Why Lifestyle Creep Is The Number One Danger of a High-Paying Job

In 2012, I was doing an internship. Mid-month, I heard one of the senior managers at that company complaining about when the month ends so that he can get paid, since he's only left with travel fare.

Hearing that was quite a shock to me because I mean, he clearly was earning more than sufficient money to not worry about his next payday. Even if I did not know his salary, driving a million-rand car and living in one of the expensive suburbs of Joburg are signs enough to signify that you are a high-income earner.

But I was wrong. My assumption was totally incorrect.

He and many others still worried and looked forward to payday like the rest of us interns.

Why?

Because their high income did not come with just money, it was accompanied by lifestyle creep.

Lifestyle Creeps is "the phenomenon where spending increases alongside a rise in income, often turning luxuries into necessities".

Almost all of us choose careers where we can make a lot of money. We spend our lives trying to advance in our professions with the primary aim of increasing our income. The same applies ot those in business.

But the more money you make, the more you may easily live the same life as a twenty-year-old intern. Simply because a certain lifestyle crept up on you, without you realising it.

I have noticed that when someone gets promoted or gets a better-paying job, they immediately "upgrade" their lifestyle as well.

They buy more expensive cars. They buy or rent more expensive homes. They spend more on branded apparel. They spend more on vacations and weekend getaways. And many other activities.

Before they know it, all those luxuries have turned into a necessity because they have become their "lifestyle", a part of their identity. And unfortunately, that lifestyle often comes with not having savings, investments, and at times, those individuals find themselves heavily in debt.

Many high-income earners find themselves in lifestyle creep. We may admire them from a distance, but their lifestyles imprison them.

As people, we tend to overconcern ourselves with social status. If I am a medical doctor, I cannot be seen at this restaurant but at the expensive one because I have "prestige". If I have a high-paying professional job, I cannot be driving the same car as a cashier at a retail store. If I hold this position at work, that must translate into my family and friendship gatherings. They must know.

This is the mentality that gets many into the lifestyle creep trap. The obsession with how they are perceived. And often, the outcomes of that aren't pleasant.

So, before you aim for that high-paying position or high-income profession, be wary of lifestyle creep. It happens without you realising it, it starts small, you won't even feel it. And it grows into this monstrous animal that controls your entire life.

Knowing and understanding the dangers that come with a high-paying job or position will help you circumvent ending up as that senior manager who has the same worries as twenty-year-old interns.