Money decision lab
Your income goes up — where does it go?
You get a raise that adds about a tenth to your monthly income. Nothing else in your life changes. Where would the extra go?
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You get a raise that adds about a tenth to your monthly income. Nothing else in your life changes. Where would the extra go?
What matters here
- Lifestyle
- Savings
- Debt
- Goals
- Giving
Ways people reason about it
None of these is marked correct.
Save most of it
Since you were living without it, saving most of a raise builds security without feeling like a sacrifice.
Fits when: Your savings are thin.
Split it on purpose
Deciding in advance — some to savings, some to goals, some to living — stops lifestyle from quietly taking all of it.
Fits when: Your basics are in place.
Fix what is stretched
If parts of life are genuinely strained, a raise may be best spent easing them.
Fits when: Essentials have been under pressure.
What would change the answer
- How secure you feel now.
- Whether debts are costing you.
- What you want next year to look like.
Lessons behind this
- Budgeting when income increases — Deciding in advance where a raise goes, before lifestyle quietly decides for you. (6 min · Practical)
- Lifestyle inflation — As income rises, spending tends to rise to meet it — often without any single decision to let it. (6 min · Foundation)
- Hedonic adaptation: why new wears off — The thrill of a new thing fades faster than we expect, and the next purchase quietly resets the bar. (6 min · Practical)