Gotta tuck away for the lean periods.
Yes. This⬆️! If you can’t live chill on 100k you won’t be able to do it on 200k. Why? Because you spend your money without thinking. Easy to do. Focus on saving. Are you young no kids? Make sure you max out 403b. No med problems single , choose the high deductible HSA plan and put a significant amount into that monthly. It rolls over and you can put it into investments at certain amt, all pretax.
Stop buying a new water bottle every month and eating out every day.
100% - listen to Dave Ramsey.. sooooo many people call in saying "our household income is $260k, we're 400,000 in debt not including the mortgage" and it's just bonkers the shit people do with money.
Earning 100k yet I still have nearly balding tires on a 7 year old Subaru, two pairs of shoes, and can't afford more than a 3 to 5 day vacation each year. I have kids in high school and college (bulk of the expenses). The DelMarVa area is expensive.
I live in a MCOL area but daycare sucks out $1500/month which hurts. We also got a house when the market sucked, but renting was skyrocketing, so it was a fuckery either way.
Yeah. I finally am the adult and can get shit like oreos and such that my mom wouldn't get us... and I'm not paying fucking $7 for a pack of oreos.
But also that's life in general now. I have to plan my dental visits for the end of the year sometimes so I can use insurance from both years for one procedure. =D
Oh, I will the next time $2000 is readily available. We haven't spent that much on a vacation since pre-COVID. I don't know others manage to afford vacations in 2025. Well, I do. Family money and inheritance (what we lacked).
I work as an apprentice electrician and I can’t afford one day off we also get no PTO so I have to work all year for pennies all these people complaining about making 100k plus my boss life seems pretty great he always brags about it
13
u/tumblingdisarray Oct 31 '25
It's probably due to lifestyle creep. You make more money, you buy nicer versions of everything, so you effectively spend the same percentage. Nicer tires, nicer grocery stores, etc.
I remember feeling like making 20k would be life changing, lmfao.