{"id":18035,"date":"2024-01-11T15:28:05","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T20:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=18035"},"modified":"2024-02-14T10:39:09","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T15:39:09","slug":"how-to-avoid-lifestyle-creep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/how-to-avoid-lifestyle-creep\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Avoid Lifestyle Creep"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lance Hall \u201917, \u201918M achieved success as a CPA but found himself seeking a larger purpose. \u201cI wanted to help people who didn\u2019t necessarily have a lot of money or access to a financial advisor,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hall started teaching financial literacy basics on YouTube, and viewers soon began reaching out for help. In response, he launched\u00a0FreeLance Finance<\/a>, a financial coaching firm. \u201cFinancial advisors primarily help with managing investment portfolios and retirement planning,\u201d he explains. \u201cFinancial coaches, like me, help people get to the point where they have money to invest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He shared threes tips anyone can follow to avoid the savings pitfall known as lifestyle creep, the common practice of spending more as you earn more, often resulting in the inability to meet larger financial goals like saving for retirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Budgeting and Expense Tracking Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first step in creating a budget is getting a full picture of your expenses. The good news? It\u2019s no longer necessary to pocket every receipt or manually track every purchase. Instead, link your account(s) to income and expense tracking tools like Monarch Money, Rocket Money, PocketGuard, or Quicken Simplifi (a few of Hall\u2019s favorites).  These tools not only reveal the realities of your spending, but also they\u2019ll help keep you on track to meet your goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employ Rules-Based Budgeting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having firm rules takes the guesswork out of spending. Hall recommends spending 80% of total income on expenses and saving 20%. The 50\/30\/20 rule is a bit more nuanced but just as effective: Spend 50% of income on needs like rent and groceries, 30% on wants like restaurants and hobbies, and 20% on savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis allows you to reach savings goals while also satisfying the desire to treat yourself for getting a promotion or raise,\u201d Hall says. \u201cYour money is for you to enjoy; we just don\u2019t want it to get out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set Clear Goals and Plans<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applying increased income to larger life goals rather than random luxuries ensures that you\u2019re achieving your financial milestones rather than inflating your lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving no plan can lead to additional money coming in and going right out the door,\u201d says Hall. \u201cWhen you set goals and give your money a purpose, it\u2019s a lot less likely that the money will dry up unintentionally.\u201d His tip? Set a meaningful goal and arrange for a direct deposit right into a dedicated savings account each pay period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo courtesy of Lance Hall<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three tips from Lance Hall, CPA and founder of FreeLance Finance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":18037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":64,\"y\":40}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-back"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"The Back","issue":"Fall\/Winter 2023","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18035"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18051,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18035\/revisions\/18051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}