Comment by ericmcer
3 months ago
Incrementally increasing expenses as your income raises seems dumb, for me there are only three financial levels:
1. Can't afford lifestyle.
2. Can afford lifestyle.
3. Can retire.
Raises and budgeting can take you from 1 -> 2 quickly, but going from 2 -> 3 would require such a humongous raise that even a 10% one would be pointless.
Definitely a privileged take, but it does kinda suck when you are in the "Well at this income level I can safely retire in ~15 years... see ya then". Do you just grind it out safely? Or do you take risks to see if you can jump to number 3 immediately?
Affording a lifestyle is largely about stability of housing costs. If you don't have at least $30k, you can't afford a house, and thus are subject to the whims of your landlord and the rental market. If you have $30k-$300k, you either just bought a house or are looking to buy one (somewhere...). If you have $300k-$3m assets you probably have already owned a house for 10 years and have substantially lower housing costs, so you can coast at your current lifestyle. If you have $3m (including a house) you can retire.